Ilaiyaraaja

Ilaiyaraaja (born June 2, 1943 as Gnanadesikan) is a film composer, singer, and lyricist. He is a gold medalist from Trinity College of Music, London has composed over 4,000 songs and provided scores for more than 800 Indian films in various languages in a career spanning more than 30 years. He is based in Chennai (Madras).

Ilaiyaraaja worked with composer R. K. Shekhar, father of composer A. R. Rahman who later joined Ilaiyaraaja's orchestra and played Keyboard.
Ilaiyaraaja was one of the early Indian composers to use Western classical music harmonies and string arrangements in Indian film music.


"Jaane do na" is from the Film "Cheeni Kum", a story about a May-December romance.

The song is adapted from "Jotheyali Jothe Jotheyali" from Kannada film, Geetha(1980).

A later version of the same is "Vizhiyile Undan vizhiyile" from Tamil film, Nooravadu Naal(1984).




Movie: Cheeni Kum(2007)
Music: Ilaiyaraja
Lyrics: Sameer-Manoj Tapadia
Original singer: Shreya Ghoshal


Download "Jaane do na"

O Sajna / Na Jeo Na - Salil Choudhry's Masterpieces

Salil Choudhry (Bangla: সলিল চৌধুরী) (November 19,1922-September 5,1995) was a famous Hindi and Bengali composer, poet and a playwright.

One of India's original musical geniuses, he was widely recognised and acknowledged in the Bombay film industry as one of the most prodigious composers ever. He was also proficient in several musical instruments, including flute, the piano and the esraj. He was also widely acclaimed and admired for his inspirational and original poetry.
"Na Jeo Na" marks my first attempt at a Bengali song. Shefali Ranjan helped me with the lyrics. Asim Ghosh has been very kind and has translated the song for me upon request.



Movie: Parakh (1960)
Music: Salil Choudhry
Lyrics: Shailendra
Original singer: Lata Mangeshkar

Download "O Sajna"





Na Jeona (Don't, please don't leave)
Music: Salil Choudhry
Lyrics:? Salil Choudhry
Original singer: Lata Mangeshkar

Download "Na Jeo Na"

Geeta Dutt

Geeta Dutt was born in 1930 into a zamindār's family as Geeta Ghosh Roy Chowdhuri in Faridpur, India(now in Banglādesh).

In 1942, her parents moved to Dādar, Bombay when she was twelve. There, composer/music director Hanumān Prasād once heard her singing casually, and was impressed. He introduced her in a chorus song in Bhakta Prahlād (1946), where she sang only two lines. The following year, she got a major assignment as a playback singer for Do Bhāi, and then on she was recognised as one of the top playback singers in Bombay film industry.





Movie: Pyaasa (1957)
Music: S D Burman
Lyrics: Sahir Ludhianvi
Original Singers: Mohammed Rafi & Geeta Dutt

I thank Azam for singing this duet with me.


Download "Hum aap ki aankhon mein"