Tamil Director Balachander passes away R.I.P

[Technoglitch]

Director Maniratnam and Actor Raijnikhant at KB home.

 

[Technoglitch]

i liked his most of his films esp, Apoorva ragangal, Sindhu bhairavi, Aval oru Thodarkadhai,Vaname Ellai and Pudhupudhu arthangal. His film Maro Charithra had become cult in southern industry and remade in hindi as EK thujje ke liye.
His films were more women centric and middle class problems and were different.
Arangetram, a film in which the protagonist, a brahmin is forced into prostitution just to support her family in 1973.

 

[whitebunny]

RIP in peace

 

[Technoglitch]

Perhaps some of his best films came in the 1970s and the 80s, when the rest of India also witnessed the emergence of a new form of contemporary cinema that tried to challenge the mainstream. His Arangetram released in 1973 was a shocker and catapulted him into a different league at the regional and national levels.

The movie was about a Brahmin girl getting into prostitution to support her family. It was social drama, but dealt with a subject that was anathema to the generally held values, particularly of the Brahmins. The movie was bold in terms of content and picturisation, but went on to become a commercial success. Incidentally, this was the movie that saw the debut of a grown up Kamal Haasan. The star would remain eternally grateful to Balachander for this break and would go on to play the lead role in many of his future films.

A year later, Balachander produced another strongly woman-centric film Aval Oru Thodarkathai, which dealt with a working woman who struggles to support her thankless family. Other than the performance of the protagonist, it was noted for its poignant writing. The movie, along with its songs, also made waves in Malayalam. It was followed up my another out-of-the-box film, the national award winning Apoorva Ragangal that dealt with the relationship between a young man and much older (and married) woman. With additional twists, the movie had a complex plot in terms of human relationships that had rarely been depicted in Indian cinema. Rajinikanth, a remarkably unusual face then, got his break through this film.

His 1977 movie Avargal also had a strong woman lead who was torn between her lover and former husband. The movie was considered radical for the 1970s. The same decade saw movies that dealt with the drama of human relationships such as Manmadha Leelai and Munru Mudichu, as he continued at his prolific best, writing and directing four to five films in a year.



If the 1970s saw strong woman characters and complex human relationships, in the 1980s, he was particularly sensitive to the socio-political reality of the decade. Along with the regular fare that included commercial blockbusters such as Ek Duje Keliye, and Punnagai Mannan, both featuring Kamal Haasan, he made movies such as Varumayin Niram Sivappu, which was a troubling portrayal of unemployment of educated youth, and Thanneer Thanneer, that dealt with drought.



K Balachander: Rajinikanth's mentor also created strong women characters onscreen

 

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Prakashraj was introduced by KB sir.