Today is my most fav director K.Balachander's B'day. He is 78 yrs young. He is the real Star Maker who created stars like Kamalhassan, Rajnikanth, Sridevi, Jayapradha. Most of the actors like Jayasudha, Sujatha, Saritha, Madhavi, Geetha, Prakash Raj, Naser, S.Ve.Shekar, Dileep, Vivek, Ramesh Aravind, SPB as an actor were introduced by none other than KB.
KB is one person who has influenced or inspired me a lot. My orkut n blogger profile says "I'm a Cocktail of K.B's film characters.." I dont know how I became such an ardent fan of KB and his creations. Mom is a big fan of KB. She only introduced his films to me. I was in 7th or 8th std I guess. I started to understand abt movies. The first KB film that shocked me was "Aval Oru Thodarkadhai". I was attracted by the "Kavitha" character. She is a stubborn, adamant, arrogant to see but soft at heart, egotistic girl. The climax is such a stunning climax. Long ago I read Director Vasanth's interview in a Tamil Weekly that he was stunned by the climax of "Aval Oru Thodarkadhai" and returned home by walk. He forgot his cycle in the Cinema Theater itself.
Though it's a story of Writer Maharishi, the screenplay and dialogues made it a Landmark film. It was dubbed in Malayalam and remade in Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and Bengali. This is one Tamil film which was taken in most of the regional languages.
Then I started watching movies like Apoorva Ragangal, Iru Kodugal, Edhir Neechal, Avargal, Arangetram, Sollathan Ninaikkiren, Thamarai Nenjam, Moondru Mudichu, Sindhu Bhairavi, Manadhil Urudhi Vendum, Punnagai Mannan, Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal, Unnal Mudiyum Thambi, Agni Satchi, Kalyana Agadhigal, etc. again and again (Courtesy: Sun Movies which was ther in 1996-1997). I would have watched Azhagan more than 100 times. It's one of my most fav films which I wud take alongwith me if I'm left in no man's land. Once my Maami's father asked me abt the film I liked at that time and was surprised when I said Thamarai Nenjam. I was in my 7th Std vacation then. The first KB film I watched in a theater was Kalki (In 1996). Before that I watched and liked his teleserials Kaiyalavu Manasu, Kadhal Pagadai, Premi, Jannal, etc. I liked "Kalki" very much though not liked by many. I started to say
"Naan senjadhu write illa; aana naan senjadhu thappilla".
I think my mom would have watched a lot of KB films when I was in her womb. This made me love his films and created a Desire for Direction. I have heard many ppl saying KB as a pervert due to some of the scenes in his movies. Esp the scenes in which women are exploited. But he's the director who took more Women-oriented subjects and never depended on heroes. He's the real revolutionist of Tamil Cinema. After Director Sridhar, KB showed a different view of Tamil Cinema.
My mom was surprised that I like KB movies at my tender age of 12. She often told then that she was not allowed to watch many of his movies before her marriage as they were considered only for Adults. The things I like in KB movies are the screenplay, dialogues which are simple yet sharp, the importance to each and every character of his movies. Be it a living character or non-living character, we canno forget those small roles. For instance, "Irumal thatha" of Edhir Neechal, Rajni's father in Thillu Mullu, Kokila' husband in Kalki, etc. do not exist in the respective movies but they have created an impact. The non-living characters like the doll (Junior) in Avargal, Cash box and red car in Vaaname Ellai, Telephone in Azhagan are also important characters of the films.
I came to know abt the Sahana raga from his films only. He has a passion for this raga i think. He has used it in many of his films. So I created a Dream Girl and named her Sahana.
It's not an ordinary achievement to direct 100 films. That too 95% are Quality films.
Though I dont like Parthale Paravasam, the much-hyped 100th film of KB, Poi, Ninaithale Inikkum, I never ignore them. He's the pioneer in everything. He's the first director who made ppl watch movies for a director instead of stars like MGR n Shivaji Ganesan. During my teen-age I used watch KB films which made me separated from my other friends who considered I have abnormal taste. But now I have some good friends who love KB and his films and that too younger than me. So now I feel that I'm not abnormal.
