CHENNAI: Veteran writer, director, actor and a musician K Bhagyaraj passed away after suffering a massive cardiac arrest in Chennai on Saturday. He was 73.
The outstanding student from the Bharathirajaa school, Bhagyaraj emerged as a trendsetter with his remarkable screenplays in his films like ‘Suvar Illaadha Chithirangal’, ‘Darling Darling Darling’, ‘Mundhaanai Mudichu’, and ‘Chinna Veedu’ in the eighties.
Out of pure passion for cinema, Bhagyaraj left his hometown of Vellakovil (then part of Coimbatore district, now in Erode) to pursue a career in films. He assisted filmmaker G Ramakrishnan before shifting to the sets of Bharathirajaa’s debut project ‘16 Vayadhinilae’. Their association, which was popular as BB, became a turning point for Tamil cinema and remained an enduring partnership for years to come.
Under Bharathirajaa’s mentorship, Bhagyaraj not only honed his skills as an assistant but also learnt the nuances of every craft that made him versatile.
Mourning the filmmaker’s death, lyricist Vairamuthu revealed it was Bhagyaraj’s version of the climax that made the final cut in ‘Kizhakke Pogum Rail’ helmed by Bharathirajaa.
While it is common for directors to turn actors, many lost the plot, but Bhagyaraj’s writing and direction skills got better with each film in which he donned the greasepaint. ‘Indru Poiye Naalai Vaa’, ‘Suvar Illaadha Chithirangal’ and ‘Mundhaanai Mudichu’ are diamonds of his directorial journey.
Breaking different and difficult barriers, Bhagyaraj became the most sought-after director even by Bollywood stars like Amitabh Bachchan, who invited him to direct ‘Aakhree Raasta’, the remake of ‘Oru Kaithiyin Dairy’, for which he penned the screenplay with a different climax that was much talked about in those days. It did not stop there. Anil Kapoor, in his prime, invited Bhagyaraj after watching ‘Veetla Visheshanga’, which was later remade into Hindi as ‘Mr Bechara’ with Kapoor as the lead.
After the box-office success of ‘Mr Bechara’, Bhagyaraj’s films fetched high TRP ratings in the Hindi satellite circuit. Soon, the Hindi remake of ‘Vettiya Madichu Kattu’ happened with Krishan Kumar, as ‘Papa The Great’.
An all-rounder and a man with a Midas touch, Bhagyaraj also composed music and debuted as a music director for his own film ‘Idhu Namma Aalu’. He continued his tryst with music in ‘Aararo Aariraaro’, ‘Pavunnu Pavunnudhan’ and ‘Gnanapazham’. He also did music for Prabhu Ganesan’s ‘Ponnu Paaka Poren’ directed by N Murugesh.
Reacting to Bhagyaraj’s death, director R Parthiban called it the saddest day of his life, as he lost the most valuable person in his life, while Vairamuthu said he lost a good friend.
Tamil industry has lost yet another icon in just a span of 17 days of director Bharathiraja’s death – one of his many students, the veteran actor-turned writer and filmmaker, K Bhagyaraj, who breathed his last on Saturday in Chennai. He was 73.
Some of his blockbuster-directorial are Suvarillatha Chithirangal, Oru Kai Osai, Mouna Geethangal, Indru Poi Naalai Vaa, Andha 7 Naatkal, Mundhaanai Mudichu, Dhavani Kanavugal, Chinna Veedu, Sundara Kaandam, Idhu Namma Aallu, and Sokka Thangam – some of which ran in theatres for almost a year.
With all the dramatic elements featured in his films, I was fully prepared to meet a filmmaker who was equally excitable. But the person I met was a revelation. An epitome of calm and warmth, the man spoke very little but every sentence was thoughtful and measured. Though I had met him several times, I’ve always been amazed at how comfortable he was with himself.
I recall a time while sitting at his home-cum-office, I had told him that he must have been one of the happiest directors in Indian cinema at the time. Without a second thought, he replied, “Writer. Writing irundhadhaane direction.” (Only with good writing, you’d get good direction).”
That sums up everything he believed in as a filmmaker. And, the reason why some of his iconic films and the characters in them are still memorable is because they are people you meet in real life. “Many characters you’ve seen in my films are people I’ve met in my hometown Vellankoil (present day Erode) as a teenager. I can’t say much about the characters I’ve played, but my best friends Palanichamy and Ramli in Indru Poiye Naalai Vaa, for instance, are like the men you’d find everywhere. What I meant to say is, when these things are written for a film, it’s half the job done. So writing is the core for any film,” he elaborated.
Bhagyaraj was also at the helm of the South Indian Film Writers’ Association, where he took allegations of plagiarism by several budding writers seriously. He was also against the writing culture in Tamil cinema and opined that there should be a proper film-writing school for aspirational writers. “Screen writing is a different ball game. We need to have a proper infrastructure to encourage more people to write,” he stated.
He told me that as a director, he proud about was finishing his films within the right budget at the right time. “We never abused the privileges when we filmed in reels,” he smiled.
The filmmaker understood commercial sensibilities, and was renowned for scripts that had a deadly combination of nuanced and compact storytelling with characters that were hilarious in their emotional honesty. With his instinctive understanding of what the mass audience needs from his film, he wove humour in the storylines, and not as a separate comedy track.
RIP, Bhagyaraj, while we laugh over the guy still trying to teach someone, ‘‘Ek gao mein ek kissan raghu-thatha.”