Visu

Meenakshisundaram Ramasamy Viswanathan (1 July 1945 – 22 March 2020), best known by his stage name Visu, was an Indian screenwriter, film director, stage, film and television actor and talk-show host.^[3] Visu initially worked as an assistant to director K. Balachander until becoming a director himself. He later began acting, with his first film being Kudumbam Oru Kadambam (1981), directed by S. P. Muthuraman.

Visu
Born	Meenakshisundaram Ramasamy Viswanathan[1] (1945-07-01)1 July 1945[2] Tamil Nadu, India
Died	22 March 2020(2020-03-22) (aged 74) Chennai, India
Occupation(s)	Film director, Screenwriter, Actor, Television host.
Years active	1977–2019
Spouse	Sundari
Children	3

Career

He started his career as a theatre artist, working with Y. G. Parthasarathy's drama troupe. He was writing scripts for stage dramas before getting into the film industry as an assistant to legendary director K. Balachander. During his time with Balachander, he wrote screenplays for numerous films including Pattina Pravesam (1977), Avan Aval Adhu (1980), Thillu Mullu (1981) and Netrikkan (1981). Thillu Mullu and Netrikkan, which were both released in 1981, became box office hits for actor Rajinikanth.Visu made his debut as an actor in the film Kudumbam Oru Kadambam (1981), for which he also wrote the screenplay. The film was directed by S. P. Muthuraman.

His first film as a director was Kanmani Poonga (1982). Most of his films including Manal Kayiru (1982), Dowry Kalyanam (1983), Samsaram Adhu Minsaram (1986), Thirumathi Oru Vegumathi (1987), Penmani Aval Kanmani (1988), Vedikkai En Vadikkai (1990) and Pattukottai Periyappa (1994) spoke about the issues of urban middle-class families. These films, which were released in the mid-80s, turned out to be crowd pullers, particularly with regard to the female audience.^[4] His other super hit was Chidambara Rahasiyam (1985), which is considered a cult-classic.^[5]

While he has directed a rage of actors on screen, he and his brother Kishmu used to star in many of his films. His film Neenga Nalla Irukkanum won the National Film Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues in 1992. Based on prohibition, the film was the last onscreen appearance of then chief minister, J. Jayalalithaa.^[6]

He has also shared the screen with Rajinikanth in Nallavanukku Nallavan (1984), Mr. Bharath (1986), Mannan (1992), Uzhaippali (1993) and Arunachalam (1997).

During the ending phase of his career, he made movies which did not leave a lasting mark on the audience as Vaa Magale Vaa (1994), Meendum Savithri (1996) and Sigamani Ramamani (2001).^[7]

Actor and stage artiste S. Ve. Shekher, who has worked in over 20 films with Visu, said that he was extremely disciplined and committed.^[8]

As an actor, he was last seen in Manal Kayiru 2 (2016), the sequel to one of his earliest directorial successes, Manal Kayiru.

He is known to have starred in over 60 films and directed around 25 films.^[9]

Style

"Growing up in a joint family, I observed how each person had a difference of opinion. It wasn't bad; just that we were different. I wondered, 'Wouldn't other joint families have similar issues?' So I started writing scripts that reflect the day-to-day scenario in a joint family".

 – Visu in 2016^[10]

In most of the films Visu directed, all the characters were given equal importance. Often, there was huge house wherein a joint family would reside and the character of Visu would solve their problems. Many of Visu's film titles contain rhyming words, such as Kudumbam Oru Kadambam, Samsaram Adhu Minsaram, Thirumathi Oru Vegumathi, Kavalan Avan Kovalan, Penmani Aval Kanmani, Varavu Nalla Uravu and Vedikkai En Vadikkai. His films focused on many family issues like dowry, need of remarriage for women, mother in law-daughter in law disputes and so on which were occurring that time. In most of his films there is a character named Uma, named after a school teacher who predicted his rise to fame after reading one of his scripts when he was a travel agent.^{[11][12][13][14]}

Other works

Visu became known for hosting live debates on television, namely Arattai Arangam on Sun TV and Visuvin Makkal Arangam on Jaya TV.^[15][16] He joined and campaigned for BJP.^[17]

Final years and death

On 22 March 2020 at Chennai, Visu died of kidney failure at the age of 74.^[18][19][20]

Filmography

As director/writer

This is a list of films that he directed and/or wrote. He also acted in many of his own directed films.

