C. V. Sridhar

Chitthamoor Vijayaraghavalu Sridhar (22 July 1933 – 20 October 2008) was an Indian screenwriter and film director. He has directed nearly 60 films in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu.
Early life.
Sridhar hailed from Chitthamur, a village near Maduranthakam, Tamil Nadu. He studied at St. Joseph's Higher Secondary School from Chengalpattu where he began writing and staging plays while he was in the Seventh Standard.
Career.
Entry.
In 1951, 18-year-old Sridhar went to AVM Productions with his story "Latchiyavathi" but P. Neelakantan rejected his story. Avvai T. K. Shanmugam was very much impressed by the story and Sridhar wrote the screenplay and dialogues for the drama. It was staged as "Raththa Paasam" and was one of the most successful dramas staged by TKS brothers. Sridhar was proudly taken to the stage and introduced to the audience as the writer. It was later produced jointly by TKS and Jupiter pictures under Jupiter – Avvai Productions where Jupiter pictures recommended some other writer to write the dialogues for the film. It was T. K. Shanmugam who was staunch that Sridhar should write the screenplay and dialogues. Sridhar made his entry into films as a screenwriter in "Ratha Paasam". Later AVM Productions produced it in Hindi as "Bhaai Bhaai" in 1956 starring Ashok Kumar and Kishore Kumar but direction was by R. S. Mani. The film Bhai Bhai gave a big commercial break for the music director Madan Mohan
and the writer Sridhar himself.
Sridhar wrote story and dialogues for "Edhir Paradhathu". Sridhar wrote the dialogues in Tamil for the Telugu movie "Parivartana" and the movie was dubbed in 1955 as "Latchadhipathi". Sridhar continued on writing for films like "Maaman Magal", "Maheswari", "Amara Deepam", "Maadharkula Manikkam", "Engal Veetu Mahalakshmi", "Yaar Paiyan", "Manjal Mahimai", "Uthama Puthiran" and "Punar Jenmam".
While working in Modern Theatres as writer for the film "Maheswari", Sridhar had an opportunity to improve his knowledge and skills about film production. T. R. Sundaram had a huge library of international books about great films and directors, about film production, critical and technical essays. Sridhar had a very high esteem on the legendary director V. Shantaram.
Venus Pictures.
In 1956, Sridhar turned producer along with associates Krishnamoorthi, Govindarajan and Sundararajan in "Venus Pictures" where he scripted "Amara Deepam" and followed by "Uthama Puthiran". Both films had Sivaji Ganesan and Padmini as the main roles. He made his debut as a director with "Kalyana Parisu". This movie ran for more than 25 weeks, and is revered to this day as a milestone in the history of Tamil cinema. After this, he had a huge fan following and his name was talked about among the middle class movie going audience.
Chithralaya.
He started his own production company "Chithralaya" (the emblem was designed by Art director Ganga) in 1961 with his friends Gopu, Vincent, Sundaram and Tiruchi Arunachalam made "Then Nilavu". The latter which had Gemini Ganesan and Vyjayanthimala in the lead was the first Tamil film to be shot in Jammu and Kashmir. He made a series of commercially successful films like "Nenjil Or Aalayam", "Kaadhalikka Neramillai", "Vennira Adai" and many more.
Film-making style.
Sridhar was known as Nava-rasa-director, as he made films in a variety of styles, from the comedy "Kaadhalikka Neramillai" to the serious Kalai-kovil and "Nenjil Or Aalayam". The latter was remade in Hindi with Rajendra Kumar and Meena Kumari as "Dil Ek Mandir" which earn him two nomination at Filmfare Awards, Best Director and Best Story categories. He brought out the best in comedians T. R. Ramachandran, K. A. Thangavelu, and Nagesh, and helped introduce Murthy, Nirmala to a wider audience in "Vennira Adai". Murthy, Nirmala, now a TV and movie comedian, is still referred to as "Venniradai Moorthy", "Venniradai Nirmala" after the fame he received from his performance in the movie. Even the actresses Jayalalitha and Nirmala used to be referred to as Venniraadai Jayalalitha and Venniraadai Nirmala
Sridhar's "Kaadhalikka Neramillai" was one of the greatest blockbusters of Tamil film history. It was later remade in Hindi with actor Kishore Kumar and Shashi Kapoor by himself. Sridhar helped launch the career of many celebrities in Tamil cinema, namely, Saroja Devi in Kalyaana Parisu, R. Muthuraman and Devika in "Nenjil Or Aalayam", Srikanth, J. Jayalalithaa, Vennira Aadai Nirmala and Venniradai Moorthy in "Vennira Adai" ("White Dress"), Ravichandran, Kanchana and Rajasree in "Kaadhalikka Neramillai", Kamal and Rajini in Ilamai Oonjal Aadigirathu, Karthik and Gigi in Ninaivellaam Nithya, Jayashree in "Thendralae Ennai Thodu" and Vikram in "Thanthu Vitten Ennai".
His Bollywood films include "Nazrana" (1961), "Dil Ek Mandir" (1963), "Pyar Kiye Jaa" (1966) and "Gehri Chaal" (1973). "Nazrana", starring by Raj Kapoor, Vyjayanthimala, Usha Kiran and Gemini Ganesan in guest appearance, earned him Filmfare Award for Best Story.The landmark film Nai Roshni directed by him in Hindu had Ashok Kumar, P. Bhanumati, Mala Sinha, Biwajeet and Raajkumar in lead roles and became the 7th highest-grossing film of the year 1967 in Hindi. Subsequently, this film was remade in Tamil as Poovum Pottum directed by Dada Mirasi.
Sridhar's films with Sivaji Ganesan include "Ooty Varai Uravu", "Nenjirukkum Varai", "Sivantha Mann". "Sivanthaman" was the first color movie in Tamil shot at foreign locations. "Dharti", the Hindi version was released in 1970 with Rajendra Kumar, Waheeda Rehman and Sivaji Ganesan in lead roles.
When in 1973, he went through sudden financial problems, at the insistence of Rajendra Kumar he approached M. G. Ramachandran, who suggested that a film be made and using that his financial woes would get resolved. Sridhar then made "Urimai Kural" which was a commercial success in 1974 and went on to direct M.G.R again in "Meenava Nanban" that was released in 1977.
In 1978, he brought together Kamal Hasan, Rajnikanth, Sripriya for romantic film Illamai Oonjal Aadugirathu. Then he remade the same in 1982 in Hindu as Dil-E-Nadan starring Rajesh Khanna, Shatrughan Sinha and Jaya Prada in lead roles. Both versions were successful.
In all his films he used a combination of stars, melodrama and melodious songs. He has directed films in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu.
Sridhar was considered an expert in song picturisation as he could transform any song into sheer poetry. The formidable Sridhar – Kannadasan – M. S. Viswanathan combination held a magic spell on the audience and the songs contributed to the tremendous success of those films.
Retirement and death.
Sridhar, whose career spanned four decades, is credited with understanding the pulse of the public and creating movies in tune with the times. His memoirs Thirumpip Parkkiren [Looking Back], written by Chandra Maouli, was published in 2002.
Sridhar died of Heart attack in Chennai on 20 October 2008.
Filmography.
List of films directed by Sridhar. You may refer to the notes for the extra activities of him in the particular films.