It isn't easy creating villains with actors who were previously seen as the protagonists in movies. It was successfully done in 2015's Thani Oruvan where Arvind Swami was cast as Siddharth Abhimanyu by Mohan Raja. Even before that, such a feat was achieved not once but thrice by the late legend Panchu Arunachalam. Here is the list highlighting his genius when it comes to casting and screenwriting.
NAGESH AS THE VILLAIN
Panchu and Nagesh had some difference in opinion and Panchu never cast Nagesh in his production banner for about 12 years until Apoorva Sagodharargal happened. To bring a variety to the antagonist, it was Panchu's call to cast Nagesh as a villain for the first time in his career. Shooting for the film had already started, when, Panchu popularly known as the Script Doctor was brought in to fine tune the script. It was Panchu's call to bring in Manorama as Kamal's mother, which was earlier planned with Ganthimathi. There are deleted songs available in YouTube featuring Kamal and Ganthimathi
SIVAKUMAR AS THE VILLAIN
The movie was based on a Maharishi novel. When the script was shared with Sivakumar, he was very excited about the story and the lead characterization and asked Panchu who was going to play the villain. Panchu surprised Sivakumar with the villain role for the first time & Rajini who started off with negative characters was given the hero role.
JAISHANKAR AS THE VILLAIN
Jaishankar who had acted in about 175 films as a hero was cast as villain in Murattu Kaalai for the first time by Panchu. Jaishankar's career took a huge leap after that with more negative roles and made him a busy man. As per Rajini's request, the promotions for both Rajini and Jaishankar during the release with cutouts and posters having equal importance to Jaishankar and Rajini were released.
1976 - ANNAKILI
1st producer in Tamil cinema to take shooting process outdoors for Annakili in a village near Palani.Unfortunately, the movie was shot in black & white and the real beauty of the outdoor landscapes was not much experienced. Producer & screenplay writer for the movie was Panchu Arunachalam.
S.P.MUTHURAMAN, AVM AND PANCHU
Story writer, screenplay, dialogue & lyrics - Panchu When AVM approached Rajini for Murattu Kaalai, Panchu had Rajini's dates then. Panchu gave up Rajini's date and was instrumental in bringing back SP Muthuraman to AVM. He left the banner because of some difference in opinion after working with the banner for a very long time as an assistant director. SP Muthuraman is the only director who has made 25 films with Rajinikanth after the big commercial success Murattu Kaalai
