Photograph showing Kamal Hasan in the famous song Ennadi Meenakshi composed by Ilayaraja for the film Ilamai Oonjal Aadukirathu (1978).
Ilamai Oonjal Aadikirathu was C.V. Sridhar’s first association with Kamal Hasan and Rajinikanth. The film was a big hit and ran for more than 25 weeks in theatres. Frank Dubier, the legendary jazz trumpeter and Stephen Lazarus, a gospel trumpeter played for the song Ennadi Meenakshi. Ilamai Oonjal Aadikirathu won best film of the year category in Tamil Nadu state awards 1978. Sridhar went on to remake in Telugu and Hindi as Vayasu Pilichindi (1978) and Dil-e-Nadaan (1982) respectively. Sridhar started his film career as a story writer for the TKS Brothers’ Ratha Pasam directed by R.S. Mani. His first film as director, Kalyana Parisu (1959), was a big hit and he remade it in Telugu as Pelli Kanuka (1960) and in Hindi as Nazrana (1961). He started his own production house Chitralaya, and the first film under the banner was Then Nilavu (1961), which was a runaway hit as well.