Nagesh and Muthuraman. Even though he was not the one to discover them, he played a prominent role in shaping their careers. Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth, two leading film actors in Tamil cinema, are often referred to as products of Balachander who has paired with each of them or worked with them as a trio in several films during the 1970s. Rajinikanth was chosen by Balachander to play a key supporting character in Apoorva Raagangal (1975) after noting that "there was something special about him". Sridevi, Srividhya, Jayapradha, Jayasudha, Jayachithra, Sujatha, Saritha were notable heroines that were introduced by Balachander. Nassar, Delhi Ganesh, Charlie, Madan Bob were some of the notable supporting actors introduced by him. After working in a few Kannada films, Prakash Raj was relaunched as an actor in Tamil cinema through his debut Duet (1995) and had also performed in some of Balachander's soap opera productions in the 1990s. Through Manathil Uruthi Vendum, Balachander launched Vivek as an actor, who initially worked with him as his assistant writer, and later went on to become a leading comedy actor. He also launched A.R. Rahman in the film Roja which was his production. When the old era was dominated by commercial action films, Balachander directed socially themed films with women as protagonists usually centred on unusual or complicated interpersonal relationships and social themes. He portrayed women as headstrong, intelligent and independent people. Balachander revealed that many of his messages from his films, he has drawn inspiration from poet Subramaniya Bharathi whom he had admired since his childhood. Screenwriter Gopu (of Gopu-Babu) said that he used to begin his script from the ending and then construct the plot. Filmography Awards and nomination Documentary A documentary is getting ready about him. Ravisubramaniyan is selected by Kavidalaya for making documentary, to be released on 9 July 2020, the 90th birthday of the veteran Indian filmmaker. Notes Bibliography External links 1930 births 2014 deaths Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Tamil film directors Indian male screenwriters Tamil-language film directors People from Tiruvarur district Telugu film directors Hindi-language film directors Kannada film directors Dadasaheb Phalke Award recipients Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners Filmfare Awards South winners Filmfare Awards winners Nandi Award winners Annamalai University alumni Recipients of the Kalaimamani Award 20th-century Indian film directors 21st-century Indian film directors Tamil dramatists and playwrights Indian male dramatists and playwrights Film directors from Tamil Nadu