The legend is no more

K Balachander, 83, passed away on December 23 at a private hospital in Chennai after a prolonged illness.

Multi-lingual filmmaker and Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner, K. Balachander, 83, passed away on December 23 at a private hospital in Chennai after a prolonged illness.

Eminent filmmaker and Dadasaheb Phalke Award winner, K. Balachander died on December 23 at a private Chennai hospital after a prolonged illness. Besides many South films, the 84-year old multi-lingual filmmaker, has even directed some Hindi films.

Popularly referred to as Iyakkunar Sigaram (peak among directors), he was also instrumental in intro-ducing several actors who went on to become superstars, including Rajinikant in Apoorva Ragangal, Kamal Haasan in Arangetram,

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Prakash Raj as a villain in Duet, Vivek as a comedian in Manadhil Urudhi Vendum and character artist Nazar with the film Kalyana Agathigal, besides many technicians in theTamil film industry.

Starting his cinematic career as a screenwriter, Balachander graduated as a director with the Tamil film Neerkumizhi in 1965.

His Hindi films include the Rajesh Khanna and Mumtaz-starrer Aaina, Kamal Haasan-Rati Agnihotri-starrer Ek Duje Ke Liye, Kamal Haasan- Raajkumar-Hema Malini starrer Ek Nai Paheli, among others.

In his 49-years of association with film-making, Balachander has won nine National Film Awards, honoured with the Padma Shri in 1987, and has also been a recipient of the ANR National Award and Dadasaheb Phalke Award.

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Balachander is survived by his wife Rajam, son Prasanna and daughter Pushpa Kandaswamy. His another son Kailasam, who was also a director, passed away recently.

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