BALACHANDER .K

Born in 1930 Balachander, after a long gestation period in the world of amateur drama

units, came to cinema while he was still working in the Accountant

General's office  in Madras.Earlier, he founded his own drama unit,Ragini Recreations, and staged a number

of successful plays. Through M.G.Ramachandran, he got a break as scriptwriter for

Deivaththaai (1964) and made his debut as a director in 1964, with the help of filmmaker

A.K.Velan. The film Neerkumizhi (1965), was based on one of his successful plays.

He founded his own concern, Kavithalaya, and

produced a string of successful movies. He wrote the story and dialogue for many of his films.             

He raised the image of the director in the eyes of filmgoers in Tamil Nadu. As a director, he    

exercised total command over his films, consciously avoiding the undue pressure exerted by stars         

on the filmmaker. This enabled the development of his own unique style.

His films are set in contemporary times, they deal mostly with urban middle

class issues and, in the process, reinforce the value systems and beliefs

held by this class. The endings of his films in particular, conform to

existing middle class mores and sense of morality. His audience consists

mainly of urbanites. He describes himself as a 'middle-of-the-road

filmmaker'. His early films retained quite a few features of the stage, but in

later works like Achchamillai ... Achchamillai (1984) he used outdoor

locales effectively and also began to handle political issues. He has so far

directed 65 films, most of them in Tamil, but also some in Kannada and

Hindi. At one point of his career, after he had made Noolveli (1979), he

began making Telugu films. He is credited with having introduced a

number of artistes who later made their mark in Indian cinema. They

include Kamalahasan, Rajnikanth, Sujatha, S.Ve.Shekar, Babloo, etc.

The Government of India in 1987 awarded him the PadmaShri. Four of

his films Iru Kodugal (1969), Aboorva Ragangal (1975), Thanneer ...Thanneer

and Achchammillai ... Achchammillai won awards from the Government of India as

best regional film.

Awards

Best Screenplay award for the film ‘Thanneer Thaneer’

National integration award of ‘Nargeesdath’ for Telugu Film ‘Rudhra Veena’

‘Best Social Film’  award for the film ‘Oru Veedu Iru Vaasal’ (1991)

National integration award – ‘Nargeesdath’ for producing ‘Roja’ (1993)

Tamil Nadu State Best Film award for ‘Roja’ (1993)

‘Padmashree’  given by the Indian Government on 1987

Tamil Nadu State’s  ‘Kalaimaamani’ award

Pondicherry Union Territory’s ‘Kalai Medai’ award ‘Achiever’ award given by ‘Dinakaran’

Filmfare association award for 12 times

Andhra State’s  ‘Golden Nandhi’ and ‘Silver Nandhi’ awards for his various films

Tamil Nadu State awards for his various Tamil Films.

FILMS
Nanal (1965)
Edhir Neechchal (1968)
Ethiroli (1970)
Punnagai (1971)
Arangetram (1973)
Moondru Mudichchu (1976)
Varumaiyin Niram Sivappu (1980)
47 Naatkal (1981)
Kalyana Agathigal (1985)
Oru Veedu Iru Vasal (1990)
Vaname Ellai (1992)
Jaathi Malli (1994)