P. N. Sundaram (18 March 1934 – 22 March 2010) was an Indian cinematographer and director who worked in over 250 films in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

and

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

film industries. Hailing from a lower middle class family, he struggled in his early years and started working early in life. He started his career as a camera assistant at

Vijaya Vauhini Studios Vijaya Vauhini Studios was one of the premier motion picture movie studios in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is the combination of Vijaya Productions and Vauhini Studios. B. Nagi Reddy (Bommireddy Nagi Reddy) was the founder of Vijaya Produc ...

in the 1950s and later assisted A. Vincent in cinematography. He was one of the founding members of

Film Employees Federation of South India The Film Employees Federation of South India (FEFSI) is an Indian organisation consisting of technicians from the Tamil film industry in Tamil Nadu, India. A total of 23 unions belonging to different trades in the film and television industry ...

and served as the president of the South Indian Cinematographers Association. Sundaram has also directed a few films including seven in Malayalam. ''

Kolilakkam ''Kolilakkam'' () is a 1981 Malayalam-language action thriller film, written and directed by P. N. Sundaram, and starring Jayan. The film was a box office hit. The movie was a remake of the 1965 Hindi film '' Waqt''. Premise Three brothers, ...

'' is one of his best known films in Malayalam.

Jayan Krishnan Nair (25 July 1939 – 16 November 1980), better known by his stage name Jayan, was an Indian actor, naval officer, stunt performer and cultural icon of the 1970s and 1980s. He starred in over 150 Malayalam films. During his film caree ...

, who was the lead actor in the film, died in a helicopter accident during the shooting of its climax. Sundaram won the

Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Cinematographer The Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Cinematographer is given by the state government as part of its annual Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for Tamil (Kollywood) films. The list See also * Tamil cinema * Cinema of India References {{Tami ...

for his work in the 1968 film ''

Uyarndha Manidhan ''Uyarndha Manithan'' () is a 1968 Indian Tamil-language drama film written by Javar Seetharaman and directed by Krishnan–Panju. The film was produced by A. V. Meiyappan, M. Saravanan, M. Kumaran and M. Murugan under AVM Productions. It stars ...

,'' and many other accolades, including awards from

Jayalalithaa Jayaram Jayalalithaa (24 February 1948 – 5 December 2016) was an Indian politician and actress who served as Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for more than fourteen years over six terms between 1991 and 2016. From 9 February 1989 to 5 December 2 ...

, actor and former chief minister of Tamil Nadu. Some of his most notable works include ''

Uyarndha Manithan ''Uyarndha Manithan'' () is a 1968 Indian Tamil-language drama film written by Javar Seetharaman and directed by Krishnan–Panju. The film was produced by A. V. Meiyappan, M. Saravanan, M. Kumaran and M. Murugan under AVM Productions. It star ...

'', ''

Thanga Pathakkam ''Thangappathakkam'' () is a 1974 Indian Tamil-language action drama film, directed by P. Madhavan and written by Mahendran. Based on Mahendran's play of the same name, the film stars Sivaji Ganesan, K. R. Vijaya, Srikanth and Prameela. It ...

'', ''

Vietnam Veedu ''Vietnam Veedu'' () is a 1970 Indian Tamil-language drama film, directed by P. Madhavan and written by Sundaram. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan and Padmini, with Nagesh, K. A. Thangavelu, Srikanth, M. Bhanumathi and Rama Prabha in suppo ...

'', among many others. He has also worked with veteran actors and directors like

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 24 December 1987), also popularly known as M.G.R., was an Indian politician, actor, philanthropist, and filmmaker who served as the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu from 1977 until his death in 1987 ...

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji Ga ...

Sridevi Shree Amma Yanger Ayyappan (13 August 1963 – 24 February 2018), professionally credited with her stage name Sridevi, was an Indian actress who worked in Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada language films. Cited as the "First Female ...

, P. Madhavan and

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...

Selected filmography

*''

'' (1968) *''

'' (1970) *''

'' (1974) *'' Ayodhya (1975 film)'' *'' Aayiram Janmangal'' (1976) *'' Aparadhi (1977 film)'' *''

'' (1981) *'' Kakka '' (1982) *'' Prathijnja '' (1983)

References

External links

* Tamil film cinematographers Malayalam film cinematographers Telugu film cinematographers Cinematographers from Tamil Nadu Malayalam film directors 1927 births 2010 deaths 20th-century Indian film directors Film directors from Chennai 20th-century Indian photographers {{cinematographer-stub