A. Bhimsingh or Bhim Singh (1924–1978) was an Indian filmmaker who worked predominantly in

Tamil cinema 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' ...

. Apart from Tamil, he made films in other languages that include 18 films in

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 ...

, 8 films in

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 ...

, 5 films in

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 1 film in

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 ...

. Hailing from Andhra Pradesh, he started his film career as an assistant editor with the film-making duo

Krishnan–Panju R. Krishnan (1909–1997) and S. Panju (1915–1984), collectively referred to as Krishnan–Panju, were Indian film directors. The duo directed more than 50 films in South Indian languages and in Hindi. Early life R. Krishnan was born on 18 ...

in the late 1940s. Later, he became an assistant director before evolving as an independent director. His films mainly dealt with family and relationships. He made a series of films all of which started with the

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 ...

syllable ''pa'', mainly with

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 ...

Personal life

Bhimsingh was married to Sona, sister of Krishnan, in 1949. He had eight children with her; one of his eight children,

B. Lenin B. Lenin born as Bhimsingh Lenin is an Indian film editor, writer and director who works in Tamil language, Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi language, Hindi films. The son of Tamil film maker A. Bhimsingh, Lenin entered the film industry as an assistan ...

is a film editor, and another son of his,

B. Kannan Bhimsingh Kannan (10 January 1951 – 13 June 2020) was an Indian cinematographer who worked in Tamil and Malayalam films. He was known for his association with Director Bharathiraja and was referred to as "Bharathirajavin Kangal" (Bharathiraja' ...

, is a cinematographer, who is known for his frequent collaborations with many of

Bharathiraja Bharathiraja (born 17 July 1941) is an Indian film director and actor who works mainly in the Tamil film industry. Making his debut in 1977 with ''16 Vayathinile'', he is known for realistic and sensitive portrayals of rural life in his films. ...

. Later, Bhimsingh's eldest son Naren married Panju's daughter. Bhimsingh was also married to actress

Sukumari Sukumari Amma (6 October 1940 – 26 March 2013) was an Indian actress best known for her works in Malayalam and Tamil films. In a career spanning more than five decades, She has appeared in more than 2500 films predominantly in Malayalam, Tam ...

in 1959 and has a son Suresh Bhimsingh.

Filmography

''Pa'' series

Many of Bhimsingh's films began with the syllable ''Pa'', starred Sivaji Ganesan, had music by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy, and lyrics by Kannadasan. According to Ganesan, Bhimsingh hardly imagined that he would make a series of films that began with the letter ''Pa'', implying that he "might have thought about it at first because his name starts with the same letter in Tamil. Later he might have decided to stay on with this letter for sentimental reasons."

As an actor

*1975: Cinema Paithyam

Recurring collaborators

Bhimsingh frequently associated with the same crew members. These included the assistant director duo Thirumalai–Mahalingam (who later became proper directors on films produced and written by Bhimsingh), cinematographer G. Vittal Rao and editor A. Paul Duraisingam. Ganesan appeared in 18 films directed by Bhimsingh, starting with '' Raja Rani'' (1956).

Accolades

National Film Awards The National Film Awards is the most prominent film award ceremony in India. Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India and the Indian Panorama, by the Indian government's Directorat ...

1959 Events January * January 1 - Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 - Lunar probe Luna 1 was the first man-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reached the vicinity of E ...

: President's silver medal for Best Feature Film in Tamil – '' Bhaaga Pirivinai'' *

1960 It is also known as the "Year of Africa" because of major events—particularly the independence of seventeen African nations—that focused global attention on the continent and intensified feelings of Pan-Africanism. Events January * Ja ...

: Certificate of Merit for Best Feature Film in Tamil – ''

Kalathur Kannamma ''Kalathur Kannamma'' is a 1960 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by A. Bhimsingh and written by Javar Seetharaman. The film stars Gemini Ganesh, Savitri Ganesh and Kamal Haasan. It revolves around a couple — a wealth ...

'' *

1961 Events January * January 3 ** United States President Dwight D. Eisenhower announces that the United States has severed diplomatic and consular relations with Cuba ( Cuba–United States relations are restored in 2015). ** Aero Flight 311 ...

: All India Certificate of Merit for the Second Best Feature Film – ''

Paava Mannippu ''Paava Mannippu'' () is a 1961 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed and edited by A. Bhimsingh, who co-produced it under his banner Buddha Pictures, with AVM Productions. The film features an ensemble cast of Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganes ...

'' * 1961: Certificate of Merit for Second Best Feature Film in Tamil – ''

Pasamalar ''Pasamalar'' () is a 1961 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by A. Bhimsingh. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan and Savitri Ganesan, with K. A. Thangavelu M. N. Nambiar and M. N. Rajam in supporting roles. It revolves ar ...

'' * 1964: Certificate of Merit for Second Best Feature Film in Tamil – ''

Pazhani Palani ( or ''Palni'' as in British records, is a town and a taluk headquarters in Dindigul district of the western part of Tamil Nadu state in India. It is located about south-east of Coimbatore and north-west of Madurai, from Kodaikanal ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhimsingh, A. Telugu film directors Tamil film directors 1924 births 1978 deaths 20th-century Indian film directors Malayalam film directors Hindi-language film directors Telugu film editors Tamil film editors People from Chittoor district Film directors from Andhra Pradesh Screenwriters from Andhra Pradesh Film producers from Andhra Pradesh People from Anantapur district Film editors from Andhra Pradesh 20th-century Indian screenwriters