Year	Title	Credited as			Role	Notes	Ref.
		Director	Writer	Actor
1977	Pattina Pravesam	N	Y	N	—		[21]
1978	Sadhurangam	N	Y	N	—	also dialogue writer	[22]
1980	Avan Aval Adhu	N	Y	N	—		[23]
1980	Mazhalai Pattalam	N	Y	N	—		[24]
1981	Thillu Mullu	N	Y	Y	As a film crew	Voice-Over Actor (Dubbing)	[25]
1981	Netrikkan	N	Y	N	—
1981	Keezh Vaanam Sivakkum	N	Y	N	—		[26]
1981	Kudumbam Oru Kadambam	N	Y	Y	Srinivasa Raghavan		[27]
1982	Kanmani Poonga	Y	Y	Y	Cricketer Ramkumar		[28]
1982	Simla Special	N	Y	N	—
1982	Manal Kayiru	Y	Y	Y	Uthramerur Narathar Naidu		[29]
1982	Puthukavithai	N	Y	N	—
1983	Dowry Kalyanam	Y	Y	Y	Ganesan		[21]
1984	Nallavanukku Nallavan	N	Y	Y	Owner Gangadharan		[30]
1984	Puyal Kadantha Boomi	Y	Y	Y	Nammaalu allies Namachivaayan
1984	Rajathanthiram	Y	Y	Y	Bairavan		[31]
1984	Vaai Sollil Veeranadi	Y	Y	Y	Vengapuli Varadhachari
1984	Naanayam Illatha Naanayam	Y	Y	Y	Veerapandi		[32]
1985	Pudhiya Sagaptham	Y	Y	Y	Ramadasaradan		[33]
1985	Aval Sumangalithan	Y	Y	Y	Watchman Aarumugam		[34]
1985	Ketti Melam	Y	Y	Y			[35]
1985	Chidambara Rahasiyam	Y	Y	Y	Beemarao		[36]
1986	Mr. Bharath	N	Y	Y	Kumaresa Gounder
1986	Dharma Pathini	N	Y	Y	Lawyer "Vicks" Vardarajan
1986	Samsaram Adhu Minsaram	Y	Y	Y	Ammaiyappa Mudaliyar	National Film Award for Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment	[37]
1987	Thirumathi Oru Vegumathi	Y	Y	Y	Naagarkoil Naadhamuni		[38]
1987	Kavalan Avan Kovalan	Y	Y	Y	Chakravarthi's father-in-law		[39]
1987	Srimathi Oka Bahumathi	Y	Y	Y		Telugu film; remake of Thirumathi Oru Vegumathi
1988	Veedu Manaivi Makkal	N	N	Y	Subbaiah Pillai		[40]
1988	Penmani Aval Kanmani	Y	Y	Y	Radio Mama		[41]
1988	Aadade Aadharam	Y	Y	Y		Nandi Award for Second Best Story Writer Telugu film; remake of Penmani Aval Kanmani	[42]
1988	Illu Illalu Pillalu	Y	Y	Y		Telugu film; remake of Veedu Manaivi Makkal
1989	Sakalakala Sammandhi	Y	Y	Y	Mayavaram Malayappan
1990	Varavu Nalla Uravu	Y	Y	Y	Appa Ambalavanar	Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Story Writer	[43]
1990	Vedikkai En Vadikkai	Y	Y	Y	Kaavisattai Kandasamy		[44]
1992	Urimai Oonjaladugiradhu	Y	Y	Y	Kasturi's Father		[45]
1992	Neenga Nalla Irukkanum	Y	Y	Y		National Film Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues	[46]
1994	Pattukottai Periyappa	Y	Y	Y	Pattukottai Periyappa		[47]
1994	Vaa Magale Vaa	Y	Y	Y	Viswanathan		[48]
1996	Meendum Savithri	Y	Y	Y	Narayana Moorthy		[49]
1996	Neti Savithri	Y	Y	N	—	Telugu film	[50]
2001	Sigamani Ramamani	Y	Y	Y	Sundaramoorthy		[51]
2016	Manal Kayiru 2	N	Y	Y	Uthramerur Narathar Naidu

Actor

This is a list of films that Visu worked only as an actor.

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1983	Oru Kai Paappom	Kai Adi Kamalakannan
1984	Oorukku Upadesam	Sankaran
1986	Oomai Vizhigal	Rathnasabapathy
1986	Mella Thirandhathu Kadhavu	Thulasi's father
1986	Thaaiku Oru Thaalaattu	Ponnambalam
1986	Anandha Kanneer	Paapa Panchu
1987	Kathai Kathaiyam Karanamam
1988	Mappillai Sir	Vakkil Varadharajan
1992	Mannan	Viswanathan
1993	Uzhaippali	Barrister
1993	Sinna Mapplai	Marriage Broker
1994	Aranmanai Kaavalan	Santhanam
1994	Vanaja Girija	Business man Ramanathan
1994	Vaanga Partner Vaanga	Ganapathi
1995	Mayabazar	Vishwanathan
1995	God Father	Viswanatham	Telugu film
1996	Irattai Roja	Anchor	Guest appearance
1997	Nesam	Himself
1997	Aravindhan
1997	Adimai Changili
1997	Vasuki	Ramasamy
1997	Arunachalam	Adv. Rangachari
1997	Sishya	Aadhimoolam
1997	Vaimaye Vellum
1998	Bhagavath Singh
1999	Mannavaru Chinnavaru	Shanmugasundaram
1999	Anbulla Kadhalukku	Chandrasekhar
2000	Kakkai Siraginilae	Judge
2000	Vaanavil	Himself
2001	Krishna Krishna	Advocate Viswanathan	Guest appearance
2001	Middle Class Madhavan	Advocate
2001	Vadagupatti Maapillai	Gomathi Shankar
2001	Looty	Dr. Kuzhanthavelu
2001	Vedham		Guest appearance
2003	Thithikudhe	Himself
2004	Maha Nadigan
2005	Ji	Raghavan
2007	Cheena Thaana 001	Governor	Guest appearance
2007	Nenjirukkumvarai Ninaivirukkum		Guest appearance
2008	Ellam Avan Seyal
2009	Innoruvan	Judge
2009	Kannukulle
2013	Alex Pandian	Chief Minister
2013	Oruvar Meethu Iruvar Sainthu	Judge

Television

• Arattai Arangam - Sun TV
• Makkal Arangam - Jaya TV
• Naalavathu Mudichu - Jaya TV^[52]