Maamanithan Press Meet: Seenu Ramasamy explains tiff with Ilaiyaraaja and Yuvan Shankar Raja

Maamanithan director Seenu Ramasamy has accused the father-son duo of Ilaiyaraaja and Yuvan Shankar Raja of  not letting him inside the studio for the song composition and re-recording. He made the complaint during the press meet of the Vijay Sethupathi-starrer. 

The film sees the legendary Ilaiyaraaja and his son Yuvan Shankar Raja coming together for the first time to compose music.

Seenu Ramasamy said he wasn't a part of the process and that no matter how many times he asked, they would only deliver the final product and did not even take suggestions. "Even though they have done a fantastic job with music, I didn't even get to see the lyric sheet of the songs," he said. 

Maamanithan's music was initially set to be composed by Ilaiyaraaja, Karthik Raja and Yuvan Shankar Raja together, but later Karthik Raja stepped down and announcements then on confirmed the presence of only Ilaiyaraaja and Yuvan Shankar Raja for composing the music for the film.

According to Seenu Ramasamy, Karthik Raja's exit from Maamanithan was voluntary, so he decided to continue the project with Ilaiyaraaja and Yuvan Shankar Raja. "I was told by a representative of Yuvan Shankar Raja that this was the trigger and none from Raja sir's family will be a part of the promotions, despite producing Maamanithan," he noted.

He added, "The reasons for their act remain unclear. Yuvan Shankar Raja is a noble soul and he has done nothing wrong. He was under the influence of bad company. But I have nothing against him. I am grateful to Mrs Zafroon Nisa Yuvan, who has been a great pillar of support for the film's release."

Seenu Ramasamy also stated that he was still eager to work with them under the condition that he should be part of the composition and re-recording. "Don't avoid people who have lots of love for you. This caused a lot of pain and sleeplessness for me and I'd like to register that," he said.

Maamanithan also stars Gayathrie, KPAC Lalitha, Guru Somasundaram and Shaji Chen. The film's cinematography and editing were handled by M Sukumar and A Sreekar Prasad, respectively. It releases in theatres on June 23.