Ilaiyaraaja has composed songs for movies that were India’s official entries to the Oscars

Ilaiyaraaja is one of the most popular and celebrated Indian music composer, singer, songwriter, instrumentalist, orchestrator, conductor-arranger and lyricist. The artist is predominantly known for his work in the Tamil and Telugu industry. Ilaiyaraaja has also worked in the Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi and Hindi industry.

The artist is widely regarded as one of the greatest Indian music composers and is credited with introducing Western musical sensibilities in the Indian film musical mainstream. Reputed to be the world's most prolific composer, Ilaiyaraaja has composed over 7,000 songs. Ilaiyaraaja has also composed songs for movies that were India’s official entries to the Oscars. Read further ahead to know the names of those movies.

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India’s official entries to the Oscars

Swathi Muthyam (1986)

Swathi Muthyam is a Telugu language drama movie, written and directed by K. Viswanath. The movie cast Kamal Haasan, Raadhika, Gollapudi Maruthi Rao, J. V. Somayajulu, Nirmalamma, Sarath Babu, and Y. Vijaya. The plot of the film revolves around the plight of a young widow who is rescued by an autistic man.  The movie was selected by India as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film for the Academy Awards in 1986.

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Nayakan (1987)

Nayakan is a Tamil language epic crime movie, written and directed by Mani Ratnam. The movie cast  Kamal Haasan, Saranya, Karthika, Nassar, Janagaraj, Delhi Ganesh, and Tinnu Anand as the lead characters. The plot of the movie is loosely based on the life of the Bombay underworld don Varadarajan Mudaliar, it revolves around the transformation of an ordinary slum dweller named Velu into a feared don through various stages of his life.

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Thevar Magan (1992)

Thevar Magan is a Tamil language drama, written and produced by Kamal Haasan, and directed by Bharathan. The movie cast Sivaji Ganesan, Kamal Haasan, Revathi, Gautami, Nassar, Kallapart Natarajan, Kaka Radhakrishnan, Sangili Murugan, and Vadivelu as the lead characters. The movie was inspired by The Godfather (1972) and the Kannada movie, Kaadu (1973). The plot of the film revolves around a respected village chieftain's son who wants to open his own business, whereas his father wants him to help the villagers.

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