Auteur who extracted the best from artistes

December 27, 2014 12:45 am | Updated November 16, 2021 06:50 pm IST - VISAKHAPATNAM:

Writer and actor Gollapudi Maruti Rao recalling fond memories working with K. Balachander at a condolence meeting orgnaised by the Vizag Film Society in Visakhapatnam on Friday. - Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam

Writer and actor Gollapudi Maruti Rao recalling fond memories working with K. Balachander at a condolence meeting orgnaised by the Vizag Film Society in Visakhapatnam on Friday. - Photo: C.V. Subrahmanyam

The legendary filmmaker, K. Balachander, was an irreplaceable asset to the world of cinema. He was a mentor to many who have come up in life the hard way.

Probably, he was the only director who was able to switch over from big screen to small screen and vice-versa with absolute ease, actor S.K. Mishro has said.

He was addressing a condolence meeting organised by the Vizag Film Society (VFS) at Andhra University UGC-Academic Staff College on Friday.

He said: “By just looking into one’s eyes, KB was able to judge whether a person can act or not. Such was the brilliance of the filmmaker. Working with him was a unique experience, which no artiste would like to let go.”

Actor and writer Gollapudi Maruthi Rao said that the doyen of south cinema had good command over theatre arts and was able to extract the best from his artistes. He said that KB adopted different yardsticks for actors such as Kamal Haasan, Sarita, Rajinikanth, Prakash Raj, to bring out the best in them.

Recalling his longstanding association with the auteur, noted cinematographer M.V. Raghu said that KB’s flair for the virtual world was like a textbook to most technicians, apart from the actors.

‘Taskmaster’

“His depth of knowledge in cinema was so impeccable that he was a tough taskmaster to impress. It is learnt that in his last days, though he found it hard to recognise Rajinikanth, when the actor visited him in the hospital, he would suddenly wake up from his bed unconsciously just to check out whether the lights and camera were ready to shoot or not,” the cinematographer said.

AU Vice-Chancellor G.S.N. Raju and actors Adams and Vankayala Satyanaryana said how K. Balachander captured the scenic beauty of Visakhapatnam through his lens.

As a token of remembrance, Narava Prakasa Rao of the VFS said that the society would soon be approaching the authorities concerned to put up a statue of K. Balachander on the Beach Road, apart from naming the route stretching from Tenneti Park to Bheemli as ‘Balachander Marg’.

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