Legendary producer and director of Tamil cinema, Panchu Arunachalam, died in Chennai today.

The 75-year-old passed away at his residence at T Nagar.

Also a writer and lyricist, Arunachalam is survived by two sons including actor Subbu Panchu and two daughters.

A nephew of celebrated lyricist Kannadasan, he introduced Ilaiyaraaja as music director in his film Annakili and made films starring Kamal Hassan and Rajinikanth.

He worked closely with Bharathiraaja, SP Muthuraman, Sivakumar, Sathyaraj, Prabhu, Radikaa, Khusbhu, Gangai Amaren among others.

As a writer, he has worked in 100 films.

Arunachalam has also written song lyrics for more than 200 films. Some super-hit songs include Manmagale Marumagale Vaa Vaa in Sharada and Pon Ezhil Poothathu Puthu Vaanil in Kalangarai Vilakkam and Poopola Poopala in Naanum Oru Penn.

He wrote dialogues for Sivaji starrer Avanthan Manithan.