Every musician draws inspiration from a different music style, while music director M.S.Viswanathan use to compose music based on Carnatic music, Ilayaraja used to compose music based on folklore mixed with western music, having worked with both the legends Rahman followed a separate style of composition by drawing influence from Hindustani music. Rahman debuted as a music director through Roja movie. Roja was a blockbuster musical hit because of Rahman’s new style. Surprisingly that year there was a tie between Kshatriya Putrudu of Ilayaraja and Roja of Rahman in National Awards jury for the best music director. Both the music directors got equal votes, it was Balu Mahendra, director, cinematographer and a good friend of Ilayaraja, who voted for Rahman to encourage new talent, with his one vote majority, Rahman won the National Award for his first film Roja.
