Documentary captures vignettes of Panchu’s writerly life

Scriptwriter, lyricist, producer, director and visionary — juggling roles came easily to Panchanathan Arunachalam, fondly called Panchu, who lived and breathed cinema. In the 1980s, he was also among the select few who had found the key to the box office. But what is probably difficult to fathom is how the man behind blockbusters mastered his discerning eye for good scripts. Delving into such facets of Arunachalam’s life and works is documentary film ‘Creator with Midas Touch’. Directed by G Dhananjayan, the film tries to highlight Arunachalam’s contribution to Tamil commercial cinema.

"Panchu sir was beyond chartbusters. He redefined cinema in the 1970s promoting talents like Ilayaraja, Kamal Hassan and Rajinikanth," says Dhananjayan. Made during the time when Arunachalam was ailing, the 135-minute documentary took more than a month for Dhananjayan to piece together more than 40 years of work. "His illness made it difficult for him to talk for more than a couple of hours but I wanted to hear the story from him," says Dhananjayan. The film has voices of several stalwarts from Kollywood including actors Rajinikanth and Sivakumar, filmmakers Bharathirajaa and J Mahendran and music composer Ilaiyaraaja.

Rajinikanth’s observation in the documentary, "Though Balachander introduced me to cinema, it was Panchu who made me a star," perhaps gives an idea of his ingeniousness. At a time when Rajinikanth was becoming famous as a villain, Arunachalam took the risk of reversing his character into a positive one in ‘Bhuvana Oru Kelvikkuri’, and the rest, as they say, is history. "He had a clear idea about how a film should be shot, his writing was so detailed that it was a director’s delight to translate it on celluloid," says Dhananjayan. "Not many realise that he was a towering figure who chose to be scriptwriter and producer when he could have been a lyricist or director," says Dhananjayan.

The training ground for Arunachalam was at his uncle, poet and lyricist Kannadasan’s office. "He used to narrate stories to his friends while on their way back from school. Later, when directors like A P Nagarajan used to visit Kannadasan for a narration, he would keenly listen to them and have his own take on those stories."

The film is now doing the rounds in the film festival circuit and it will be commercially released in March next year.

One who could give a dramatic twist to any story or spice up any situation, Arunachalam through this documentary will live on for the new generation of filmmakers, feels director J Mahendran. "Panchu belonged to an era when screenplay writing was a serious profession. Now there are hardly any dedicated writers. The documentary is the best gift for the present generation," Mahendran adds.

Email your feedback to southpole.toi@timesgroup.com


Stay updated with the latest news on Times of India. Don't miss daily games like Crossword, Sudoku, and Mini Crossword.