Remembering Master Director A.C. Thirulokachander on his 95th Birth Anniversary

A.C. Thirulokachander was born on 11 June in 1930. He began his film career as an assistant director in MGR’s 1952 film, Kumari.

After working on the story and script for Vijayapuri Veeran and Paarthaal Pasi Theerum, he made his directorial debut in the hit film Veerathirumagan.

His second directorial, Naanum oru Penn, released on 7 June 1963 and went on to win the National Award for Best Film and later the Filmfare Award for the same category.

Thirulokachander’s 1965 film Kaakum Karangal starred S.S. Rajendran and Vijayakumarie in the lead roles and marked the acting debut of Sivakumar.

A.C. Thirulokachander was chosen to direct AVM Productions’ 50^th film, Anbe Vaa which also marked the first colour venture pf AVM Productions. The film starred MG Ramachandran and B. Saroja Devi. It was a complete change of screen image for MGR who had been playing action roles until then. His acceptance to star in a romantic comedy was based purely on his faith in Thirulokachander. This film has since attained cult status.

Five months after the release of Anbe Vaa came the Gemini Ganesan tear-jerker, Ramu.

Then came Sivaji Ganesan’s first action role in K Balaji’s Thangai. This film also went on to achieve cult status.

Thirolokachander’s 1967 suspense thriller, Athey Kanngal was one of the early films that combined the elements of a horror film and a murder mystery and did so very successfully. Ravichandran and Kanchana headed an all-star cast.

Thirulokachander won the Tamil Nadu state award for Best Story Writer for his 1967 venture, Iru Malargal which released six months after Athey Kanngal. Iru Malargal starred Sivaji Ganesan, KR Vijaya and Padmini.

Thirulokachander’s 1969 film Deiva Magan marked the first triple role for Sivaji Ganesan and the first Tamil film to be submitted as India’s entry to the Oscars.

H efollowed the success of Deiva Magan with successive Sivaji Ganesan starrers like Anbalippu, Enga Mama, Engirundho Vandhal,and Babu.

He would continue his association with Sivaji Ganesan well into the 1980s and had mixed success with films like Bharatha Vilas, Dr Siva, Anbe Aruyire, Avanthaan Manithan, Pilot Premnath, Vishwaroopam, Vasanthathil oru Naal, Lorry Driver Rajakhannu, Kudumbam oru Kohyil and his last Tamil film and penultimate film as director – Anbulla Appa.

Thirulokachander is still fondly recognized as a director with the Golden touch. Although not all his films enjoyed the same level of success, his films were always entertaining.

A.C. Thirulokachander passed away on 15 June 2016.