Showing all artists born in 1939

Lourde-Mary Rajeswari "Eswari", known as L. R. Eswari, is an Indian playback singer who has sung several songs in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi, Tulu, and English.She was awarded with the Kalaimamani, the highest creative award in Tamil Nadu, for her contributions to the film industry.

She sang under the direction of famous composers like M.S.Viswanathan, T.K.Ramamoorthy, K. V. Mahadevan, Veda, V.Kumar, Shankar-Ganesh, G. K. Venkatesh and Kunnakudi Vaidyanathan. Her unique voice was considered to be suited for peppy numbers in the movies, be it a dance tune, folk song or a devotional track. Her song "Vaarayo Thozhi" from Paasa Malar was a popular choice for wedding music.

She has also recorded many devotional albums in praise of the Goddess Amman which were hugely popular among the Tamil community and were played in many temples. Her "Chellatha" and "Karpoora Nayagi" numbers has won her a lot of fame among devotees. She sang Christmas songs "Varuvai Varuvai" and " Deivam Thantha Divya Kumaaran" composed by Dr Anand Chellappa. She has won the Kalaimamani Award and other states awards. Her Hindi song "Uduthi Hi Chidiya" from the film Pistonwali, music by Satyam shows her ability. She sang romantic songs filmed on heroines as well as cabarets filmed on dance-artistes and also folk songs.

She made her everlasting impression in Telugu film industry with her husky and peppy numbers. Till date most of her songs are very popular among the Telugu audience. Her notable hits include "Masaka Masaka Cheekatilo" from Devudu Chesina Manushulu, "Maayadari Sinnodu" from Ammamaata, "Bhale Bhale Magadivo" from Marocharitra, "Arey Yemiti Lokam" from Anthulenikatha, "Le Le Le Naa Raaja" from Premnagar, "Malle Puvvulu Pillagaalulu" and "Theesko Coco Cola Esko Rammusoda" etc.
In Kannada language, Eshwari has sung so many super hits songs. Her fun-filled songs like "Dooradinda Bandantha", "Rasika Rasika", "Joke Nanu Balliya", "O Geleya", "Yaavurayya E Mukka", "Sityako Sidukyako", "Sumabaleya Premada Siriye", "Bangara Nota", "Kanda Kanmaniye" made her name household in Karnataka.

P.Susheela and She sang many popular duets in their times – Unadhu Malar, Chiththira Poovizhi, Ninaithaal Sirippu, Thoodhu Sella etc.. She sang a popular duet "Gudilona Naa Swamy Koluvai Unnadu" with S. Janaki in a Telugu movie Idalokam, music by Chakravarthy, which remains a top hit till date. She rendered several duets with S. Janaki in Kannada movies as well.
She sang various duets with all the leading male singers also – Ghantasala, the Telugu doyen in his own music direction in Telugu movie Pandava Vana Vaasam, and in K. V. Mahadevan's music direction in Prem Nagar, T. M. Soundararajan, A. L. Raghavan, P. B. Sreenivas, S.P. Balasubramaniam, K. J. Yesudas, J. P. Chandrababu, C. S. Jayaraman, S. C. Krishnan, Thiruchi Loganathan, A. M. Rajah, Seerkazhi Govindarajan,Malaysia Vasudevan, & Jayachandran.

She also sang duets with female singers with most notably with P. Suseela, S. Janaki, Vani Jayaram, K. Jamuna Rani, M. S. Rajeswari and Soolamangalam Rajalakshmi.

She sung "Kanda kanmaniye ammana araginiye o raja" a Kannada song for movie 'Balanagamma' in early 1960s. Thousands and thousands of Kannada kids might have grown listening to this song from their mothers, grannies and others.

J. Alexander (born 25 July 1939), best known by his stage name Mahendran, is an Indian film director in the Tamil film industry. Though largely ignored during his times, Mahendran is regarded as one of the greatest film makers of Tamil cinema and has inspired many upcoming directors. Particularly he has been an inspiration for the legends of Tamil cinema like Mani Ratnam and Rajinikanth.

