Rama Narayanan, veteran director, producer, dies at 65

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Narayanan has directed 125 films in nine languages in a career spanning 36 years. In the 1980s, he was known as a director who specialised in commercial films, while most of the films he made in the 90s had devotion and spirituality as the underlying theme.

Considering his experience in the field, it came as no surprise for most in the industry when he was elected the head of Tamil Film Producers' Council for three consecutive terms. Narayanan was also elected MLA from Karaikudi in 1989. and the chairman of Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram in 1996.

"His demise is a great loss to the film fraternity," said actor R Sarathkumar, who heads South Indian Film Artistes' Association. "On several occasions, I have had the opportunity to meet him.

He was always warm to everyone. He was well-respected for his work and liked by all," he said.

Narayanan, who hailed from Karaikudi, started his career in Chennai as a songwriter before penning dialogues for films. He and his friend M A Khaja wrote dialogues together under the pseudonym Ram-Rahim.

Known to be a close associate of DMK chief M Karunanidhi, he made films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Marathi, Gujarati, Bhojpuri, Bengali, Oriya and Malay. For his 50{+t}{+h} film, Veeran Veluthambi, Karunanidhi wrote the story and dialogue.