Kalanjiyam

Mu. Kalanjiyam is an Indian film director, who has made Tamil films. A winner of Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Story Writer, Kalanjiyam has also featured in the lead role in his films.

Career[]

Kalanjiyam's first film Poomani (1996) featuring Murali and Devayani won commercial and critical acclaim and the director won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Story Writer for 1996. His next venture, the rural drama Kizhakkum Merkkum, starring Napoleon with Devayani also won positive reviews.^[1] A proposed film titled Sangeetha Thirunaal produced by music composer Ilaiyaraaja was planned, but did not materialise.^[2] He returned with another film, Poonthottam (1998), with the cast of his first film; but the film went unnoticed as a result of the bigger budget films which released around the same period.^[3] He then made Nilave Mugam Kaattu (1999) starring Karthik and Devayani, which became his fourth consecutive film with the actress, though the film was panned by critics who cited the director "disappoints with this well-worn tale of friends sacrificing love for friendship."^[4] Kalanjiyam later started other eventually shelved films titled Vikadan with Murali again, and Kesavan with Sarathkumar and Rambha, before going on to make the Prabhu-starrer Mitta Miraasu in 2001.^[5][6]

In 2002, the director resurfaced with a project titled Sathamintri Muthamidu which was set to be the launch for actor Mayur, Devayani's younger brother, and actress Anjali though the film later failed to materialize.^[7][8][9] He also began two other films with Anjali, Valiba Desam and En Kanavu Thaanadi, though those also failed to materialize. In 2010, following actress Anjali's rise to fame, she made a goodwill gesture by agreeing to be a part of a few of Kalanjiyam's future films, noting she considered him her mentor. The director returned with his next film, Karungali in 2011, which saw himself play the lead role of a drug peddler alongside an ensemble cast including Anjali, Sunitha Varma and Asmitha. The film opened to unanimously poor reviews, with a critic noting that the film was a "crude affair", citing that the "subject in question is too heavy and has been handled in an insensitive way, making the film come across as a cheap, sex thriller."^[10][11] The film was later dubbed and released in Telugu as Sathi Leelavathi, with the director crediting himself under the name Prabhakaran.^[12]

In 2013, it was reported that he was working on another project titled Oor Suttri Puranam with Anjali again, with the actress suffering a freak accident on the sets of the film.^[13] In a turn of events, Anjali filed charges against the film-maker noting he had been advising her step-mother on various issues and feared that she was being harassed by him.^[14] The film has since been stalled and Kalanjiyam subsequent sought an industry wide ban against the actress for failing to complete the film.^[15] In 2014, he worked as an actor in Kathiravan's Kodai Mazhai and landed in trouble for slapping actress Sri Priyanka during the making of the film, prompting her faint on location. He was involved and injured in a fatal accident in August 2014, when a car he was travelling in had toppled in Andhra Pradesh, killing a co-passenger.^[16]

Filmography[]

• All films are in Tamil.

As director

As actor

References[]