A. Bhimsingh

A. Bhimsingh or Bhim Singh was an Indian filmmaker who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. Apart from Tamil, he made films in other languages that include 18 films in Hindi, 8 in Telugu, 5 in Malayalam and 2 films in Kannada. Hailing from Andhra Pradesh, he started his film career as an assistant editor with the film-making duo Krishnan–Panju in the late 1940s. Later, he became an assistant director before evolving as an independent director. His films mainly dealt with family and relationships. He made a series of films all of which started with the Tamil syllable pa, mainly with Sivaji Ganesan.

Personal life

Bhimsingh married Sona, the sister of Krishnan, in 1949. He had eight children with her; one of their eight children, B. Lenin is a film editor, and another son, B. Kannan, is a cinematographer, who is known for his frequent collaborations with Bharathiraja. Later, Bhimsingh's eldest son Naren married Panju's daughter. Bhimsingh later married actress Sukumari in 1959 and has a son Suresh Bhimsingh.

''Pa'' series

Many of Bhimsingh's films began with the syllable Pa, starred Sivaji Ganesan, had music by Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy, and lyrics by Kannadasan. According to Ganesan, Bhimsingh hardly imagined that he would make a series of films that began with the letter Pa, implying that he "might have thought about it at first because his name starts with the same letter in Tamil. Later he might have decided to stay on with this letter for sentimental reasons."

Year	Film	Banner	Music	Actors
1958	Pathi Bakthi	Buddha Pictures	Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy	Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, Savithri, M. N. Rajam, T. S. Balaiah, J. P. Chandrababu, V. Nagayya, C. R. Vijayakumari
1959	Bhaaga Pirivinai	Saravana Films	Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy	Sivaji Ganesan, B. Saroja Devi, M. R. Radha, T. S. Balaiah, S. V. Subbaiah, M. N. Nambiar, M. V. Rajamma
1960	Padikkadha Medhai	Bala Movies	K. V. Mahadevan	Sivaji Ganesan, Sowcar Janaki, S. V. Ranga Rao, P. Kannamba, T. R. Ramachandran, R. Muthuraman, E. V. Saroja, V. Gopalakrishnan
1961	Pasamalar	Rajamani Pictures	Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy	Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, Savithri, M. N. Rajam, M. N. Nambiar, K. A. Thangavelu
1961	Palum Pazhamum	Saravana Films	Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy	Sivaji Ganesan, B. Saroja Devi, Sowcar Janaki, Prem Nazir, T. S. Balaiah, S. V. Subbaiah, V. Nagayya, Sriram, Manorama
1961	Paava Mannippu	Budhdha Pictures	Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy	Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, Savithri, Devika, V. Nagayya, M. R. Radha, T. S. Balaiah, S. V. Subbaiah, M. V. Rajamma
1962	Bandha Pasam	Santhi Films	Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy	Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, Savithri, Devika, S. V. Ranga Rao, M. V. Rajamma, J. P. Chandrababu
1962	Parthal Pasi Theerum	AVM	Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy	Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, Savithri, Sowcar Janaki, B. Saroja Devi, Kamal Haasan
1962	Padithal Mattum Podhuma	Ranganathan Pictures	Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy	Sivaji Ganesan, K. Balaji, Savithri, Rajasulochana, M. R. Radha, S. V. Ranga Rao, S. V. Sahasranamam, P. Kannamba, M. V. Rajamma, R. Muthuraman
1963	Paar Magaley Paar	Kasturi Films	Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy	Sivaji Ganesan, Sowcar Janaki, R. Muthuraman, A. V. M. Rajan, C. R. Vijayakumari, Pushpalatha, M. R. Radha, V. K. Ramasamy
1964	Pachhai Vilakku	Vel Pictures	Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy	Sivaji Ganesan, S. S. Rajendran, A. V. M. Rajan, Sowcar Janaki, C. R. Vijayakumari, Pushpalatha, V. Nagayya, Nagesh, S. V. Ranga Rao, Sriram
1965	Pazhani	Bharatha Matha Pictures	Viswanathan–Ramamoorthy	Sivaji Ganesan, Sriram, S. S. Rajendran, R. Muthuraman, Devika, Pushpalatha, T. S. Balaiah, M. R. Radha
1967	Paaladai	Kamala Pictures	K. V. Mahadevan	Sivaji Ganesan, Padmini. K. R. Vijaya, V. K. Ramasamy, Nagesh, V. Gopalakrishnan, Manorama
1970	Paadhukaappu	Sunbeam Productions	M. S. Viswanathan	Sivaji Ganesan, Jayalalithaa, T. S. Balaiah, Major Sundararajan, M. N. Nambiar, Nagesh, J. P. Chandrababu, Sowcar Janaki

As an actor

1975: Cinema Paithyam

Recurring collaborators

Bhimsingh frequently associated with the same crew members. These included the assistant director duo Thirumalai–Mahalingam, cinematographer G. Vittal Rao and editor A. Paul Duraisingam. Ganesan appeared in 18 films directed by Bhimsingh, starting with Raja Rani.

Accolades

National Film Awards