Mahendran entered the film industry as a screenwriter, writing scripts for nearly 26 films. He made an immediate impact with his first directional venture Mullum Malarum (1978). Mahendran's next film Uthiripookkal, based on a short story written by Pudumaipithan, firmly established him as an important film maker in Tamil cinema. His Nenjathai Killathe won three National Film Awards including the award for the best regional film. He has only acted in two films, Kamaraj (2004) and Theri (2016).

Mahendran was born in 1939 to Joseph Chelliah, a teacher and Manonmani. Mahendran did his schooling in Ilayangudi and completed his intermediate at American College, Madurai.Later he joined Alagappa Government Arts College to do a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. During his college days, he was very active in stage plays. It was during that time when M. G. Ramachandran (M.G.R) was invited as the chief guest for the college day during which Mahendran gave a speech that directly criticized the commercial elements that existed in cinema.Impressed by his speech M.G.R praised Mahendran and said that he could become a good critic. After completing his degree, he went to Madras to study law.

Seven months after joining the course he had to discontinue due to financial concerns. He then decided to go back to Ilayangud However, on the insistence of Karaikudi Kannappa Valliappan he joined Inamuzhakkam, a periodical as a journalist.It was during this time he met M.G.R again and he was asked to write the screenplay of Ponniyin Selvan after the former decided to make a film based on the story.The idea of developing the screenplay into a film got delayed, and M.G.R asked Mahendran to write a story for his drama troupe. Mahendran wrote a script titled Anaadhaigal. M.G.R decided to make a film based in the play. He named the film Vaazhve Vaa and acted in the lead role alongside Savitri. The project got shelved after three days of shooting. Soon M.G.R acted in a film called Kaanchi Thalaivan and he recommended Mahendran to the director make him an assistant.

Mahendran made his breakthrough as a screenwriter for the film Naam Moovar in 1966.After the success of the film he got more offers from the same banner and worked in films like Sabaash Thambi and Panakkara Pillai, both released in the subsequent years.He also wrote the script for Nirakudam starring Sivaji Ganesan. He announced that he was working on a new film in 2014 starring newcomers, for which Ilaiyaraaja would score music.

Goundamani (Born: Subaramani) is a Indian film actor and comedian.  He is one of the famous comedians in Kollywood and is especially renowned for his alliance with fellow actor Senthil.

Early life

Goundamani was born in Valagundapuram, a village near Udumalaipettai, Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, India. His father is Karuppaiya and mother is Annam. He started as a theater artist and then switched over to Cinema easily.

Career

He gained entry into the Tamil film industry, the Kollywood, due to his strong theatrical background. His original name was Mani and when he played the famous role of "Oor Gounder" in one of his plays, the name got stuck and henceforth he came to be known as "Goundamani".

Goundamani was initially a solo actor and then paired up with Senthil to form a comedy duo. He is widely considered as Kollywood's Laurel and Hardy, Senthil and Goundamani have now performed slapstick humour and acted more than 450 films.

His most famous piece of comedy is the "Vazhaipazham" (Banana) scene with Senthil in the film Karagattakaran. His famous dialogue Arasiyalla ithellam saatharanampa(meaning all these are usual in politics)& "suriyana sutta thu yaaru", from the movie Suriyan, later became one of his trademarks. He has also played the protagonist in 10 films including Raja Enga Raja, oru nallavan oru vallavan and Piranthaen Valarnthaen.

Some of his memorable movies are with leading actors such as Prabhu, Sathyaraj, Karthik, Vijayakanth, Rajinikanth, Arjun, Prashanth, Parthiban, Jayaram, Kamal Hassan, Ajith Kumar, Sarath Kumar, Vijay and Simbhu. In several Tamil films, he has even accompanied the lead actor in almost all of the scenes and in a few songs.Early days in his career he had a memorable role in 16 Vayathinile as a sidekick to Rajinikanth's "Parattai" and famous for his dialogue "pattha vechutiye paratai". Later in early 80's he had a string of hits like Unnai Nan Santhithen, and Vaidhegi Kathirundal, after which his career slumped. His career revival in Karagattakaran is attributed to comedians like Janakaraj.

