Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan unveil their mentor and noted director K Balachander’s statue in Chennai

A statue of noted director K Balachander was unveiled at the new RKFI (Raaj Kamal Films International) office in Alwarpet, Chennai, on Friday, reports The Hindu.

The inauguration was done by Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth, and many others who had come to pay their respects to the filmmaker. Balachander was the mentor to both Haasan and Rajinikanth.

Other film personalities present at the ceremony were Mani Ratnam, lyricist Vairamuthu, actor Nasser, KS Ravikumar, and Santhana Bharathi. The families of K Balachander and Kamal Haasan also attended the ceremony.

The statue weighs 60 kg and stands at 23 inches in height. K Balachander’s daughter Pushpa also helped in the unveiling.

As per the TOI report, Rajinikanth spoke at the event and said, "K Balachander told me to learn Tamil, and said: 'You see where I am going to take you.' He knew what Tamil people would like. But his favourite child was always Kamal! Ananthu sir (KB’s writer) and Kamal would keep talking for hours. He was the one who moulded him. Aboorva Sagodharagal is my favourite film produced by Raj Kamal Films International. I woke him up in the middle of the night to congratulate him. Similarly, Thevar Magan is such a classic. The message of that film is superb.”

The Petta actor also added his favourite works in the world of cinema included Godfather, Thiruvilaiyadal, and Hey Ram (which featured Haasan). Rajinikanth also confessed he had watched Hey Ram almost 30 times.

After the event, Haasan's team also arranged for a special screening of Hey Ram at Sathyam Cinemas in Chennai. This would then be followed by an interactive QnA session.

Here are some tweets on the event