Teacher’s day special: Famous mentor-protégés duos of Kollywood

It is 5th of September, which means it is Teacher’s Day here in India. Teachers are a major part of everyone’s life, and Kollywood celebs are no exception. There are many actors, directors and music composers, who would not be who they are today, had it not been for their gurus. Let us take a look a few celebs who got a break thanks to their gurus.

Sivaji Ganesan - Kamal Haasan

Kamal Haasan has had many mentors in his life, but none as influential as K Balachander and Sivaji Ganesan. The Ulaganayagan met the late legendary actor when he was just four. Kamal literally learnt everything there was to learn about acting from Sivaji. The Nadigar Thilagam took young Kamal under his wings and is the reason why he is such an amazing actor today. When we think about the two, the first movie that comes to mind is ‘Thevar Magan’, where Sivaji played Kamal’s father. Interestingly, many would say that the two actors had a similar relation off camera too. Tamil cinema must thank Sivaji Ganesan for bringing out actors like Kamal Haasan and many other greats.

Isai Puyal AR Rahman is one of the best music composers in Indian cinema all thanks to his guru Ilaiyaraja, who is a legend himself. Rahman learned music composition from the maestro when he joined him as his protégé in 1986. Although, the mentor also had something to learn from his student. Rahman was proficient with electronic sounds, which he helped incorporate into Ilaiyaraja’s later compositions, as the maestro was not savvy with it. Nonetheless, there is absolutely no doubt that the Mozart of Madras is a product of Ilaiyaraja.

Believe it or not, all of us have to thank SJ Suryah for films like ‘Ghajini’, ‘Thupakki’ and ‘Kaththi’ in a way because AR Murugadoss would not have been the big director that he is today if it wasn’t for Suryah. Murugadoss worked as an assistant director for Suryah in ‘Kushi’. Later it was Suryah who introduced the ‘Akira’ director to Ajith Kumar, the result of which was the film ‘Dheena’. The first movie of Murugadoss was a smashing hit and Ajith got his title of Thala after this movie. Needless to say, this protégé surpassed his mentor by miles.

Sasikumar started his cine journey as an assistant director under Bala. The two worked together for the Vikram starrer ‘Sethu’ in 2000. It was here that Sasikumar also met Ameer, who also played a big part in shaping Sasikumar’s directing career. But it was under the expert guidance of Bala and his nuance of filmmaking that Sasikumar really gained the confidence to realise his directorial dreams. Even today, Sasikumar raves about Bala and he felt really honoured when the ace director cast Sasikumar as his lead in ‘Tharai Thappattai’. Bala has shaped the career of many, and Sasikumar is surely one of them.

Pa Ranjith worked as an assistant director under Venkat Prabhu, during the filming of ‘Chennai 600028’. Ranjith was really inspired by his mentor and it was evident in his first film ‘Attakathi’. Then came the Karthi starrer ‘Madras’ and that is when Venkat Prabhu knew that his student will surpass him one day and he did. In his third film, he got the golden opportunity to work with Superstar Rajinikanth and the result was ‘Kabali’, which shattered a lot of box office records. Ranjith is all set to work with the Thalaivar yet again.