Ibrahim Rowther

Ibrahim Rowther launched his first film, Uzhavan Magan in 1987 to promote his friend Vijayakanth as an actor in the Tamil film industry. Vijayakanth subsequently garnered several bigger offers, and regularly collaborated with Ibrahim during his acting career.^[1]

In the late 1990s, Ibrahim took up a key administrative role in the Tamil Film Producers Council and later served as its president.^[2] His production house, Rowther Films, began to fail in the late 1990s and films such as K.Paarthasarathy's Unakkum Enakkum Kalyanam featuring Livingston and Devayani were put on hold.^[3]

In 2000, Ibrahim Rowther announced five new films as a part of a comeback after the slowdown. He created a new banner known as Kamban Kalaikoodam, and planned to collaborate with directors he had already worked with. He announced films including Manobala's Naan Paada Ninaippathellam featuring Ramesh Aravind, Swarnamalya and Suhasini; Senthilnathan's Kadhal Mudal Kadhal Varai featuring Bala Kumaran and Uma; J. Panneer's Enakkoru Snehithi featuring Hamsavardhan and Rishi; A. R. Ramesh's Daddy featuring Raghuvaran; and R. Aravindraj's Pesum Vizhigal featuring Jaishankar's son Jaivijay. None of the films materialised owing to financial problems.^[4][5]

Rowther Films' first release in the 21st century was Puriyadha Anandam Puthithaga Arambam (2015) featuring Krish and Srushti Dange in the lead role. Rowther had selected Krish for the role in late 2012, but the film eventually went through a production delay and did not perform well at the box office.^[6][7][8]

Ibrahim had a close relationship with his childhood friend, actor Vijayakanth. As his trusted confidante in the industry, Ibrahim was entrusted with the job of picking out the right scripts and producing films for the actor.^[6] However, the pair later fell out in 2012, with Rowther departing from Vijayakanth's political party to the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam citing that Vijayakanth lacked decorum.^[9][10]

Vijayakanth often visited Rowther in hospital a week before his death and wrote an open letter about their friendship.^[11] Ibrahim Rowther died aged 63, following a prolonged illness on 22 July 2015.^[12]