K BHAGYARAJ 1953–2026 - The Screenplay King takes his final bow

Actor, screenwriter and director K Bhagyaraj passed away on Saturday due to a heart attack at the age of 73. The veteran, who had attended the wedding of Kushboo and Sundar C’s daughter, Avanthika, in Goa a day earlier, had returned from his morning walk complaining of uneasiness.

Even though he was rushed to a private hospital, it proved to be too late. Bhagyaraj, who celebrated his golden jubilee in cinema this January, is survived by his wife, actress Poornima Bhagyaraj, and their children, Saranya and actor Shanthnu.His demise has come as a shock to the Tamil film fraternity that’s yet to recover from the recent loss of another legend, Bharathirajaa, Bhagyaraj’s guru. Their association remained one of Tamil cinema’s most significant mentor-protégé relationships.The making of an auteurBeginning his career in the mid-1970s as an assistant director to Bharathirajaa, Bhagyaraj worked with the legend on iconic films like 16 Vayathinile and Kizhakke Pogum Rail . His breakthrough as an actor came when Bharathirajaa cast him as the lead in Puthiya Vaarpugal (1979), and he soon made his directorial debut with Suvarilladha Chiththirangal the same year, thus launching a career that established him as one of Tamil cinema’s most distinctive writer-director-actors.

His last role: An eye donorEven in death, Bhagyaraj left behind one final act of generosity. Having pledged to donate his eyes, the veteran filmmaker’s corneas were harvested by a team of doctors soon after his passing. A quiet but fitting reminder of the humane side of the man whose stories touched millions. The man MGR called his ‘Kalaiulaga varisu’ Bhagyaraj was an ardent admirer of MGR, and the legendary actor-politician reciprocated that affection.

MGR famously hailed him as his heir in films — ‘ Kalaiulaga vaarisu ’. In 1990, he used footage from MGR’s shelved project Anna Nee En Deivam , and made an entirely new film, Avasara Police 100 . His admiration for MGR extended beyond cinema. When he started a political party, he named it MGR Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam in honour of his idol.