Ilaiyaraaja loses FIRST National Award to AR Rahman by one vote

Awards are what give recognition to film artists. Among them, the National Award is the award that every film personality in India wants to win. This award ceremony organized by the Central Government is held every year. In this, the best films in each language will be selected and awards will be given. There are also superstars here who have never won such a prestigious and prestigious award.

Especially in the Tamil film industry, leading actors like Vijay, Ajith, Rajinikanth have not received a single National Award so far. The same is the case with the music composers here. Popular music composers like Anirudh, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Vidyasagar have narrowly missed out on National Awards. So far, the music composers who have won the most National Awards from Kollywood are Ilaiyaraaja and AR Rahman.

Music maestro Ilaiyaraaja has won 5 National Awards so far. Accordingly, Ilaiyaraaja has won the National Award for 5 films namely Sagara Sangamam released in 1983, Sindhu Bhairavi released in 1985, Rudraveena released in 1988, Pazhasiraja released in 2009 and Tharai Thappattai released in 2016. But music composer AR Rahman has won more National Awards than music maestro Ilaiyaraaja.

Music composer AR Rahman has won a total of 7 National Awards including Roja released in 1992, Minsara Kanavu in 1996, Lagaan in 2001, Kannathil Muthamittal in 2002, Kaatru Veliyidai and Mom in 2017, and Ponniyin Selvan in 2022. There is an interesting story behind AR Rahman winning his first National Award.

While AR Rahman was nominated for the National Award for the film Roja, Ilaiyaraaja's masterpiece Devar Magan was also in the competition. It is said that both the films got 6 votes each in the jury voting. Finally, Balumakendra, who was a jury member at the time, was the one who decided who the winner would be. It was a situation where whoever got his vote would be the winner. At that time, he voted for AR Rahman, so Ilaiyaraaja missed out on the National Award by one vote. Balumahendra himself has openly said this in an interview.