Saran (director)

Saran
Born K. V. Saravanan[1]
Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation Director, producer
Years active 1998 – present

Saran is an Indian film director active mainly in Tamil cinema. He was once an assistant to K. Balachander. He now owns a production houses called Gemini Productions and Saran movie factory.

Life and career

Saran's father T. Kulandaivelayudam worked with the directorate of examinations and many of his relatives are teachers. He finished diploma in visual communications from the College of Arts And Crafts and became an instructor in textile designing. But, even as a child, the only thing he wanted to do was direct films.

When he decided to take up the job as an instructor, his father couldn't make sense of it—he was earning about Rs 600, whereas others from his class went into advertising and made big money.

But Saran had a purpose. The institute he taught at was in Kodambakkam, where all the films happen, he wanted to be there, to breathe in that air, that atmosphere.

Saran worked as instructor for a year and, during this time, he did some work with a lady called Mohana who was art director for K. Balachander. KB was the director whom Saran admired above all others. Saran hoped this relationship would be the key to get to him.

At the time, KB was making Unnal Mudiyum Thambi with Gemini Ganeshan and Kamal Haasan. Saran went over to meet him and KB told him that he was too raw. He said he could work with his television company if he liked. Saran turned that offer down, said he only wanted to work on movies, that too with him.

From then on, Saran kept sending him cartoons based on the theme of my asking him for a chance. Then he sent to KB a letter in drama form, as if Saran was the accused and the judge pleads with KB on his behalf, asking him to take him on not for his sake but because it was his first case! Saran took this to KB's house and handed it over to the gardener. Then, he went over to Mohana's house.

Saran told that his life is intuition-guided. As he reached Mohana's house, the phone rang and his intuition told him it was a call from KB. It was and he asked him to come over. That was how he joined him and got into films.

By then, Saran was also a cartoonist for Ananda Viketan. He would do this work at two in the morning, sleep for a bit and get back to work with KB by 7 am. Finally, Saran gave up working as a cartoonist because assisting KB was too demanding. And then, Saran's first film happened.[2]

Saran describes that he "was wondering what would happen if a girl, who is engaged to a particular person, falls in love with someone else" and this formed the basis of his plot for his first film "Kaadhal Mannan".

The film saw veteran music composer M. S. Viswanathan make his acting debut in a supporting role, whilst the lead actress Maanu from Assam and music composer Bharathwaj also debuted.[3] The film's soundtrack gained rave review prior to release.[4] Viswanathan had initially waded away the approach but actor Vivek later convinced him to partake in the film.[5]

The film won positive reviews from critics, with a reviewer praising the film for tackling a taboo subject. The critic claimed that Ajith Kumar "was back at his best", whilst also crediting success to Maanu's performance and Bharathwaj's soundtrack.[6] The film received a good response at the box office. The first copy was worth Rs 22 million, but was only sold for Rs 16 million.[2] Despite all this, it ran 100 days and re-established Ajith Kumar's market after a string of failures.

The producers of the previous collaboration of Ajith Kumar and Saran during Kadhal Mannan, Venkateswaralayam had lost a lot of money on that film so Ajith insisted on doing another film for the studio. Saran initially approached Shalini, who was studying at the time and she refused but after a three-month pursuit, he finally got her to sign on as well.[2] The role of Tulasi Das was initially offered to Amitabh Bachchan who accepted before later pulling out of the film.[7]

The film began production in January 1999 and during the production of the film, the lead pair Ajith Kumar and Shalini fell in love and eventually got married in April 2000.[8][9][10]

The film won predominantly positive reviews upon release with a reviewer describing the film as having an "okay storyline made very good because of its brilliant execution" whilst stating that the "climax is also very well-developed" and praising the performance of Ajith Kumar.[11]

The film went on to become a large commercial success at the box office, extending the lead actor Ajith Kumar's success after his previous film Vaali.[12][13] Ajith went on to purchase Saran a car as a token of gratitude for the success.[14]

His next film was Parthen Rasithen with Simran and Prashanth (their third time pair after successful hits such as Kannethire Thondrinal and Jodi). which did well at the box office And Simran's performance was well praised by critics(Her first Villainous role).

