Daily Times

Veteran Tamil filmmaker GN Rangarajan passed away on Thursday in Chennai due to age related ailments.

He was 90. His son GNR Kumaravelan, who is also a filmmaker, took to Twitter to share the news. “My Father, my mentor , my love passed away today morning around 8.45 am. Need all your prayers to keep my family in strength,” he wrote.

Rangarajan began his career in the film industry in the 1950s by assisting iconic filmmaker A Bhimsingh. He later assisted director SP Muthurama before venturing on his own in the late 1970s. He made his directorial debut with a supernatural comedy Kalyanaraman, which had Kamal Haasan in the lead role. It was the beginning of Rangarajan’s long and successful partnership with Kamal. The director-actor duo delivered a slew of hit movies in the 1980s, including Kalyanaraman, Meendum Kokila, Kadal Meengal, Ellam Inbamayam and Maharasan. Rangarajan admired Kamal so much that he even named his house ‘Kamal Illam.’

Kamal has issued a condolence message, calling Rangarajan’s death ‘a very personal loss’ for him. “From the time I entered films till the time GN Rangarajan died, he had poured unconditional love on me. He carved a niche for himself in Tamil cinema with his hard work. He directed many films that are still admired and rewatched by fans. Following in his footsteps, his son GNR Kumaravelan is also working in the film industry,” Kamal said in his statement.