Tamil filmmaker Venkat Prabhu has shared unseen family photos of singer Bhavatharini on social media on Tuesday, January 30. The leading director revealed on Instagram that the pictures show them together for the last time presumably before the late singer went to Sri Lanka to undergo treatment for cancer. Sharing the photos with Bhavatharini, Venkat Prabhu wrote in his caption: "Bavatha our last pic together" (sic) along with three broken heart emojis.
Bhavatharini, the daughter of iconic Tamil music composer 'Isaignani' Ilaiyaraaja, succumbed to cancer on January 25 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. She was 47. Bhavatharini's body was flown from Colombo to Chennai and was laid to rest in her native town Pannaipuram in Theni district last Saturday. Several notable personalities from all walks of life, including former Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam, paid their last respects to her mortal remains at Ilaiyaraaja's farm house.
Bhavatharini garnered immense praise and acclaim for singing memorable songs, including 'Mayil Pola Ponnu Onnu' in Bharathi (2000) and 'Oliyile Therivathu Thevathaya' in Azhagi (2001), with the former earning her the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer. Notably, she sang the smash hit 'Meherezylaa' song composed by her brother Yuvan Shankar Raja in Venkat Prabhu's Maanaadu (2021) starring Silambarasan TR. The news of Bhavatharini's passing came as a big shock to the Tamil film fraternity, with celebrities paying their condolences and tributes in person and on social media.
Bhavatharini is survived by her husband, Sabariraj, father Ilaiyaraaja, and brothers, Karthik Raja and Yuvan Shankar Raja. Venkat Prabhu, the son of director-music director Gangai Amaran, who is Ilaiyaraaja's younger brother, is cousins with Yuvan Shankar Raja, Karthik Raja and Bhavatharini. A day after her death, Ilaiyaraaja posted an old black-and-white picture on X with his late daughter and captioned the post in Tamil, "Dear daughter..."
அன்பு மகளே... pic.twitter.com/GgtnKGyvQ1
— Ilaiyaraaja (@ilaiyaraaja) January 26, 2024
