Rise to prominence in Film Scores & Soundtracks (2001 - 2003)

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Thanks to this film's enormous success, Yuvan Shankar Raja eventually broke into the Tamil music scene as offers were pouring in subsequently. He was mainly approached by many young new directors. In 2001 he had three album releases, the first being Thulluvadho Ilamai, collaborating with Selvaraghavan for the first time. The soundtrack album of Thulluvadho Ilamaiparticularly appealed to the younger generation. The film itself, marking the debut of Selvaraghavan's brother Dhanush, released one year later and became a sleeper hit at the Chennai box office. This was followed by Bala's Nandha (2001), for which he received rave reviews. 

He then gained notice by churning out "youthful music" in the college-life based April Maadhathil (2002), the romantic comedy films Kadhal Samrajyam (2002), and Mounam Pesiyadhe (2002), Ameer's directorial debut film, and the triangular love story Punnagai Poove(2002), in which he also made his on-screen debut, appearing in some scenes and one song sequence. At the same time he made his Telugu debut with Seshu and Malli Malli Chudali and also composed for the Tamil films Junior Senior and Pop Carn, starring Malayalam actors Mammootty and Mohan Lal, respectively, all of which performing poorly at the box offices, though.

In 2003 Selvaraghavan's first independent directorial, the drama-thriller film Kaadhal Kondein released, which is considered a milestone for Yuvan Shankar Raja. His work in the film, particularly his background score, was unanimously praised, leading to the release of a separate CD consisting of several film score pieces, a la "Hollywood-style", which was reportedly the first film score CD release in India. Furthermore, the film went on to become a blockbuster, cementing the film's lead artist Dhanush and Yuvan Shankar in the Tamil film and music industry. 

The same year, he worked in Vishnuvardhan's debut film, Kurumbu, which featured the first remix song in a Tamil film. By that time, in a career spanning less than a decade, Yuvan Shankar Raja had established himself as one of the leading and most-sought after music directors in the Tamil film industry, despite working with many newcomers and unknown artists and scoring for mostly low-budget films only.