Tamil cinemas veteran producer and director Panchu Arunachalam passed away at his residence in Chennai on Tuesday.
Fondly called Panchu in the industry, he was a legendary screenwriter, lyric writer and producer. He transformed Super Star Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan into commercial heroes through his intelligent writing. He also has to his credit the fact of introducing Ilaiyaraaja through his film Annakkili in 1976.
Panchu Arunachalam started his career as an assistant to ‘Kaviyarasu’ Kannadasan in 1958. In a career spanning 47 years, he has written original stories for more than 45 films, screenplay and dialogue for over 90 films, written over 300 film songs in 150 films, produced 45 films, directed four films and distributed over 400 films.
His banner PA Arts was one of the leading production houses in the early 1970's and 80's and was behind many blockbusters of Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan.
Panchu Arunachalam is one of the all-time favourite producers of Rajinikanth and has a record collaboration of more than 20 movies with him.
Messages of condolence from the film fraternity have been pouring in on social media.
(Content provided by Digital Native)