Yuvan Shankar Raja, son of legendary music director Illayaraaja, announced on his micro-blogging page on February 9 that he is now following Islam. “Yes, I follow Islam and I’m proud about it. Alhamdulillah. My family supports my decision and there is no misunderstanding between me and my dad,” he was reported as saying.
A Times of India report said on February 10, ‘While we tried to reach Yuvan regarding this, a source close to the music director revealed, ‘Yuvan was very attached to his mother and soon after she passed away, he started missing her a lot. He also met a spiritual guru, but we cannot say what exactly made him follow Islam,’ and maintained that, he was definitely not inspired by fellow composer AR Rahman (who had converted to Islam) in his decision.
“Yuvan, the source said, has been practising Islam for almost a year now.”
The report added: “He has been doing namaz five times a day all these months. He is not missing his prayers even when he is at work and ensures that he allots time for it at his studio as well,” said the source. The source added that Yuvan is now in the process of converting to Islam. “Currently, he is planning to convert to Islam and is also thinking of going for a change of name. But, he is yet to decide on these. Since it is his personal decision, his family members respect it.”