Chennai :
It was a black day for Tamil cinema. The death of K N ‘Panchu’ Arunachalam on Tuesday of cardiac arrest has robbed the industry of one its most celebrated scriptwriters, producers and filmmakers. He was 76.
He wrote down almost 1,000 songs that his famous uncle, the inimitable Kannadasan created, before making a mark.
Known as the man who introduced Illayaraja in ‘Annakilli,’ Arunachalam was a voracious reader who thought differently and came up with scripts that were big commercial hits in 70s and 80s.
While director S P Muthuraman, a distant relative, said his unit grew on a pillar like ‘Panchu’, Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan became commercially successful through his movies. Tamil cinema, dominated till the late 1970s by Sivaji and MGR flicks, changed after his entry. Folk music and village themes became the rage. In ‘Bhuvana Oru Kelvi Kuri’, he practically reinvented Rajinikanth, known until then for negative roles.
It was his scripts that made ‘Bhuvana Oru Kelvikuri,’ ‘Mullum Malarum’, ‘Aarilirunthu Arubathu Varai’, ‘Engeyo Ketta Kural’, ‘Sri Raghavendra’ and others blockbusters. Kamal Haasan, till then considered an A-centre star, in 1982 became popular in B and C centres with Arunchalam-scripted ‘Sakalakala Vallavan,’ the first Tamil film to do a business of Rs 1 crore.
Director Bharathiraja said: “Today, Illayaraja, Gangai Amaran and I are having three square meals only because of Panchu. He was not just a good script-writer, but an amazing personality as well. A good human being, he could be approached for anything at anytime. In fact, for close to 40 movies, I used to run my screenplays through him.”
“He belonged to the golden era of the industry. He studied cinema, breathed cinema. The best gift he got in life is his peaceful death, and friends and well-wishers like us. Respecting artistes was his forte, he took suggestions from one and all… added the director.
Film critic Vamanan said Kamal Hassan and Rajinikanth were lucky to have subjects scripted by him. “Take ‘Kalyanaraman’ or ‘Netrikan.’ Such roles could be pulled off with ease only because of his screen-play and scripts.”
source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / News Home> City> Chennai / TNN / August 10th, 2016