Panchu Arunachalam's death: Rajinikanth to AR Murugadoss, Kollywood mourns loss of the legend

Veteran writer-producer Panchu Arunachalam passed away yesterday (August 9) in Chennai. He was reportedly suffering from blood cancer. He was 75 and is survived by his wife, two sons and two daughters.

Saddened by his sudden demise, a string of K-Town celebrities including superstar Rajinikanth, Dhanush, Siddharth and Radikaa Sarathkumar have mourned the death of veteran writer-producer Panchu Arunachalam.

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Several celebrities took to Twitter to mourn the demise of Pancu Arunachalam, popular for writing over 100 Tamil films, including blockbusters like Murattu Kaalai, Sakalakala Vallavan and Apoorva Sagodharargal.

Here's what they wrote:

Actor Rajinikanth made his 30th tweet saying: "Panchu sir... I really really miss you. May your soul rest in peace."

Rajinikanth (@superstarrajini) August 9, 2016

Actor Dhanush:

Rest in peace panchu arunaachalam sir. ??????????????? Dhanush (@dhanushkraja) August 9, 2016

Actor-comedian Santhanam:

Santhanam (@iamsanthanam) August 9, 2016

Filmmaker AR Murugadoss:

# RIP PANCHU sir, The Master story teller best in dual action subject, always wanted to work with him bt, lots of respect for ur work sir A.R.Murugadoss (@ARMurugadoss) August 9, 2016

Director Aishwaryaa R Dhanush:

Aishwaryaa.R.Dhanush (@ash_r_dhanush) August 9, 2016

Actor Siddharth:

Siddharth (@Actor_Siddharth) August 9, 2016

Actor Radikaa Sarathkumar:

Radikaa Sarathkumar (@realradikaa) August 9, 2016

Calling it a "big loss" for everyone, National Award-winning writer Dhananjayan Govind, who made the documentary "The Creator With Midas Touch" on the veteran, tweeted: "Panchu Arunachalam sir was born on 22nd March 1941, 75 years old now. Big loss to everyone and I am still unable to believe as I spoke recently."

Dhananjayan Govind (@Dhananjayang) August 9, 2016

While late filmmaker K. Balachander might have launched superstar Rajinikanth, Panchu was responsible for taking the 65-year-old star to the masses. They worked together in 23 films, including Kazhugu, Pokkiri Raja and Paayum Puli among others.

Arunachalam also came to be known for his association with Kamal Hassan, and they worked together in 13 films. Some of these were titles like Aboorva Sagodharagal Thoongadhey Thambi Thoongadhey and Uyarndha Ullam.

That apart, the writer-producer was also responsible for launching the career of music maestro Illayaraja. He introduced the latter in 1976 Tamil film Annakili.