S. A. Chandrasekar (born 2 July 1945) is an Indian film director, producer, writer, and actor who primarily works within

Kollywood Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywood' ...

. He made his directorial debut with ''Aval Oru Pachai Kuzhanthai'' (1978), He got his breakthrough with ''

Sattam Oru Iruttarai ''Sattam Oru Iruttarai'' () is a 1981 Indian Tamil-language vigilante action film written and directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar, from a story by his wife Shoba. The film stars Vijayakanth, Poornima Devi and Vasumathi, with Sangili Murugan, Nithi ...

'' (1981). He has directed over 70 movies in all south Indian languages, and is known for directing films focusing on

social issues A social issue is a problem that affects many people within a society. It is a group of common problems in present-day society and ones that many people strive to solve. It is often the consequence of factors extending beyond an individual's cont ...

Personal life

Chandrasekhar had a daughter named Vidya; who died at the age of two. His brother-in-law,

S. N. Surendar S. N. Surendar (born 17 February 1953) is an Indian playback singer, dubbing artist and actor who primarily works in Tamil films. He has sung over 500 songs under various music directors for Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Tamil languages. He i ...

is a playback singer and voice artist and his nephew

Vikranth Vikranth is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil language films. He was first introduced in the film ''Karka Kasadara'' (2005) directed by R. V. Udayakumar and later appeared in other romantic drama films. Following his participation in th ...

is an actor.

Film career

Chandrasekar has directed over 70 movies 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 ...

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 ...

. Directors

S. Shankar Shankar Shanmugam (born 17 August 1963), credited as S. Shankar or his mononym Shankar, is an Indian filmmaker who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. He is one of the most prolific and highest paid film directors in India. His films typicall ...

M. Rajesh M. Rajesh is an Indian film director and screenwriter, working primarily in the Tamil cinema, Tamil film industry. Known for making comedy films, he made his directorial debut with ''Siva Manasula Sakthi'' in 2009 and followed it up with ''Boss ...

Ponram Ponraman Perumal, known professionally as Ponram is an Indian film director and screenwriter. He directed the film '' Thirutham in 2007 Varuthapadatha Valibar Sangam'' in 2013. Later on he had directed ''Seema Raja'' in 2018. Career He directe ...

had worked with him as assistants. Some of his hit movies include ''

'' (1981), ''

Chattaniki Kallu Levu ''Chattaniki Kallu Levu'' () is a 1981 Indian Telugu-language film directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar. The film stars Chiranjeevi, Madhavi, Lakshmi, Hema Sundar and Kannada Prabhakar in important roles. It is a remake of the 1981 Tamil film ''Sat ...

'' (1981), ''

Nyaya Ellide ''Nyaya Ellide'' () is an Indian Kannada-language film which was released on 3 September 1982. It is a remake of the Tamil movie ''Sattam Oru Iruttarai'', which was directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar, who also directed the Kannada version of the f ...

'' (1982), '' Palletoori Monagadu'' (1983), '' Saatchi'' (1983), '' Vetri'' (1984), '' Naan Sigappu Manithan'' (1985), ''

Sattam Oru Vilayaattu ''Sattam Oru Vilaiyattu'' () is a 1987 Indian Tamil-language vigilante action film, directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar and produced by Shoba Chandrasekhar. The film stars Vijayakanth, Radha and Ravichandran. It revolves around a man seeking to av ...

'' (1987), ''

Sendhoorapandi ''Sendhoorapandi'' is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language romantic action film directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar. The film stars Vijayakanth, Vijay, Gautami and Yuvarani. It revolves around Vijay (Vijay) who falls in love with Meena. But Meena's brothe ...

'' (1993), ''

Rasigan ''Rasigan'' () () is a 1994 Indian Tamil-language romantic action film written and directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar. The film stars his son Vijay and Sanghavi. The film revolves around Vijay and Anitha secretly love each other but are unable ...

'' (1994), ''

Deva Deva may refer to: Entertainment * ''Deva'' (1989 film), a 1989 Kannada film * ''Deva'' (1995 film), a 1995 Tamil film * ''Deva'' (2002 film), a 2002 Bengali film * Deva (2007 Telugu film) * ''Deva'' (2017 film), a 2017 Marathi film * Deva ...

'' (1995), '' Once More'' (1997) and '' Nenjirukkum Varai'' (2006). He introduced Vijay and directed several films in his formative years such as ''

Naalaiya Theerpu ''Naalaiya Theerpu'' () is a 1992 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar and produced by his wife Shoba Chandrasekhar which marked the debut of their son Vijay as a leading actor. The film which also starred Keertha ...

'' (1992), ''Sendhoorapandi'' (1993), ''Rasigan'' (1994), ''Deva'' (1995) and ''

Vishnu Vishnu ( ; , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism. Vishnu is known as "The Preserver" within t ...

'' (1995). Most of his movies are with

Vijayakanth Narayanan Vijayaraj Alagarswami (born 25 August 1952), better known by his stage name Vijayakanth, is an Indian politician and former actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Leg ...

(19 films) and Vijay (9 films). He also directed Telugu movies such as ''

'' (1981) and '' Palletoori Monagadu'' (1983) with

Chiranjeevi Chiranjeevi (born Konidela Sivasankara Varaprasad; 22 August 1955) is an Indian actor, film producer and former politician, who predominantly works in Telugu cinema. Chiranjeevi starred in over 150 feature films in Telugu language, Telugu, as ...