His career peaked in the 1990s and producers often required his services. He also has acted in several films with double-hero subjects such as Ullathai Allitha along with Karthik and Unakkaga Ellam Unakkaga. During those years, movies had plot such that Goundamani might be either a friend of the hero or a close relative and would be seen in the whole movie along with the hero (E.g.: Magudam, Maaman Magal, Pangaali, Gentleman). If this is not the case, he might have a separate track, which will be given equal importance in the movie sequence (E.g.: Chinna Gounder, Cheran Pandiyan, Sethupathi IPS). His pairing with Sathyaraj was a mega success combination and they acted together in a number of movies. Comedy track writer A. Veerappan used to write comedy tracks for Goundamani and they both became fantastic duo. A. Veerappan stayed out of field due to his ageing (This veteran used to write comedy dialogues for Actor Nagesh) since 1998 and expired in 2005. Since then, the world has not seen such a writer who would bring out Goundamani's usual excellence in dialogues and Goundamani is also largely staying out of acting.

Notable Filmography

In 1989 film called Karagattakaran he had acted one of most famous comedy sequence of Tamil Cinema which is "vazhai pazham comedy" "Oru pazham inga iruku, innonnu enga?" with Senthil. In 1992 released film Suriyan came famous for his comedy sequences. And dialogues were became more familiar in Tamil cinema such as "Arasiyalla ithellam saatharanam appa" ("This is very normal in politics") added with "Yaaru danraja..250 cement baagu, poomithi thiruvizha...Narayana intha kosu tholla thaanga mudila da". In Nattamai he acted as son of Senthil. And the dialogue "dae thagapa" ("Hey father(without respect))" also added into his famous comedy dialogue collection.

He cemented a strong pair with Sathyaraj as acting with him several films such as Nadigan, Rickshamama, Maaman Magal, Pangali, Thai Maaman, Vallal, Senadhipathi, Thangam, Pollachi Mappillai etc. And with Karthik Muthuraman he acted notable films like Ullathai Allitha, Chinna Jameen, Mettukudi, Unakkaga Ellam Unakkaga, Lucky Man etc.

His most recent film is Jagghubai starring Sarath Kumar.

Family

He is married to Shanthi and has 2 children.

Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran was an Indian filmmaker, screenwriter, editor and cinematographer. Born and brought up in Sri Lanka, Mahendra developed an early interest in photography, after his father presented him with a camera. After completing an honours degree London University, he enrolled himself in a cinematography course at the Film and Television Institute of India (FTII), Pune. He passed out with a gold medal from the institute and started his film career as a cameraman for the Malayalam film Nellu in 1971. The film earned him the best cinematographer award from the Government of Kerala. Since then he has been chosen as the best cinematographer for many times in various Indian films. Mahendra has been lauded for his use of natural lighting as much as possible and was among the first to pioneer innovative camera style for colour in South India.

Making his directional debut in 1977 through the Kannada film Kokila, he went on to make over 20 films in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu and Hindi. He is widely regarded as part of the first in a wave of directors and screenwriters from the Chennai film industry who revitalised Tamil cinema. As of 2013, Mahendra has won five National Film Awards—two for cinematography, three Filmfare Awards South and numerous state awards from the governments of Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Mahendra usually wrote the script for his films, handled the camera and edited the film himself, thus retaining a firm control over his creative output.

Mahendra was born in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka to a Sri Lankan Tamil family.  His father was a professor.  Mahendra completed his schooling at St. Michael's College, Batticaloa.  At the age of 13, he got an opportunity to watch David Lean's making of The Bridge on the River Kwai during a school field trip in Sri Lanka. This eventually led him to develop an interest towards becoming a film maker. Mahendra joined the London University and completed a Bachelor of Science (Honours) degree, after which he joined the FTII, Pune pursuing a course in cinematography and passed out with a gold medal.

