THE ART & MUSIC JOURNAL

  Bharathiraja  (born 23 August 1942) is an Indian film director who works mainly in the  Tamil film industry . Making his debut in 1977 with  16 Vayathinile , he is known for realistic and sensitive portrayals of rural life in his films. As of 2017, he has won six  National Film Awards , four  Filmfare Awards South , two  Tamil Nadu State Film Awards  and a  Nandi Award . He has also directed films in  Telugu and  Hindi . The  Government of India  honoured him with the  Padma Shri  award, India's fourth-highest civilian honour, in 2004 for his contribution to the film industry. Film career Bharathiraja started his film career as an assistant to Kannada filmmaker  Puttanna Kanagal . [3]  Later, he assisted  P. Pullaiah ,  M. Krishnan Nair , [4]  Avinasi Mani and  A. Jagannathan . His first film  16 Vayathinile , for which he wrote the script, broke the then existing convention to create a new genre of village cinema. The film is now regarded as a milestone in the history of Tamil C

J. Alexander   (25 July 1939 – 2 April 2019), known professionally as   Mahendran , was an Indian film director, screenwriter and actor, known for his work in the   Tamil film industry . Mahendran is regarded as one of the greatest film makers of Tamil cinema and has influenced several filmmakers of the generations followed. [3] Mahendran entered the film industry as a screenwriter, writing scripts for nearly 26 films. He made an immediate impact with his first directional venture  Mullum Malarum (1978). Mahendran's next film  Uthiripookkal , based on a short story written by  Pudumaipithan , firmly established him as an important filmmaker in Tamil cinema. His  Nenjathai Killathe  won three  National Film Awards  including the  award for the best regional film . He has also acted in films during the latter part of his film career, including  Kamaraj (2004),  Theri  (2016),  Mersal  Nimir  (2018) and  Petta  (2019). Before his death, he was the head of the direction department of B