The Tamil cinema industry has on Wednesday - February 16 witnessed the reunion of the legendary brothers after several years. The meet has brought smiles to their families as well as to their legion of fans with scores of them sharing the image of what has become a phenomenon. Ilaiyaraaja and Gangai Amaran have been one of the prominent siblings in the cinema industry but the present generations didn't have a prospect of witnessing them in a single frame.

Amid a rapport observed by their children turned artist between each other, the siblings stood far away from the sight of reunion for several years due to dispute. Ilaiyaraaja and Gangai Amaren had together worked in a handful of movies decades back and in recent times, the things between them had soared and they didn't meet each other, which sparked a debate in Kollywood over their relationship. 

However, taking everyone into surprise, the siblings had met each other on Thursday and the visual from their meeting has been going viral. While 78-year-old Ilaiyaraaja was the third child of his parents, 74-year-old Gangai Amaran was the youngest child. Both of them have been well-renowned music composers. Some of the notable movies in which they worked include Karakattakkaran -directed by Gangai Amaren while Ilaiyaraaja has composed music, Mouna Geethangal, Vazhvey Maayam, Enga Ooru Pattukaran, Koyil Kaalai, and Ooru Vittu Ooru Vanthu. Through the story and music, this combo was a great hit and had introduced love to the audience in the 90s era. 

These movies were helmed by Gangai Amaren and were successful during the 90s. While it has been considered that Gangai Amaren played a pivotal role in the growth of the legendary musician, Ilaiyaraaja was not on good terms with his elder brother. Gangai Amaren had earlier used to handle all the administrative and financial parts of Ilaliyaraaja. However, the duo had later separated and Gangai Amaren had once mentioned that his brother is being guided by those with vested interests making him act like a fool. During a time, Gangai Amaren had divulged that Ilaiyaraaja was not permitting him to compose music or direct movies. 

Their relationship had drifted further when Ilaiyaraaja has begun asking for royalty from professional singers for singing his songs in events. In March 2017, Gangai Amaren had slammed Ilaiyaraaja for sending a legal notice to late singer SP Balasubrahmanyam (SPB) for performing his compositions without his consent. SPB was in his SPB50 concert tour and after receiving the notice, the iconic singer went on to announce that he will not be performing songs composed by Illaiyaraaja on the tour. 

In an interview with a Tamil news channel, Gangai Amaren had criticized his brother's action of sending a legal notice to SPB and termed it as foolishness. The apparent castigation had widened the tussle between the brothers when they were working independently following the split up. It was a state where conclusions were rife that the brothers won't meet each other due to the growing clash. They maintained their brotherly feud on various occasions, including during SPB's demise, when it was thought they would reunite. 

After a wait for several years, Tamil cinema fans had witnessed a relishing reunion on Wednesday where Ilaiyaraaja and Gangai Amaren had met each other, which had rejoiced their family members. After the meeting, Gangai Amaren took to Twitter and posted the picture with his elder brother and wrote, "The meet that happened today...Thanks to the blessing of God." Director Venkat Prabhu, who is the elder son of Gangai Amaren, posted the picture and wrote, "Pavalar brothers reunion." 

According to reports, Illayaraaja's family had four siblings- the elder being the late Communist party functionary Pavalar Varadharajan, the second one was Baskar, and the third and fourth were Ilaiyaraaja and Gangai Amaren respectively. The last three siblings came to Chennai in pursuing a career in cinema and they were fondly called 'Pavalar Brothers'. Premgi Amaren, Gangai Amaren's second son, wrote on Twitter, "Thank you, God", following the meeting and he even changed his social media profile picture with a photo of the meeting. 

Pavalar brothers reunion!! @ilaiyaraaja @gangaiamaren 🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽 pic.twitter.com/9MABjbLTZp

— venkat prabhu (@vp_offl) February 16, 2022