Meenakshisundaram Ramasamy Viswanathan (1 July 1945 – 22 March 2020), best known by his stage name Visu, was an Indian writer, 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.

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 his films as well in memorable roles. 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 an 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

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][21]}

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Credited as			Role	Notes
		Director	Writer	Actor
1977	Pattina Pravesam	N	Y	N
1978	Sadhurangam	N	Y	N		also dialogue
1980	Avan Aval Adhu	N	Y	N
1980	Mazhalai Pattalam	N	Y	N
1981	Thillu Mullu	N	Y	Y	As a film crew	Voice-Over Actor (Dubbing)
1981	Netrikkan	N	Y	N
1981	Keezh Vaanam Sivakkum	N	Y	N
1981	Kudumbam Oru Kadambam	N	Y	Y	Srinivasa Raghavan
1982	Kanmani Poonga	Y	Y	Y	Cricketer Ramkumar
1982	Simla Special	N	Y	N
1982	Manal Kayiru	Y	Y	Y	Uthramerur Narathar Naidu
1982	Pudhukavithai	N	Y	N
1983	Oru Kai Paappom	N	N	Y	Kai adi Kamalaknnan
1983	Dowry Kalyanam	Y	Y	Y	Ganesh
1984	Nallavanukku Nallavan	N	Y	Y	Owner Gangadharan
1984	Puyal Kadantha Boomi	Y	Y	Y	Nammaalu allies Namachivaayan
1984	Rajathanthiram	Y	Y	Y	Bairavan
1984	Vaai Sollil Veeranadi	Y	Y	Y	Vengapuli Varadhachari
1984	Nanayam Illatha Nanayam	Y	Y	Y	Veerapandi
1984	Oorukku Upadesam	N	N	Y	Sankaran
1985	Pudhiya Sagaptham	Y	Y	Y	Ramadasaradan
1985	Aval Sumangalithan	Y	Y	Y	Watchman Aarumugam
1985	Ketti Melam	Y	Y	Y
1985	Chidambara Rahasiyam	Y	Y	Y	Beemarao
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
1986	Oomai Vizhigal	N	N	Y	Rathnasabapathy
1986	Mella Thirandhathu Kadhavu	N	N	Y	Thulasi's father
1986	Thaaiku Oru Thaalaattu	N	N	Y	Ponnambalam
1986	Anandha Kanneer	N	N	Y	Paapa Panchu
1987	Thirumathi Oru Vegumathi	Y	Y	Y	Naagarkoil Naadhamuni
1987	Kavalan Avan Kovalan	Y	Y	Y	Prabhu's Father-in-law
1987	Kathai Kathaiyam Karanamam	N	N	Y
1987	Srimathi Oka Bahumathi	Y	Y	Y		Telugu film; remake of Thirumathi Oru Vegumathi
1988	Veedu Manaivi Makkal	N	N	Y	Subbaiah Pillai
1988	Penmani Aval Kanmani	Y	Y	Y	Radio Mama
1988	Aadade Aadharam	Y	Y	Y		Nandi Award for Second Best Story Writer[22] Telugu film; remake of Penmani Aval Kanmani
1988	Mappillai Sir	N	N	Y	Vakkil Varadharajan
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
1990	Vedikkai En Vadikkai	Y	Y	Y	Kaavisattai Kandasamy
1992	Mannan	N	N	Y	Viswanathan
1992	Urimai Oonjaladugiradhu	Y	Y	Y	Kasturi's Father
1992	Neenga Nalla Irukkanum	Y	Y	Y		National Film Award for Best Film on Other Social Issues
1993	Uzhaippali	N	N	Y	Barrister
1993	Sinna Mapplai	N	N	Y	Marriage Broker
1994	Pattukottai Periyappa	Y	Y	Y	Pattukottai Periyappa
1994	Aranmanai Kaavalan	N	N	Y	Silai thirudan Santhanam
1994	Vaa Magale Vaa	Y	Y	Y	Viswanathan
1994	Vanaja Girija	N	N	Y	Business man Ramanathan
1994	Vaanga Partner Vaanga	N	N	Y	Ganapathi
1995	Mayabazar	N	N	Y	Vishwanathan
1995	God Father	N	N	Y	Viswanatham	Telugu film
1996	Irattai Roja	N	N	Y	Anchor	Guest appearance
1996	Meendum Savithri	Y	Y	Y	Narayana Moorthy
1996	Neti Savithri					Telugu film
1997	Nesam	N	N	Y	Himself
1997	Aravindhan	N	N	Y
1997	Adimai Changili	N	N	Y
1997	Vasuki	N	N	Y	Ramasamy
1997	Arunachalam	N	N	Y	Adv. Rangachari
1997	Sishya	N	N	Y	Aadhimoolam
1997	Vaimaye Vellum	N	N	Y
1998	Bhagavath Singh	N	N	Y
1999	Mannavaru Chinnavaru	N	N	Y	Shanmugasundaram
1999	Anbulla Kadhalukku	N	N	Y	Chandrasekhar
2000	Kakkai Siraginilae	N	N	Y	Judge
2000	Vaanavil	N	N	Y	Himself
2001	Sigamani Ramamani	Y	Y	Y	Sundaramoorthy
2001	Krishna Krishna	N	N	Y	Advocate Viswanathan	Guest appearance
2001	Middle Class Madhavan	N	N	Y	Advocate
2001	Vadagupatti Maapillai	N	N	Y	Gomathi Shankar
2001	Looty	N	N	Y	Dr. Kuzhanthavelu
2001	Vedham	N	N	Y		Guest appearance
2003	Thithikudhe	N	N	Y	Himself
2004	Maha Nadigan	N	N	Y
2005	Ji	N	N	Y	Raghavan
2007	Cheena Thaana 001	N	N	Y	Governor	Guest appearance
2007	Nenjirukkumvarai Ninaivirukkum	N	N	Y		Guest appearance
2008	Ellam Avan Seyal	N	N	Y
2009	Innoruvan	N	N	Y	Judge
2009	Kannukulle	N	N	Y
2013	Alex Pandian	N	N	Y	Chief Minister
2013	Oruvar Meethu Iruvar Sainthu	N	N	Y	Judge
2016	Manal Kayiru 2	N	Y	Y	Uthramerur Narathar Naidu

Television

• Arattai Arangam - Sun TV
• Makkal Arangam - Jaya TV
• Naalavathu Mudichu - Jaya TV^[23]

References

External links

• Visu at IMDb