Director C.V. Rajendran who passed away recently is one of the unsung greats of Tamil cinema.  He was the younger brother of one of the greatest filmmakers of Kollywood, C.V. Sridhar whom he assisted in many films before breaking out with 'Anubavam Pudhumai' starring R. Muthuraman and Rajashree.  His very next 'Galatta Kalyanam' had Sivaji Ganesan and Jayalalitha in the lead role and was a blockbuster.  He went on to make 14 films with Sivaji Ganesan in the lead and that too from 1971 to 80 almost every year and sometimes even two of the duo released .

C.V. Rajendran directed 'Maalai Soodavaa' the earliest film of Kamal Haasan as hero and has also done the trilingual 'Garjanai' starring Rajinikanth which handled the subject of food adulteration.  He introduced Prabhu to the screen with 'Sangili' and his last film as director was 'Chinappadoss' starring Sathyaraj that released in the year 1989.  Jai Shankar and Muthuraman were the other heroes who enjoyed working with CVR repeatedly in many films.

C.V. Rajendran also served as a supervising director for 'Villadhi Villain' which is the only film directed by Sathyaraj.  He breathed his last on April 1 2018 but leaves behind 78 films that were mostly hits and carried a social message in them.