A. C. Thirulokachandar (11 June 1930 – 15 June 2016), also known as A. C. Tirulokchandar, was an Indian film director and screenwriter who worked mainly in Tamil films from the 1960s to 1988. He also directed a few films in

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

and Telugu. His 1969 Tamil film ''

Deiva Magan ''Deiva Magan'' (; ) is a 1969 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by A. C. Tirulokchander. An adaptation of the Bengali novel '' Ulka'' by Nihar Ranjan Gupta, it stars Sivaji Ganesan in three roles and Jayalalithaa, with ...

'' was the first South Indian film to be submitted by India in contest for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

Career

During the making of the film ''Kumari'' in 1952, A.C. Tirulokchandar was working as a junior assistant on the sets and during the shooting of this film became a close friend of

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 24 December 1987), also popularly known as M.G.R., was an Indian politician, actor, philanthropist, and filmmaker who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death in 1987 ...

. Producer A. V. Meiyappan noticed his talent and gave A.C. Tirulokchandar his break as the director in 1962 film '' Veerathirumagan''. With the success of his debut film, he got one more film to direct under

AVM Productions AVM Productions is an Indian film production studio founded by A. V. Meiyappan. It is the final oldest survived studio in India. The filming studios are located in Vadapalani, Chennai. It has produced over 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, ...

which was bilingual made simultaneously as ''Main Bhi Ladki Hoon'' in Hindi and as '' Nannum Oru Penn'' (1963) in Tamil. The latter won the

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil The Indian Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several aw ...

at 11th National Film Awards and also won

Filmfare Award The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Hindi-language film industry of India.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were first introduced by th ...

for

Best film This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards. Best Actor/Best Actress *See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress# ...

. With this, he became a permanent fixture as director with AVM. He became like the fifth son of Mr. A. V. Meiyappan and became close friend of A.V.M.Saravanan. Tirulokchandar directed the fiftieth film produced by AVM banner – '' Anbe Vaa'', a romantic comedy film, in 1966 with M.G. Ramachandran in the lead. He directed the films produced by K. Balaji – '' Thangai'' (1967), ''

En Thambi ''En Thambi'' () is a 1968 Indian Tamil-language film, directed by A. C. Tirulokchandar. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan and B. Saroja Devi, with K. Balaji and Nagesh in supporting roles. It is a remake of 1966 the Telugu film ''Aastiparulu.'' ...

'' (1968), '' Thirudan'' (1969) and ''Engiruntho Vanthaal'' (1970) which were Tamil remakes of blockbuster films in other languages. He was not only adept at directing social dramas like '' Babu'' (1971) with

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji Gan ...

in the lead, ''

Ramu The Ramu River is a major river in northern Papua New Guinea. The headwaters of the river are formed in the Kratke Range from where it then travels about northwest to the Bismarck Sea. Along the Ramu's course, it receives numerous tributaries ...

'' (1966) with

Gemini Ganesan Ramasamy Ganesan (17 November 1920 – 22 March 2005), better known by his stage name Gemini Ganesan, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He was referred to as the ''Kaadhal Mannan'' (King of Romance) for his romantic roles ...

as the hero but also romantic dramas such as '' Iru Malargal'' (1967) and ''

Anbalippu ''Anbalippu'' () is a 1969 Indian Tamil-language film, directed by A. C. Tirulokchandar and produced by S. Gandhiraj. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan, B. Sarojadevi, Vijayanirmala and Jaishankar. It was released on 1 January 1969, and was a h ...

'' (1969) as well as the romantic comedies '' Anbe Vaa'' (1966) and ''Anbe Aaruyire'' (1975). He was given the task of directing the first bilingual suspense thriller film from AVM banner in 1967 which was '' Ave Kallu'' in Telugu and ''Adhey Kangal'' in Tamil. He directed the pair Sivaji Ganesan and

Jayalalitha Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016) was an Indian politician and actress who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years over six terms between 1991 and 2016. From 9 February 1989 to 5 December ...

in five films – ''

'' (1969), ''

Dharmam Engey ''Dharmam Engey'' () is a 1972 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by A. C. Tirulokchandar. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan and Jayalalithaa, with R. Muthuraman, Kumari Padmini and M. N. Nambiar in supporting roles. It was released on 15 Ju ...

'' (1972), '' Engirundho Vandhaal'' (1970), '' Enga Mama'' (1970) and '' Avanthan Manidhan'' (1975). He directed

Rajesh Khanna Rajesh Khanna () (; born Jatin Khanna; 29 December 1942 – 18 July 2012) was an Indian actor, film producer and politician who worked in Hindi films. He is called as the "First Superstar of Hindi cinema", he consecutively starred in a recor ...

in '' Babu'' in 1985 which became a hit. His other acclaimed Tamil films include ''Thirudan'', ''Aval'', ''Dheerga Sumangali'', ''Vasandatil Oru Naal'', ''Bhadrakali'', ''Anbe Aaruyire'' and ''Bharata Vilas''. He was known to co-ordinate the colour schemes of the actors' outfits with the sets designed for the film.

Personal life

Tirulokchandar had a daughter and two sons, the younger of whom died of cancer in 2016.

Death

Tirulokchandar died on 15 June 2016 at the age of 86. The reason for death was declared as "age-related issues".

Partial filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Tirulokachandar, A. C. 1930 births 2016 deaths Tamil film directors Tamil screenwriters Filmfare Awards South winners People from Vellore district 20th-century Indian film directors Screenwriters from Tamil Nadu Film directors from Tamil Nadu