He entered the Tamil Film Industry in 1976 by composing the music for the movie 'Annakili’, which was a great success. Illayaraja possesses the unique distinction of composing scores for more than 750 films, in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi. He has also composed lyrics for several film and private albums.

Illayaraja is the first South Indian composer to cross the boundaries of India and present his music to the world. Ilayaraja is the first Asian to compose a symphony for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO). He won the Best Music Composer Award presented by the Government of India three times, in 1984, 1986 and 1988. He also won the national Best Film Music Composer award three times for Saagara Sangamam (1984), Sindhu Bhairavi(1986) and Rudra Veena (1988).

He has won many titles such as ‘Isaignani’, Nadhabramam (God of music creation), Ragadevan (king of tunes), Maestro and Isai Chakravarthy.