. He has appeared in supporting roles in some movies such as '' Kudumbam'' (1984), '' Pudhu Yugam'' (1985), ''Naan Sigappu Manithan'' (1985), ''

Neethiyin Marupakkam ''Neethiyin Marupakkam'' () is a 1985 Tamil-language action drama film directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar and produced by Shoba Chandrasekhar. The film stars Vijayakanth, Raadhika, Vadivukkarasi and V. K. Ramasamy. It was released on 27 Septembe ...

'' (1985), ''

Enakku Nane Needipathi ''Enakku Nane Needipathi'' () is a 1986 Tamil-language action drama film, directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar and produced by Kovai Chezhiyan. The film stars Vijayakanth, Jeevitha, Jaishankar and Lakshmi . The film had musical score by Ilaiyaraaja ...

'' (1986), ''

Vasantha Raagam ''Vasantha Raagam'' () is a 1986 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film, directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar and produced by his wife Shoba who wrote the story. The film stars Vijayakanth, Rahman and Sudha Chandran. It was released on 1 August ...

'' (1986), ''

Nilave Malare ''Nilave Malare'' () is a 1986 Indian Tamil-language drama film, directed by Chandrasekhar and produced by Sajan. The film stars Baby Shalini, Nadhiya, Rahman and Manorama. The movie was later dubbed into Malayalam as ''Priyamvadakkoru Pra ...

'' (1986), ''

Neethikku Thandanai ''Neethikku Thandanai'' () is a 1987 Indian Tamil-language film, directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar and written by M. Karunanidhi. The film stars Raadhika, Nizhalgal Ravi, Charan Raj and Senthil. It was released on 1 May 1987. The film was re ...

'' (1987), ''Sattam Oru Vilayaattu'' (1987), ''

Innisai Mazhai ''Innisai Mazhai'' () is a 1992 Indian Tamil-language romantic musical film directed by Shoba Chandrasekhar. The film stars Neeraj, Parveen, Vivek and newcomer Sudhakar. It was released on 12 April 1992. Plot Vijay, Mamta, Michael and Sarava ...

'' (1992), ''Deva'' (1995), ''

Priyamudan ''Priyamudan'' () is a 1998 Indian Tamil-language romantic thriller film directed by Vincent Selva. The film stars Vijay in an antihero role and Kausalya as heroine, while Sujith Sagar plays a pivotal role. The story focuses on Vasanth, a you ...

'' (1998), ''

Sukran ''Sukran'' is a 2005 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written, produced and directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar. The film stars Vijay in an extended cameo as the title character with Ravi Krishna and Anita Hassanandani. The music was co ...

'' (2005) and ''

Kodi KODI (1400 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a news/talk format. Licensed to Cody, Wyoming, United States, the station is currently owned by the Big Horn Radio Network, a division of Legend Communications of Wyoming, LLC, and features programm ...

'' (2016). In the early 2000s, Chandrasekhar slowed down his work as a director and focused on business interests, including on the construction of a three star hotel for his son. In 2000, he began pre-production work on a film titled ''Dhoosi'' with

Sarathkumar Sarathkumar Ramanathan (born 14 July 1954) is an Indian actor, politician, filmmaker, and singer. He has acted in more than 130 Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. He has won two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and three Filmfare Awards S ...

but the project was later shelved. He turned as the lead actor at the age of 70 in ''

Touring Talkies ''Touring Talkies'' is a 2015 Tamil anthology film written and directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar, S.A.Chandrasekhar. The film consists of two stories in which S.A.Chandrasekhar himself acted in the lead role with Kolkata actress Papri Gosh along ...

'' (2015) which is also his last directorial venture. S. A. Chandrasekhar returned after a break with a biopic on social activist '' Traffic Ramasamy'' (2018). In 2019, he directed his 70th film titled ''

Capmaari ''Capmaari'' () is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language adult comedy film written and directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar. The film stars Jai, Athulya Ravi, and Vaibhavi Shandilya. It was also the 25th film of Jai. The music is composed by Siddharth Vip ...

''. Chandrasekhar spoke at the music launch of the movie ''Visiri'' held on November 22, 2018, at Vadapalani Prasad Lab, Chennai. He allegedly said "offering at Tirupati Hundiyal was like a bribe to the deity and one cannot pass the exam by simply making offering to a deity. If the offering to deity can help you pass the exams, you don't need to write the exams and sit at home". He also said that "success can be achieved only by studying." Virugambakkam police registered a FIR against Chandrasekhar on charges of hurting religious beliefs after a complaint filed by

Hindu Munnani Hindu Munnani is a rightwing Hindu nationalist organisation based in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Hindu Munnani was set up by Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) The organisation was founded in 1980 by Ramagopalan, a member of RSS and sinc ...

over his statements.

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chandrasekhar, S. A. Film directors from Tamil Nadu Tamil film directors Living people People from Ramanathapuram district 20th-century Indian film directors 21st-century Indian film directors Telugu film directors Hindi-language film directors Kannada film directors Screenwriters from Tamil Nadu Film producers from Tamil Nadu Tamil screenwriters Tamil film producers Tamil cinema 1945 births