Isaignani Ilaiyaraaja’s Daughter Bhavatharini Dies Aged 47 In Sri Lanka

Famed Tamil lyricist and music extraordinaire Ilaiyaraaja,'s daugther, Bhavatharini, has passed away. She was 47 years old. Bhavatharini, also a singer and music composer, had been battling cancer at the time of her passing.

Ilaiyaraaja's daughter Bhavatharini passes away

News has broken of lyricist Ilaiyaraaja's daughter Bhavatharini, passing away at the age of 47. Bhavatharini's passing took place in Sri Lanka where she had been taken to receive Ayurvedic treatment, as per reports. She reportedly passed away at 5.30PM. While Ilaiyaraaja is yet to share his official statement regarding the same, condolences from the film industry have been pouring in. He wrote, “Shell Shocked! Isaignani Ilaiyaraaja's daughter and Singer #Bhavatharini (47) passed away in Srilanka this evening!”
 

Bhavatharini is survived by her father Ilaiyaraaja and her two brothers Karthik Raja and Yuvan Shankar Raja, both of whom are also music composers. Bhavatharini's mother - Ilaiyaraaja's wife, Jeeva - had passed away back in 2011. It is worth noting that much of Bhavatharini's professional work was done in collaboration with her father Ilaiyaraaja and her brotehrs Karthik Raja and Yuvan Shankar Raja.  

Bhavatharini was a National Awardee

Bhavatharini began her career as a playback singer in the 1995 Tamil film Raasaiya. From this point onwards, she has almost exclusively only worked with her father and brothers, also working with music composers Deva and Sirpy. The year 2001 saw her win the National Award for playback singing, in the song Mayil Pola Ponnu Onnu, from the film Bharathi, the music for which was composed by her father.

Bhavatharini ventured into music direction the very next year, her first project in this regard being the Revathi directed and Shobhana led English-language film Mitr, My Friend. Bhavatharini then marked the transition to the Telugu film industry with film Avunaa. She went on to mark her presence in Bollywood as well, composing music for the Abhishek Bachchan led film Phir Milenge. Also working away from mainstream cinema, Bhavatharini also scored the music for village-based project, Vellachi.