RIFLE RANGE BOY

Avana Ivan? (Is that him?, Tamil; 1962) Directed and Produced by S. Balachander It is supposed to be based on a murder which happened in the USA at the early of 20th century. An executive killed his pregnant secretary on a boat trip to marry a rich woman. The story created such a sensation that it a spawned a best seller novel and a 1951 Hollywood hit, 'A Place in the Sun'. The lone wolf, S. Balachander, wrote the screenplay for this film based the above hit, just that this Tamil version ended up as more of a children's show. Two children witness a brutal and fatal beating of a lady. They are totally composed throughout the event and afterwards, showing no emotional catastrophe but have the composure to narrate the whole incident to adults around them. Unfortunately, none the adults including the police take them seriously. Balachander, the flamboyant director, acts as the anti-hero to have committed the heinous for the same reason; to dispose of his pest...

Naan Avan Illai ( நான் அவனில்லை,  I am not him, Tamil; 1974) The Movie was in  Black & White, though! Director: K Balachander Gemini Ganesan had always played second fiddle in the limelight of the Tamil silver screen in the 60s. This king of romance (Kathal Mannan), both on and off screen, had always been overshadowed by thespians of that time, MGR with do-gooder holier than thou propaganda film actor and the over the top character  actor in Sivaji Ganesan. Gemini Ganesan had mostly acted in roles as a sacrificing love struck man for the sake of family or circumstantial situations. If MGR could play double roles in scores of films as identical twins separated at twins and get away with it and Sivaji could give an absolutely stunning depiction of nine roles which signified nine values of human in 'Navarathiri', the filmmakers would have thought, "Why not cast him in a role a cheating lover in multiple roles?" The story was actually a play in Marathi mad...

Ethir Neechal (Swimming against the current, எதிர் நீச்சல்  Tamil; 1968) Story, Screenplay, Direction: K. Balachander This is one of the few movies in which Nagesh, the evergreen comedian who jolts his shoulder at his every stroke of his punchline, assumes the role of the main character. The style of acting is reminiscence of his acting in his 1966 blockbuster Server Sundram , the self pitying, low self esteemed orphan who takes the brunt of everybody else's idiosyncrasies and loathing just because he is a lowly life form! An orphan, who has no soul to care and no money to his name. Again and again, this theme is ridiculed upon in Tamil movies for generations. The biggest insult in a child's life, it seems, is not knowing your parents' name. Scores, if not hundreds of movies have been made along this line. In a way, this film is Balachander's social satire done in an almost full length comedy. It pokes fun at how the society takes in or abhors people based on t...