Famous filmmaker A.C. Thirilogachander died of age-related complications on Wednesday afternoon. He was 86 and is survived by a son and a daughter. He was so frail that even the news of his younger son succumbing to cancer a week ago was not conveyed to him.
Arunachala Chengalvaraya Thirilogachander (ACT, as he was known) was the son of an executive and a stern disciplinarian. His father inculcated the habit of reading in the young man. His mother supported his every move to enter the world of movies.
Born on June 11, 1930, he did his schooling in ELM. Fabricius Higher Secondary School, Purasawalkam. He went on to do his M.A. from Pachaiyappa’s College. Even at that time, he used to write stories under the name ‘Miss Chandra.’ He also developed a taste for acting but was fearful of his father’s reaction. He secretly acted in plays for All India Radio .
Filmmaker R. Padmanabhan’s son was a classmate of ACT and he gave him an opportunity to assist in MGR film Kumari in 1950. ACT went on to work in Jupiter Studios under director and veena vidwan S. Balachander. Later, he joined Joseph Thaliath of Citadel Studios.
M. Saravanan of AVM recalled how actor S.A. Ashokan brought a tall handsome young man to him and introduced him as an excellent writer. “ACT narrated two subjects: the first was a social drama and the other, a ‘Raja-Rani’ story. I liked both. ACT went on to direct the latter, Veerathirumagan (1962) and the first — Paarthaal Pasi Theerum — was directed by Bhim Singh.
“The world has lost a good man and I have lost a great friend,” Mr. Saravanan said.
Mr. Saravanan''s brother M. Balasubramanian recalled how they built a grand set for a Hindi film and his father AVM, wanting to exploit the set to its fullest, called ACT and told him to make a movie for the set before it was dismantled — thus was born that super-hit thriller, Adhey Kangal in 1967.
Filmmaker S.P. Muthuraman fondly recalled his guru, saying, “He taught me everything that I can claim to know of cinema and how to handle people. I have had the honour of working for him in a TV serial he made for AVM.”
ACT made about 65 films in his long career and wrote stories for 20 others. His classics include films he made for all the big stars of Tamil cinema. Anbe Vaa , loosely based on Come September , was a classic film of MGR. The actor had so much of faith in the director that he accepted a story that went against the then accepted formula for an MGR film.
In 1967, he made his first film with Sivaji Ganesan — Thangai . This was produced by Balaji and was a turning point in Sivaji’s career as it brought him into the action genre.
ACT then made En Thambi , where he brought in sword fights for Sivaji. They went on to make more than 15 films, including the classic, Deiva Magan , in which Sivaji donned a triple role, Babu and Engiruntho Vandhaal being some of the others.
ACT produced films under the banner Cine Bharath Productions. In 1976, he made the blockbuster hit Bhadrakali . The heroine of the film, Rani Chandra, died in an air crash and ACT had to complete the film, including the climax scenes, using a look-alike and adopting clever camera angles.
In his passing away, the film industry has lost one of its brilliant directors who could balance artistic sensitivity with commercial savvy.
( Mohan Raman is an actor)