Mahendra got his first break in films when he was approached by Ramu Kariat for his film Nellu in 1974.  Mahendra's work in the film was highly appreciated as he won the Best Cinematographer Award at the Kerala State Film Awards. He continued to work as cameraman for 21 films till 1976. He worked mainly in Malayalam with directors like K. S. Sethumadhavan, Bharathan and P. N. Menon during this period. The following year he made his directional debut through Kokila, a Kannada film, which earned him the Best Cinematography Award at the 24th National Film Awards. The film was highly successful and Mahendra received critical acclaim for his work. The films has the distinction of being the only Kannada film to complete 150 days in Madras. Following that, he decided make a film in Tamil. It was at that time he was approached by J. Mahendran who wanted him to be the cameraman for the former's directional debut Mullum Malarum (1978).

Apart from cinematography, Mahendra also assisted in script, editing and direction. After completing the film Mahendra decided to work on his second directional venture, this time in Tamil. He named the film Azhiyadha Kolangal (1979), which tells the story of three friends who are in adolescent stage. In Telugu, Mahendra worked for directors like Singeetham Srinivasa Rao, Bapu and K. Viswanath in films such as Tharam Marindi, Lambadolla Ramadasu, Sommokadidi Sokokadidi, Manavoori Pandavulu and Shankarabharanam. Of these, Manavoori Pandavulu fetched him a state award.

Though his films were oriented towards parallel cinema, he was also interested in Hollywood films and quotes Alfred Hitchcock as his favourite. This prompted to make him a film titled Moodu Pani (1980). Loosely based on Hitchcock's Psycho, the film saw Mahendra collaborating with composer Ilaiyaraaja for the first time; since then Ilaiyaraaja has been the regular composer for all of Mahendra's films till date. His fourth directional venture, Olangal (1982) marked his Malayalam language debut. Inspired from Erich Segal's novel Man, Woman and Child, the film had Amol Palekar in the lead. The same year he directed another film in Tamil, Moondram Pirai which had Kamal Haasan and Sridevi in the lead. It tells the story of a school teacher who looks after a girl suffering from amnesia. The film was a "blockuster" with Mahendra, Haasan and Sridevi receiving acclaim for their work. Haasan and Mahendra won National Film Awards in the Best Actor and Best Cinematography categories respectively. Mahendra won two Filmfare Awards in the year for Olangal and Moondram Pirai in the Best Director category.

He made his first Hindi Film Sadma,which is a remake of his own Tamil film Moondram Pirai with Kamal Hasan and Sridevi. This film is supposed to be one of the finest films made by him. The film superbly captures the emotions involved in the relationship between the two main characters. He made another Hindi film, Aur Ek Prem Kahani (remake of Kokila Kannada film), which was about the love affair between a young man and his maid, told in a realistic and simple manner.

The film director Mani Ratnam approached Mahendra to work on the cinematography of his first Kannada film, Pallavi Anu Pallavi. It has been reported that he almost refused to work with Ratnam whom he perceived as a novice at that time.  He has since been quoted as admiring Ratnam for his "infectious enthusiasm". He never hesitated to work with Ratnam when Ratnam approached him. Instead he agreed to do the film enthusiastically when Ratnam met him and narrated the story to him.

Of late, his films have not clicked at the box office and his financial status too wasn't going great, which he had mentioned in an interview.

Following a cardiac arrest on 13 February 2014, Balu Mahendra was admitted to Vijaya Hospital in Chennai where he was declared dead.Directors Bala, Ameer and Ram visited him at the hospital before he passed away.

Mahendra was equally praised for his cinematography and directional finesse. He was among the first to pioneer innovative colour in south Indian cinema, and is considered to be "one of the few filmmakers in Tamil who believes in telling a story visually".  Younger cinematographers like Santosh Sivan, Ravi K. Chandran, Natarajan Subramaniam, K. V. Anand have been inspired by him.

Idichapuli Selvaraj (c. 1939 – 30 January 2012) was a veteran Tamil comedy actor. He acted in more than hundreds of films. He acted along with lot of actors.His brother Pandu is also a comedy actor. He also worked as an assistant director for the M. G. Ramachandran films like Idhayakkani and Ulagam Sutrum Valiban.