S. Panju

S. Panju Biography

S. Panju was a successful film director associated with south Indian movies and Hindi. He along with R. Krishnan 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.

S. Panju was born on 24 January 1915 as Panchapakesan in Umayalpuram near Kumbakonam. R. Krishnan belongs to a family with filmy background, and many of their family members and close relatives are related to film world. Cinematographers B. Lenin and B. Kannan are among the latest members of Krishnan’s family in cine world. During his initial days in cine world R. Krishnan worked as a lab assistant in Pakshiraja Studio, Coimbatore, while 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).

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. They used the name Krishnan–Panju for their directorial ventures. The duo marked their directorial debut with Poompavai (1944), and went on to make many hit movies predominantly in Tamil. The duo is credited to giving first break to actress Jayalalithaa in Bollywood films through the movie, Man Mauji.

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. Till Panchu’s death in 1984 the duo was fully active in the cine world. After Panchu’s death, Krishnan didn’t make any films. He passed away on 15 July 1997 in Chennai. Malarum Ninaivugal was their last movie together, which got released in 1986 after Panchu’s death.

Published: October 30, 2018

Updated: October 30, 2018