Sundaram Balachander

S. Balachander was one of southern India's formemost Veena players. He was a child prodigy who taught himself to play the Veena, an ancient stringed instrument that is sometimes called the Indian lute. He directed several Tamil films, mostly mysteries. Unfortunately, they were commercial failures. His films are vaguely reminiscent of Hollywood's film noir classics. They should be regarded as attempts to get an Indian vernacular audience to appreciate detective fiction. Besides being a film director, Balachander was also a musicologist. An acerbic and combative man, he made enemies of his fellow musicians, notably Balamuralikrishna and Semmangudi Srinivasa Iyer, by disproving their musical claims. Balachander's death some years ago robbed India of one of its most colourful personalities.