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Grand Daughter of Jaffna
By D.B. S. Jeyaraj
March 21st was an auspicious day for marriages. In Sri Lanka the
media hype was about Cricketing spin wizard Muthia Muralitharans
marriage to Madhimalar Ramamurthy of Adayar in Chennai.
Even as the Murali - Madhi wedding was on at the Rajeswary
Meiyammai Wedding hall another VIP wedding was taking place at the
Mayor Ramanathan Chettiar wedding hall. If one "Kalyanam" was of
interest to cricket lovers the other "thirumanam" captured the interest
of many Tamil film music fans.
Yuvan Shankar Rajah , son of maestro Illaiyarajah and a composer in
his own right got married to Sujaya Chandran of London . She is the
daughter of medical doctor parents Velayutham and Sarojini
Chandran living in Britain.
While Indian media gave much prominence to the "London" connection
there was practically no mention about the Jaffna connection of the
Bride. Sujayas mother Dr. Sarojini known generally as Saroja is a
daughter of Jaffna hailing from Myliddy. An old student of Mahajana
College, Thellippalai Sarojini had her higher education in India where
she met and married Sujayas father a native of Kerala.
Sujaya based in London is a devotee and student of music. She met
Yuvan Shankar Raja as a "fan" in London. Sujaya kept in touch with
Yuvan during his many trips to London. There were reverse trips to
Chennai too. Gradually rhapsodic love bloomed and the couple with
the blessings of their parents embarked on a matrimonial symphony.
With hits like "Kadal Konden" "Manmathan" and now "Ram" Yuvan
Shankar Rajah is now firmly established as a little maestro. He is no
longer Illaiyarajahs son but a composer in his own right. Music however
runs in the family what with Appa and Chithappahs Bhaskar, Gangai
Amaran, Annan Karthik Rajah and thangai Bhavatharini making their
individual indelible marks on the Tamil film scene.
The wedding ceremony was conducted according to Vedic rituals in
accordance with the wishes of the mystical Illaiyaraja. A large number
of Brahmin priests were present chanting the "manthras" with
gusto.Yuvan tied the "thali" knot at the auspicious time of 10. 05 am.
The attendees and well - wishers were virtually a who's who of the
Kodambakkam movie crowd. The bride Sujaya seemed thrilled at the
sight of this galaxy assembled at her wedding.Illaiyarajah personally
introduced most of the guests to his daughter in law.
A proud father Illaiyarajah was visibly happy and greeted each and
every guest. The fraternal trio Rajah, Bhaskar and Amaran seemed to
have patched up their differences and presented an amiable and
amicable front to the guests.The family members of the clan too were
seen wrapped in bonhomie.
Pride of place was given "Panchu" Arunasalam, Illaiyarajahs mentor
who gave the maestro his big break in "Annakkili". Directors
Bharathirajah and SP muthuraman with their wives were present on the
stage attending to the couple and guests. Bharathirajah tied a bracelet
around Yuvans wrist.
Directors Maniratnam, Shankar, Selvaraghavan, Sa Chandrasekhar
and the doyen of them all K. Balachandar were all present.
The guest of honour was former chief minister and DMK Chief Muttuvel
Karunanidhi alias Kalainjar. He came in with his customary yellow shawl
flanked by deputies Arcot Veerasamy and Thuraimurugan. When
Illaiyarajahs wife queried "Amma varaleengala? " referring to Kalainjars
wife Thayalu being absent Karunanidhi retorted "why If Amma had
come then how could I have come".
There was a lot of laughter as everyone present understood the
implicit reference to Kalainjars nemesis Tamil Nadu chief minister
Jayalalitha Jayaram also called "Amma". Quipping further Kalainjar
inquired "Did you invite "Amma"?. He then remarked " I was referring to
my Veetukkara Amma" amid ripples of laughter.
The couple came down from the dais to receive Kalainjars blessings.
The chief minister Jayalalitha though not present had reportedly sent
her greetings and gift earlier.When Kalainjar was leaving RM
veerappan was entering.
Kamalahasan and Rajanikanth were expected but only the "Mumbai
express" showed up. But the super star made amends by sending his
daughters Aishwarya and Soundarya with new son in law Dhanush.
When Prabhu and Ramkumar came the talk moved to
"Chandramukhi".Sarathkumar and Radhika also made their presence
felt.
Another notable attendee was the writer Jayakanthan who had recently
won the Gnanapeeth award. "aachi" Manorama was seen walking up to
the one time "enfant terrible" of Tamil letters and congratulating him.
The lyricist Vaali was present for a long time. Taking a front row seat
he was seen observing keenly the wedding rituals. Singers P.
Susheela, LR Eeswari, Unikrishnan and Hariharan were there too. The
rendering of Ghazals by Hariharan was the highlight of the evening.
Music marvel AR Rahman came too and presented Yuvan a diamond
ring. nstead of putting it on Yuvans finger the "Musical storm" dropped
it neatly into the bridegrooms pocket.MS Visvanathan was there with
wife for an hour.
Illaiyarajah seemed radiantly happy at the Tamil film personalities
ranging from character actor Sangili murugan to the divine ms. Meena
converging to wish the couple.Director Selvaraghavan a close pal of
the groom was seen engrossed in conversation with Yuvan
Several actresses like Kushbu. Radhika, Suhasini. Sneha, Revathy,
Suhanya, Rohini, Sangeetha etc were engaged in deep conversation
with Ms. Jeeva Illaiyarajah. They also exchanged pleasantries with the
bride Sujaya who seemed enthralled by the shining stars.
The grooms brother Karthik went around greeting all guests while
carrying his cute kid Yatheeswar.The grooms sister Bhavatharini was
wearing a dazzling silk saree and bedecked in traditional jeweelery was
the cynosure of most eyes as she busily enacted her duties as a
virtual mistress of ceremonies.
The unspoken question on most lips was "Eppo Kalyanam
Bhavatharini?
After honeymooning in a far eastern country the couple is set to take
up permanent residence in Chennai. With a number of films up his
sleeve the new bridegroom is expected to roll out an impressive list of
melodies combining a Madras beat with Jaffna rhythms even as he
settles down to married life with Sujaya Chandran the grand daughter
of Jaffna.
Yuvan Movie
Melodies [MIOL]
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