A. Jagannathan


A. Jagannathan was an Indian film director who worked in the Tamil, Kannada and Hindi film industries and he was introduced by R.M. Veerappan in his Sathya Movies banner for Manipayal. He directed nearly 50 films in Tamil.

Film career

He made his debut as director in Manipayal in 1973 after working as an assistant to T. Prakash Rao and P. Neelakantan for almost 15 films, most of them being MGR movies. He directed the MGR film Idhayakkani, under the tutelage of R.M.Veerappan and went on to direct five other blockbuster films for RMV's Sathya Movies including Moondru Mugam with Rajinikanth and Kadhal Parisu with Kamal Hasaan. He also directed some television serials.
He directed Sivaji Ganesan's Vellai Roja which won awards including the Filmfare Award. Another successful venture in his career was Moondru Mugam.

Partial filmography

YearFilmLanguageWriterNotes
1973ManipayalTamildebut as a director-
1974Idhayam ParkiradhuTamil-
1975IdhayakkaniTamilPoovai Krishnan
1976Kumara VijayamTamilKomal Swaminathan
1976Nalla PenmaniTamil-
1976Athirshtam AzhaikkirathuTamil-
1977Nandha En NilaTamil-
1978Ival Oru SeethaiTamil-
1979Jaya Nee JayuchutteTamil-
1979Mugathil Mugan PaarkalaamTamil-
1979Muthal IravuTamil-
1980Aayiram Vaasal IdhayamTamil-
1981Pennmanum PesugiradhuTamil-
1981Sorgathin Thirappu VizhaTamil-
1982KrodhamTamilPrem Menon
1982Moondru MugamTamilP. Selvakumar
1983Manaivi Illatha NeramTamil
1983Thanga MaganTamilSathya Movies story department
1983Vellai RojaTamilPavithranRemake of Malayalam film Postmortem
Filmfare Award for Best Director – Tamil
1984Komberi MookanTamil-
1984Naalai Unathu NaalTamilPrithvi BrothersRemake of Gumnaam
1984Oh Maane MaaneTamilPammanRemake of Malayalam film Chattakari
1985Karpoora DeepamTamil-
1985Meendum ParasakthiTamil-
1987Kadhal ParisuTamilR. M. Veerappan
1987Muthukkal MoondruTamilSuryakos Ranga
1988DharmathmaKannada-
1989En ThangaiTamilRamani
1991Mill ThozhilaliTamilL. S. N. Ravi
1991Archana IASTamilAmutha Durairaj
1993TahqiqaatHindi
1994Watchman VadivelTamilAaroordas
1994Khaidi No. 1TeluguRemake of Khalnayak
1994HeroTamilRemake of Khalnayak-

Death

He suffered from breathing ailments and was hospitalized in Coimbatore for a fortnight. He died on 7 October 2012, and was cremated at Tiruppur. He was survived by his wife Rajamani, daughters Usha Devi and Pavithra Devi and son Arun Kumar.