R. Krishnan

R. Krishnan Biography

R. Krishnan was a successful film director associated with south Indian movies and Hindi. He along with S. Panju formed the famous director duo Krishnan–Panju, who directed more than 50 movies belonging to different languages. They predominantly worked in Tamil films, and have also made a few Hindi, Kannada and Telugu films. They fully dominated the scene in the classic era of Indian cinema, and most of their films were made during 1940-1980s. The duo spent nearly 45 years in the film industry, and they were most active since mid-1950s to late 1970s. They were active in the industry till the death of Panju in 1984. They frequently collaborated with AVM Productions for different language films.

R. Krishnan belongs to a family with filmy background, and many of their family members and close relatives are related to film world. Most of them gained recognition as screenwriters, directors and cinematographers. His son K. Subash was a filmmaker and screenwriter associated with Tamil and Hindi films. His daughter Sona was married to famous film director A. Bhimsingh (who later married actress Sukumari without divorcing Sona), known as a successful director in Hindi and south Indian films. Cinematographers B. Lenin and B. Kannan are his grandchildren (sons of Sona), and both are well established names in cine industry.

R. Krishnan was born on 18 July 1909 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. During his initial days in cine world he worked as a lab assistant in Pakshiraja Studio, Coimbatore. S. Panju worked as an assistant editor under P. K. Raja Sandow and as assistant director under Ellis R. Dungan, and also edited a few movies (credited as Punjabi or Panjabi) before he joined R. Krishnan, and formed Krishnan–Panju duo. Araichimani or Manuneethi Chozhan in 1942 was the first movie in which they worked together as assistants. They became friends by then, and later pursued a career together in cine world.

The duo marked their directorial debut with Poompavai (1944), and went on to make many hit movies predominantly in Tamil. Bhabhi in 1957 marked their debut in Bollywood, and they directed many hit Hindi movies under the banner AVM studios, such as Barkha, Bindiya, Shaadi, Man-Mauji, Mera Qasoor Kya Hai, Do Kaliyan, Laadla (1966), Main Sunder Hoon, Shandaar etc in the classic era. After Panchu’s death in early 1980s, he didn’t make any films. He passed away on 15 July 1997 in Chennai.

Published: October 30, 2018

Updated: October 30, 2018