Mumbai: Director K Balachander was given an emotional send-off in Chennai, where his last rites were held. Thousands of fans, family and people from the film industry gathered to bid adieu to the filmmaker. The Director passed away at 84 after suffering from a massive heart attack yesterday. The entire industry was shaken with the news. Actors like Rajinikanth and Radhika Sarath rushed to his residence.

Balachander would remain as one of the rare personalities in the Indian film industry, who not only mastered the art of filmmaking but also nurtured hundreds of youngsters in the profession. The multi-lingual filmmaker drew his storylines predominantly from social themes and family issues thus demystifying the anatomy of lives of socially dense Indian joint families.

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A pioneer in making women-centric films, which were rare in the 1960s, Balachander focused on issues encircling the lives of ordinary women facing social and economic odds in films like 'Aval Oru Thodarkadhai', Haasan starrer 'Apoorva Raagangal' and Rajinikanth and Sujatha starrer 'Avargal'.

His scripts were also the first which captured heroism in the lives of ordinary women in south Indian cinema