S. Ramanathan Biography 
S. Ramanathan was a veteran film maker of south Indian movies and Bollywood. For Bollywood fans he is best known as the director of movie – Bombay to Goa which happened to the first movie of Amitabh Bachchan as a solo hero after playing second fiddle in numerous movies and the movie was a box office hit as well. Noted comedian and character artist Aruna Irani was casted as the lead heroine of the movie. Thus Aruna became the first heroine of Big B on silver screen. Later too Big B played lead role in numerous movies of Ramanathan including a triple role in ‘Mahaan’. Ganga Jamuna Saraswati and Zamanat are other noted movies in this combination. He produced Amitabh Bachchan-Kamal Hassan starrer Giraftar in the 1980s. Ramanathan's Shalimar Hotel in Mumbai was frequently used for film shooting, both Bollywood and south Indian cinema.
In south Indian film industry, he was associated with Kannada movies most as a director and producer. Gejjepooje, Hrudayasangama, Nanobba Kalla, Bahala Chennagide and Driver Hanumanthu are some of his noted Kannada movies. This veteran film maker passed away in Chennai in January 2013 at the age of 83. He was one of the most admired film personalities in the southern film industry and has worked with all stalwarts of south Indian film industry including Rajinikanth, Raj Kumar, Vishnuvardhan and Kamal Hassan. He was known as Sirji in the film industry circle. The classic "Gejje Pooje'’ directed by Puttanna Kanagal is counted among the all-time 10 best movies of Kannada language.
He started his career in Bangalore and was associated with theater during his early days. In the late 1950s he shifted to Chennai and entered film industry as an assistant director to director A. Bhim Singh. 1959 Malayalam movie "Naadodikal" marked his directorial debut and later he directed Tamil and Kannada movies. With the success of his financed Tamil movie, "Madras To Pondicherry" he shifted to Bollywood and made its Hindi remake Bombay to Goa in 1972.
Published: N/A
Updated: August 28, 2014
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