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Kailasam Balachander was an Indian filmmaker and playwright who worked mainly in the Tamil film industry. He was well known for his distinct film-making style, and the Indian film industry knew him as a master of unconventional themes and hard-hitting contemporary subject matter. Balachander's films are well known for their portrayal of women as bold personalities and central characters. Popularly referred to as Iyakkunar Sigaram, his films are usually centred on unusual or complicated interpersonal relationships and social themes. He started his film career in 1964 as a screenwriter and graduated to a director with Neerkumizhi (1965).

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Ramaswamy Krishnamurthy, better known by his pen name Kalki, was an Indian writer, journalist, poet, critic and Indian independence activist. He was named after "Kalki", the tenth and last avatar of the Hindu God Vishnu. His writings include over 120 short stories, 10 novellas, 5 novels, 3 historical romances, editorial and political writings and hundreds of film and music reviews.

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Panditha.M.Gopala Krishna Iyer (1878–1927), popularly known as Ma.Ko, served the cause of development of the Tamil language during the first quarter of the twentieth century. Ma.Ko. was a poet, translator, essayist, dramatist, editor of literary journals and above all a patriot.

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Y. G. Mahendran is an Indian dramatist, actor, singer, playwright and comedian from the state of Tamil Nadu. He has acted in a number of plays and films. He is the son of Y. G. Parthasarathy, one of the pioneers of modern Tamil drama and Rajalakshmi Parthasarathy, founder and dean of Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan group of schools, and nephew of veteran Tamil filmmaker K. Balaji. Mahendra is also the cousin of actress Vyjayanthimala and the co-brother of Rajinikanth and Mohanlal.

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Mohan Rangachari known professionally as Crazy Mohan, was an Indian actor, comedian, screenwriter and playwright. An engineer by profession, Mohan started writing plays and established his own drama troupe called "Crazy Creations" in 1979. In addition to dramas and tele-serials, Mohan worked as a dialogue writer on a number of comedy films. Mohan had written over 30 plays, worked on over 40 films, having cameo roles in each film, and written 100 short stories. He died on 10 June 2019 due to a cardiac arrest.

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Pammal Vedharangam Sambandham Mudaliar (1873–1964), who has been described as "the founding father of modern Tamil theatre", was a playwright, director, producer and actor of the late nineteenth- and early twentieth centuries. He was a recipient of the civilian honour of the Padma Bhushan.

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Manonmaniyam P. Sundaranar was an Indian scholar, noted for the famous Tamil drama Manonmaniyam. as well as the state song of Tamil Nadu Tamil Thai Valthu.

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S. D. Sundharam also written as S. D. Sundaram, is an Indian Tamil playwright, dialogue writer and lyricist. He also co-directed one Tamil feature film and produced and directed one documentary film. He played minor roles in a few films.

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Komal Swaminathan was a congressional activist in his early years, a Tamil theater personality, film director and journalist.

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Vinodhini Vaidyanathan is an Indian film and theatre actress who has mainly appeared in Tamil language films. She made her debut in A. R. Murugadoss's production Engaeyum Eppothum portraying Ananya's sister, and is best known for her performances in OK Kanmani (2015), Appa (2016), Aandavan Kattalai (2016), Ratsasan (2018), Comali (2019), Game Over (2019), Ponmagal Vandhal (2020) & Soorarai Pottru (2020).

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Meenakshisundaram Ramasamy Viswanathan, best known by his stage name Visu, was an Indian writer, director, stage, film and television actor and talk-show host. 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, directed by S. P. Muthuraman.