Tamil film director dies at 103

Legendary Tamil film director Antony Mitra Das died in Chennai on Monday evening. He was 103 years old.

He made films in Tamil, Malayalam and Sinhalese and served in the Army during the Second World War.

Mitradas was born in Madurai on 3 November 1913. He did his B.A. Statistics at American College, Madurai. His passion for film direction took him to Calcutta, and he enrolled in an institute run by Balchandani.

There the noted director Ellis R. Dungan had come to deliver a guest lecture. Dungan was much impressed by Mitradas and recommended him to T.R. Sundaram of Modern Theatres, Salem.

Thus he got the opportunity to direct his first film Dayalan starring P.U. Chinnappa in 1941, as soon as he finished his studies at the film institute.

Mitradas' best known films are Baalyasakhi, Avakasi and Pizhaikkum Vazhi. Avakasi was a turning point in the career of Prem Nazir. Duppathage Duka is the remake of the Tamil hit Ezhai Padum Padu and was a huge hit in Sinhalese.

With the outbreak of the World War II, he felt the necessity to serve the nation. He joined the army and was posted in Singapore and Chittagong during 1942-1945.At the end of the war, he restarted his film career and directed a few films.