Film Director, Playwright and Producer
Birth
K.Balachander was born on 9th July 1930 to Dandapani Kailasam and Saraswathi in Nannilam of Tanjavur District in Tamil Nadu .
Education
He got an undergraduate degree in Zoology at Annamalai University in Chennai .
Personal Life
K.Balachander married Rajam Balachander. He had three children Kailasam, Prasanna and Pushpa. His daughter Pushpa Kandaswamy was the chairwoman for the Production house Kavithalaya Productions. His son Prasanna was a Chartered Accountant and CEO of a Bank in India. Balachander’s elder son Kailasam was the head of the TV series, who died in the year 2014.
Life Career
In 1949, K.Balachander started his career as a School teacher in Muthupet in Tiruvarur District and as the playwright. He worked as an apprentice clerk in the accountant general’s office in Chennai in 1950. During this period, he got the admission into the “United Amateur Artiste”, a drama troupe. There K.Balachander with his friends began the amateur theatre group. He came to height as an amateur playwright, by writing in English with Major Chandrakanth. In 1965, he made his debut as a Director through the Tamil movie “Neerkumizhi”.
Movie Career
His acting troupe had the artists in the Tamil movie Industry like Nagesh, Major Sundarrajan, Sreekanth and Sowcar Janaki. He had produced and directed many movies like Neerkumizhi, Server Sundaram, Nanal, Mezhuguvarthi and Navagraham. . All these films got huge criticism. Other notable movies of him were Apoorva Raagangal, Varumayin Niram Sigappu, Avargal, 47 Natkal and Sindhu Bhairavi. He became famous for directing female-centric movies.
His film “Sollathaan Ninaikkiren” was based on a novel. Next film of him, NaanAvanIllai was unsuccessful, but the lead actor of that movie Gemini Ganesan won the Best Tamil Actor award in the Film fare Awards ceremony. His film “Aval Oru Thodar Kathai” was the story of a working woman. This story revolves around the struggles faced by that woman who hails from the poor family. Next actress Sridevi was chosen by him to play the lead role in the movie Moondru Mudichu. Later his film Aboorva Raagangal gave the introduction of actor Rajinikanth into the Tamil movie industry. Even though this film got huge criticisms, still it won three National Film Awards.
The best Telugu movies of him were Maro Charithra, Akali Rajyam and Rudraveena. Other than the movies, he had given successful serials like Kadhal Pagadai, Alavu Manasu, Jannal Anni, Premi and many others. He had worked with many music Directors like M.S.Viswanathan, V.S.Narasimhan, V.Kumar, Ilaiyaraaja, Maragathamani and A.R.Rahman.
Notable Movies of K. Balachander
K.Balachander got an offer to write the dialogues for the MGR movie “Dheiva Thaai” in 1964. Though he was not interested to accept this offer, later he accepted as per his friends advice. Duirng this time, he got a job promotion as a superintendent in his office. Balachander made the screenplay for the movie Server Sundaram for which , actor Nagesh took the lead role and Panju Arunachalam was the Director. This movie got a Certificate of Merit for the third Best Feature Film In Tamil with several appreciations.
His film Bama Vijayam in 1967 was a comedy family movie. After the success of this film, he remade that in Telugu. Again with the success of that movie in Telugu, he remade that as “Teen Bahuraniyan” in Hindi. Later in 1969, his movie Iru Kodugal was a family drama with Gemini Ganesan in the lead role. This film “Iru Kodugal” had won the National Film Award for the Best Feature Film.
He gave a successful Hindi movie Ek Duuje Ke Liye in 1981, for which he got the two Film fare nominations, one for the Direction and the other was for the best story. His film “Sindhu Bhairavi” was also the notable film in the Tamil film Industry. This movie was musically hit during the year 1985. The heroine of this film had won the National Award for this movie.
He made a plan for the movie Thillana Thillana in 1988, but later he dropped this plan. His other movies were Parthale Paravasam and Poi. His movie “Poi” was released in 2006. Later in 2015, “Uthama Villian” was his last movie in which he took the role of the Margadharasi.
K.Balachander’s Bollywood movies
He came back with the movie “Ek Duuje Ke Liye” into the Bollywood in 1981. He chose actress Rati Agnihotri as heroine for that movie. In this film, Kamal Haasan was the hero as he had done that role in the Telugu movie Maro Charitra. With this movie, S.P.Balasubrahmanyam was debut into the Hindi film industry. This film gave a box-office success but got huge criticisms. Then the song “Tere Mere Beech Mein” in the film became the hit song.
Introduction of Actors to film Industry
K.Balachander had done the introduction of Rajinikanth for the supporting character in the movie “Apoorva Raagangal”, after recognizing that Rajini had special thing. He was the one to introduce the famous heroines like Srividhya, Sridevi, Jayasudha, Jayachithra, Saritha and Sujatha. He introduced the supporting actors like Delhi Ganesh, Charlie, Nassar and Madan Bob.
Achievements of K. Balachander
He had debut many actors like Rajinikanth, Kamal Hassan, Vivek and Prakashraj in the South Indian film Industry. He had a strong belief that cinema, theatre and Television were the three medium of Entertainment. K.Balachander was known as the Iyakunar Sikaram which means the Top Director.
Awards for K. Balachander
In 1973, K.Balachander won the “Kalaimamani” award from the Government of Tamil Nadu. He won the honorable award, Padma Shri from the Government of India for his contribution in arts in 1987. In 1992, he got the Arignar Anna award from the Tamil Nadu Government. In 2010, he won the Dadasaheb Phalke Award, the highest award for Cinema Personalities. He also got the ANR National Award from the Government of Andhra Pradesh.
Death
K.Balachander died on 23rd December 2014, due to the urinary tract infection and age problems.