But his next film Alli Arjuna was a flop in spite of a r rahman's compositions. Then he directed a film for Vikram in a production under AVM productions in Gemini, it became a mass success at the time, it made Vikram very popular and Gemini, one of the hit film, Ajith neglect to act because of his Racing Career Then he directed Jay Jay with Madhavan which was an average grosser. After Jay Jay Saran works for the first time with Kamal Hassan in Vasool Raja MBBS which was a remake of the Hindi film Munna Bhai M.B.B.S., the film received positive reviews and was a commercial success. His next film is again with Ajith in Attahasam also this film became a commercial success. After this films Saran directed Idhaya Thirudan with Jayam Ravi and Kamna Jethmalani, was produced by veteran Director K. Balachander, The film received negative reviews and was later considered a flop at the Box-office. His next venture is Vattaram with Arya the film received positive reviews and was a 'Hit'. Later he directed Modhi Vilayadu starring Vinay Rai and Kajal Aggarwal, the film was released on 24 July 2009 to mixed reviews but fared poorly at the box office. His next film is Asal in this film Saran works once more with Ajith the film meets negative reviews but was an average grosser at the box-office. His new movie Ayirathil Iruvar starring Vinay Rai is said to release soon.

Saran now, has a wife Sooba Saran, and two kids Sanjanaa Saran and Sanjith Saran.

Filmography

Year Film Credited as Language Notes
Director Writer Producer
1998 Kadhal Mannan Green tick Green tick Red X Tamil
1999 Amarkalam Green tick Green tick Red X Tamil Remade in Kannada as Asura
Remade in Telugu as Leela Mahal Center
2000 Parthen Rasithen Green tick Green tick Red X Tamil Remade in Telugu as Naa Manasistha Raa
2002 Alli Arjuna Green tick Green tick Red X Tamil
2002 Gemini Green tick Green tick Red X Tamil Remade in Telugu as Gemeni
2002 Gemeni Green tick Green tick Red X Telugu
2003 Jay Jay Green tick Green tick Red X Tamil
2004 Vasool Raja MBBS Green tick Green tick Red X Tamil Remake of Munnabhai M.B.B.S
Attagasam Green tick Green tick Red X Tamil
2005 Aaru Red X Red X Green tick Tamil
2006 Idhaya Thirudan Green tick Green tick Red X Tamil
Vattaram Green tick Green tick Green tick Tamil
2007 Muni Red X Red X Green tick Tamil
2009 Modhi Vilayadu Green tick Green tick Red X Tamil
2010 Aasal Green tick Green tick Red X Tamil
2016 Aayirathil Iruvar Green tick Green tick Green tick Tamil Filming
2017 Aal Ambu Senai Green tick Green tick Green tick Tamil,Hindi,Telugu Filming

References

  1. ↑ http://tamilfilmdirectorsassociation.com/profile.php?sno=1640
  2. 1 2 3 http://www.rediff.com/movies/2000/feb/10saran.htm#4a
  3. ↑ http://www.indolink.com/tamil/cinema/Specials/97/Oct/a-z/atoz-3.htm
  4. ↑ "Time to Rock!". The Times of India. 4 January 2010.
  5. ↑ http://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movie-news-1/dec-08-04/m-s-viswanathan-22-12-08.html
  6. ↑ http://www.indolink.com/tamil/cinema/Reviews/articles/kmannan.htm
  7. ↑ "Rediff on the Net, Movies: Where is Karisma?". Rediff.com. 30 April 1998. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  8. ↑ "Tamil Nadu / Tiruchi News : From a child artiste to badminton player". Chennai, India: The Hindu. 15 September 2006. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  9. ↑ "Talk of the Town". Chennai, India: The Hindu. 26 April 2000. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  10. ↑ "Rediff on the NeT, Movies: The Ajit-Shalini romance". Rediff.com. 15 September 1999. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  11. ↑ "Amarkalam – Tamil Movie Review". Thiraipadam.com. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  12. ↑ "rediff.com, Movies: Gossip from the southern film industry". Rediff.com. 14 June 2000. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  13. ↑ "Filmfare – Print Edition". Downloads.movies.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
  14. ↑ "rediff.com, Movies: Gossip from the Southern film industry". Rediff.com. 11 August 2000. Retrieved 4 January 2012.
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