K Balachander passes away

K Balachander — play write, stage conductor, screenwriter, director, producer, actor and television director — has passed away. Although he worked prominently in the Tamil film industry, Balachander was credited as the man who made Ramesh Aravind, Prakash Raj, Kamal Haasan and Rajinikanth national stars.
Balachander was known as making women-centric movies, and he portrayed women as bold personalities. He was popularly known as Iyakkunar Sigaram, or ‘the director who scaled the peak’ as his movies were mostly centered on unusual or complicated interpersonal relationships and social themes.
He had won nine National Film Awards, apart from numerous Filmfare Awards. His production house, Kavithalaya Productions, has been producing films since 1981 and has churned out movies in languages like Kannada, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu.