I am indebted to my father for living, but to my teacher for living well,” said Alexander the Great, as a salute to his teacher, the legendary philosopher Aristotle. Teachers, gurus, mentors, or guides are individuals who play an important role in shaping our lives and careers.
On this special day, as a tribute to their teachers, a few personalities from Kollywood come together and open up about their mentors who taught them to dream bigger in life.
Adhik Ravichandran, Director
Many new directors have been inspired by legendary ones, but the only reason I entered the industry was because of my appa, Ravichandran. He was an assistant director for 17 years, and his journey and struggle during those days motivated me to succeed in this field. I still feel that he could have easily been a far better director than I will ever be!
I don’t have the habit of watching many old films, but in this technology-driven generation, the knowledge he imparted to me — by talking about movies from the 50s, 60s, and 70s — has in fact helped me become a better filmmaker.
Vishal Chandrashekar, Music composer
Director/cinematographer Santosh Sivan, who gave me my first Tamil film Inam, is my mentor. He is an institution of filmmaking! Working with him was like a crash course for me. We had plenty of discussions about each and every aspect of filmmaking.
A very cool and down-to-earth person, he gives a lot of freedom to the technicians who work with him. Initially, as a newcomer, I had many inhibitions. Every time I had a doubt, Santosh sir called me and gave his input. I learnt a lot from him.
SJ Suryah, Actor/ Director
Who else can be called vaathiyar, other than the legendary actor MG Ramachan-
dran! I have grown up watching his films, and if I get good feedback for my acting, it is only what I’ve learnt by watching him.
The aspect that makes me adore him is that he used to give the right mix of energy, message, and commercial elements in all his films. The above ingredients are not confined just to cinema — even in real life, if a person can follow these traits, then life will become much happier!
Sivakumar Vijayan, Cinematographer
You can never choose a guru. If you show passion towards your art, then he’ll find you. For me, Mr. PC Sreeram turned out to be the one and only guru. Three of the most important traits I learnt from him are discipline, honesty and work-life balance. Any work we do, we need motivation and inspiration — and PC sir is the one I look up to when I need them.
The biggest difference between a teacher and a guru is that the former will teach you things, but from a guru, you can learn things which can never be taught. The way you serve him will be the gurudakshina.
Sshivada, Actress
I consider director Krishna as my guru. After all, he was the one who had faith in me and gave me the opportunity to act in my first Tamil film Nedunchalai. To be frank, it was only after that film I started to take acting very seriously.
Even now, whenever I get film offers, I discuss them with him. He gives valid
suggestions when it comes to acting. He is a great human being, extremely supportive and helpful.
