Chennai, Feb 10- Popular music composer Illayaraj’s younger son, Yuvan Shankar Raja, has converted to Islam.
Though the rumour was going around for quite some time, Yuvan, a music composer, confirmed this in a tweet.
There were rumours that Yuvan, who was married twice, was now going to marry a Muslim woman.
However, he has denied the rumours.
“I’m not married for the third time. The news is false, and yes, I follow Islam and I’m proud of it,” he said.
Yuvan also tweeted: “My family supports my decision and there is no misunderstanding between me and my dad”.
Yuvan, 34, has composed music for 100 films till date.
His 100th was a Tamil movie, Biriyani.
Sources close to Yuvan say he first informed his father about his decision to change his religion.
“Initially, Ilayaraja was shocked but later he reconciled,” says a source close to Yuvan.
Repeated attempts to reach Yuvan failed and after two hours, he sent an SMS to India Today Online saying he was busy and would get back after some time.
A music critic close to Yuvan told India Today Online that the composer was disturbed for quite some time and was longing for solace.
“I think he has embraced Islam because it gives him the much needed inner peace and absolutely there is no need to hide that. He himself has confirmed it in his tweet,” said the critic.
Yuvan got married to his longtime friend Sujaya in 2005. But they got divorced in 2007.
In 2011, he married Shilpa. But the second marriage also went through turbulence.
Sources in the industry say his second wife has gone to London and is living there with her parents.
Meanwhile, the death of Yuvan’s mother two years ago added to his agony.
“This had a telling effect on his career too. On the one hand, his married life did not go well while on the other hand, he lost his mother and did not have a good relationship with his father,” said a musician who has worked closely with Ilayaraja.
He said Ilayaraja objected to Yuvan’s attitude on many things.
“At one point, Ilayaraja moved out of his house and started living with his elder son, Karthick Raja, also a music director. Some months ago, Ilayaraja suffered a heart attack. So I think all these developments played havoc with Yuvan’s mind.”
-Indiatoday
