Visual poet
FROM studios to the streets, from maudlin family melodramas to nuanced narrations of various other aspects of life, from dialogue-centric reproductions of stage plays to depictions of life with telling silences, Tamil cinema’s transition truly started in the 1970s. Kamal Hassan got his first National Award for Best Actor for the film, while Balu received the Best Cinematographer Award for his magical work behind the camera. In making this film, Balu faced the challenge of distinguishing it from Bharathi Raja’s Sigappu Rojakkal, which has a similar theme and Kamal Hassan in the lead. Balu won five National Film Awards—two for cinematography, for Kokila and Moondram Pirai, and three for direction, for Veedu, Santhiya Ragam and Vanna Vanna Pookkal. Balu’s unfulfilled wish was that the Tamil Nadu government and the film fraternity should take initiatives to preserve the negatives of Tamil films the same way it was done at the Pune National Film Archive.
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