Veteran Tamil director, CV Rajendran, passes away at 81

Tamil filmmaker CV Rajendran passes away at 81.

Director CV Rajendran, known for his work in Tamil, breathed his last on Sunday morning in Chennai due to prolonged illness. The director was 81. He passed away at a private hospital in Chennai where he had been admitted for his illnesses.

Rajendran was the brother of popular Tamil filmmaker Sridhar, the man behind several yesteryear classics such as Kadhalika Neramillai. Rajendran began his film career assisting Sridhar on films such as Nenjam Marapadhillai. Rajendran made his debut as a filmmaker with the 1967 film Anubavam Pudhumai. He went on to make several films not just in Tamil but also in Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. Rajendran was known for his equation with Shivaji Ganesan. In fact, the duo had worked on a total of 14 films together. Some of the memorable films include Galatta Kalyanam, Sumathi En Sundari, Ullasa Paravaigal. Rajendran has worked with a wide assortment of artists including Jayalalithaa, Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Rajkumar, Jeetendra, Jaishankar, Vishnuvardhan V Ravichandran, and Srinath. Rajendran was also the producer of the film Once More, which starred Shivaji Ganesan and Vijay in key roles. Ironically, two of his films with Shivaji — Paava Manipu and Raja, are set to re-release soon on the big screen.

The final rites will take place on Wednesday after his children reach Chennai. Several film personalities have taken to Twitter to express their regret.

RIP #CVRajendran , popular yesteryear director. He had directed many popular films with top actors including the legendary Sivaji Ganesan.

— Sreedhar Pillai (@sri50) April 1, 2018

Very sad to know the passing away of one of the finest Directors #CVRajendran sir. May his soul rest in peace …he directed many popular films with top Actors 🙏🙏🙏 pic.twitter.com/eW0Sj0gxt3

— Dhananjayan Govind (@Dhananjayang) April 1, 2018

Producer Dhananjayan Govind tweeted, “Very sad to know the passing away of one of the finest Directors #CVRajendran sir. May his soul rest in peace …he directed many popular films with top Actors ” Senior film critic Sreedhar Pillai tweeted, “RIP #CVRajendran, popular yesteryear director. He had directed many popular films with top actors including the legendary Sivaji Ganesan.”‘