On World Teachers' day, top Tamil directors - Vasanth, Rangaraj, Santhanabharathi, Seenu Ramasamy, Parthiban, Kannan, Vijay, Arivazhagan - remember the important lessons they learned from their gurus.

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World Teachers' Day: Life lessons from the Masters of Tamil Cinema

Gopinath Rajendran

Published:5th Sep, 2018 at 5:25 PM

Mentor: K Balachander 'His table had a plaque that read, ‘I am not interested in excuses’. He would expect us to do whatever we were asked to.'

Vasanth (Aasai, Rhythm) 'KB would tell us that it was more important to be the first in coming up with something new than in simply trying to come first.'

Mentor: Bharathiraja 'He never had the ego of a big director, and never shirked from getting his hands dirty. Sometimes, he would even personally try and control crowds.'

K Rangaraj (Udaya Geetham, Paadu Nilave) 'A little-known trait of his is his ability to mimic others. This served him greatly, I think, in being able to come up with realistic characters.'

Mentor: CV Sridhar 'CV Sridhar sir was a genius who would work on his films at a breakneck pace. He would plan everything in advance to avoid confusion on the sets.'

Santhana Bharathi (Guna, Mahanadhi) 'He would take almost no breaks in between, and that’s why his films always got shot in record time.'

Mentor: Balu Mahendra 'I learned the importance of confidence from him. Irrespective of the situation, he would retain hope and always believed in himself.'

Seenu Ramasamy (Dharmadurai, Neerparavai) 'He would never compromise on the quality of his work for anything. He was also a big advocate of fitness. I owe the life I’m living right now to him.'

Mentor: K Bhagyaraj 'If I had joined another director instead of him, I would have become either a director or a hero. I became both because he was both.'

Parthiban (Pudhiya Paadhai, Housefull) 'He didn’t believe in tweaking scenes. If something didn’t work for him, he would reshoot it entirely. He felt that abrupt editing ruined the mood of scenes.'

Mentor: Mani Ratnam 'If I had to point out one learning, it would be his refusal to go to a shoot without a bound script. I learned the importance of a completed script.'

Kannan (Jayam Kondaan, Ivan Thanthiran) 'It’s what decides details like production value, costumes, cast etc. I follow it till date and that’s how I manage to wrap up my shoot within 40 days.'

Mentor: Priyadarshan 'He’s a magician when it comes to staging a scene. He’d shoot important scenes in places where we wouldn’t think of shooting them.'

Vijay (Madarasapattinam, Deiva Thirumagal) 'Assisting Priyadarshan sir is like studying in a university presided by god. You can see his influence in every shot of mine.'

Mentor: Shankar 'His discipline in everyday life is an inspiration. His eye for detail is extraordinary. He always thinks about all the technical aspects that can be incorporated.'

Arivazhagan (Eeram, Kuttram 23) 'He constantly thinks of the audience. He keeps himself updated on the taste of audiences and knows how to translate that into his films.'

Mentor: AR Murugadoss 'He’d often talk to us about the struggles he went through, and would put in much effort to make sure we didn’t face the same issues.'

Ajay Gnanamuthu (Demonte Colony, Imaikkaa Nodigal) 'Right from writing the screenplay to understanding the audience, he taught me a lot. I also learned a lot of life lessons from him.'