A. C. Tirulokchandar

A. C. Thirulogachandar (11 June 1930 – 15 June 2016)was an Indian film director and screenwriter who worked mainlyin Tamil films from the 1960s to 1988. He also directed a few films in Hindi and Telugu. His 1969 Tamil film Deiva Magan was the first South Indian film to be submitted by India in contest for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.

During the making of the film Manthiri Kumari in 1950, A.C.Trilogchander was working as a junior assistant on the sets and during the shooting of this film became a close friend of M.G.Ramachandran. Producer A.V. Meiyappan noticed his talent and gave A.C.Trilochander his break as the director in 1962 film Veerathirumagan. With the success of his debut film, he got one more film to direct under AVM banner which was bilingual made simultaneously as Main Bhi Ladki Hoon in Hindi and as NannumOru Penn in Tamil. The latter won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil at 11th National Film Awards and also won Filmfare Award for Best film. With this he became a permanent fixture as director with AVM films. He became like the fifth son of Mr. A. V. Meiyapan and became close friend of A. V. M. Saravanan. Trilogchander directed the fiftieth film produced by AVM banner - Anbe Vaa, a romantic comedy film, in 1966 with M.G.Ramachandran in the lead. He directed for the film produced by K. Balaji - Thangai in 1967. He was not only adept at directing social dramas like Babu (1971) with Sivaji Ganesan in the lead, Ramu (1966) with Gemini Ganesan as the hero but also romantic dramas such as Iru Malargal and Anbalippu as well as the romantic comedies Anbe Vaa and Anbe Aaruyire. He was given the task of directing the first bilingual suspense thriller film from AVM banner in 1967 which was Ave Kallu in Telugu and Adhey Kangal in Tamil. He directed the pair Sivaji Ganeshan and Jayalalitha in 5 films - Deiva Magan, Dharmam Engey, Engirundho Vandhaal, Enga Mama, Avanthan Manidhan. He directed Rajesh Khanna in Babu in 1985 which became a hit. His other acclaimed Tamil films include Thirudan, Aval, Dheerga Sumangali, Vasandatil Oru Naal, Bhadrakali, Anbe Aaruyire and Bharata Vilas. He was known to co-ordinate the colour schemes of the actors' outfits with the sets designed for the film.

Tirulokachandar died on 15 June 2016 at the age of 86 due to age-related issues. His youngest son, Prem Tirilok, succumbed to cancer a few days before his death. Tirulokachandar is survived by his elder son Raj T and daughter Mallikeswari.