CHENNAI: For the Dadasaheb Phalke Award jury, Kollywood is a faraway hinterland, unworthy of any reckoning. Tamil cinema came into its radar only in 1996 when thespian Sivaji Ganesan was chosen for the national award. That was 27 years after the ‘Achhoot Kanya’ of Hindi films, Devika Rani, walked away with the golden lotus for the first time. Now, 14 years later the honour has come again to Chennai, only to add yet another feather to the highly decorated hat of K Bala-chander.
Fondly referred to as ‘Iyakkunar Sigaram’, loosely translated as ‘Pinnacle in film direction’, Balachander is a doyen of Tamil film industry, who carved a niche for him during a career spanning five decades. Though it was the late MGR who brought the then amateur drama director into the silver screen by asking him to write the script for the film Deivathai (Godly Mother) in 1964, Balachander never worked with him. Instead, he charted a path of his own even when the industry was under the stranglehold of those two stars.
Experimenting with political and social themes that appealed to the sensibilities of the urban audience, he consciously worked outside the formula set for celluloid blockbusters, despite remaining within the confines of mainstream cinema. In the 1970s, when films were only referred by the name of the lead actors in TN, there came ‘Balachander films’ once in a while, offering aficionados an opportunity to put on their thinking caps and contemplate.
In those times when women were treated as chattels - “Even the great Savitri was there only as a pickle to go with,” as Balachander himself said in an interview 10 years back — he took up feminist themes and churned out memorable women-oriented films touching on the plight of independent-thinking and working women.
Films like Bhama Vijayam (1967), Apoorva Ragangal (1975) and Avargal (1977) of the black and white era are just a few examples of Balachander giving a voice to the emerging liberated woman. That does not mean that romance, which was an integral part of every Tamil movie, was taboo for the auteur. His Telugu movie Maro Charitra (1978) was a runaway hit. It was remade into Ek Duuje Ke Liye (1981) in Hindi.
Sindu Bhairavi (1985) was both feminist and romantic for it was a story of a fan falling in love with a married musician and begetting him a child. He touched on themes like marital discords and infidelity with aplomb and often came up with solutions that sometimes conformed to social norms but other times were revolutionary. He found subjects like youth rebellion, unemployment, poverty and neglect of villages fit for story lines that were attractive for normal filmgoers.
His movie Thaneer Thanneer (Water, water - 1981) was an example of his concern for rural development and Pattina Prevasam (City Entry - 1977) took a realistic view on the plight of people migrating to the cities in search of jobs.
Balachander produced popular serials also. He made his mark in film production too. A R Rahman got his break in Roja, produced by his company Kavithalaya.
But he will go down in history as the man who gave a break for some of the leading stars of Tamil cinema — Rajinikanth, Kamal Hassan, Sujatha, Saritha and S V Sekhar, to name a few. So even if the award comes in a bit late, at the age of 81, it is, as the cliche goes, better late than never.