R Balki, known for his critically acclaimed films like Cheeni Kum, Paa, English Vinglish and others, is all set to make his foray to Tamil cinema and direct his very first film in the language.
He disclosed the news in the cover story he wrote to mark Ilaiyaraaja's 50-year-long illustrious journey in cinema. For the unversed, the filmmaker had collaborated with the composer on Cheeni Kum, Paa, and Shamitabh, all of which were massive hits. While details on his new film currently remain under wraps, he said Ilaiyaraaja will be making eight original tracks for the project. He further called it an "Ilaiyaraaja blast". The upcoming film will mark their reunion after 11 years.
In the same interview Balki opened up about his working process, saying, "Watching him work is like witnessing a magic show every day. He comes into work at 7 am. I explain the situation for a song to him. He plays something, either on his piano or harmonium, and then in a few minutes we’re done. Even for composing background score, he watches barely 22-minutes of a film once – and by the evening he can play the whole score for you." Calling himself a "Raaja superfan", Balki shared why the composer did not work in many Hindi films. "I understand why he didn’t consider working in Bollywood. There was never any time. He was composing and doing the background score for multiple South movies at a time – distributors would only touch films that had an Ilaiyaraaja soundtrack," he said.
R Balki last made Ghoomer in 2023. It starred Abhishek Bachchan, Shabana Azmi Saiyami Kher, and Angad Bedi in lead roles.
On the other hand, Ilaiyaraaja is working on a few much-anticipated projects including Pocket Novel, Thiagarajan Kumararaja's third feature directorial starring Vijay Sethupathi in the lead. He is also composing music for Karthik Subbaraj's tenth yet-to-be-titled film, backed by Guneet Monga, Achin Jain, Jyoti Deshpande, Jio Studios and Sikhya Entertainment. Besides these two, it was also recently revealed that he will work with Mari Selvaraj for his upcoming sixth film titled Manjanathi which also stars Kayadu Lohar and Priyanka Mohan.