Call him a director, actor, producer, or a writer, K.Balachander is more of a sociologist than any other of these things. The role he played all of his entire lifetime could be summed up by coining him as a "social philosopher". A famous quote says "Good teacher never teaches you, They inspire you to learn". This would exactly sum up the best contribution of K.B, the immortal creator, who is remembered for his 86th birthday is today.

In the mid of 60's, 'Neerkumizhi' had occurred as his directorial debut, followed by a few films that released in his writing. In the career graph of half-a-hundred years, K. Balachander almost had explored every possible thing a creator can ever do. Be it on the silver screen or on the live stages or with television serials, the veteran filmmaker had given the maximum entertainment to people, along with the teachings that have shaped them as human beings with a better understanding about the society. .

For instance, 'Varumayin Niram Sivappu', a daring and realistic film on unemployment, speaks about the coherency of K.B's social interest. The Kamal Haasan starrer neither preaches nor exploits the cause and consequences of unemployment in the 80's. Rather, it develops a deep understanding of the ground reality, where Kamal and his roommates struggle to get employed against the factors that interrupted their growth. And the epic ends without a feel-good conclusion and leaves the decision to the audience.

Like this, a number of Balachander films were made dealing with social issues and interpersonal relationships. The way this legend handles the story plot and characterization is a lesson for all the film-makers. Women empowerment, the enlightenment of society, caste discrimination, and tons of other issues handle with finesse by K.B make him a fine sociologist.

"Film something and entertain people" was never the method of K. Balachander. Edutainment had always been his ultimate motto and he had lived up to it. Not only his films, screenplays and skills as a writer-director, even his ideologies need to be emulated every creator. .

IndiaGlitz happily takes the pride of remembering the transcendental human being, K. Balachander, on his birthday.