Showing all artists born at Madurai

M. Sasikumar is a Tamil film director, actor and producer. He is best known in the Tamil film industry for his debut film Subramaniapuram (2008).

The low-budget film received attention for its original script, direction, screenplay, editing and accurate sets and costumes resurrecting Madurai from the 1980s.

Sasikumar studied business administration in Madurai and has a bachelor's degree. He began working in films through his uncle Kandasaamy, who produced Sethu (1999).

Sasikumar worked as an assistant director for the film, where he made the acquaintance of Ameer, who was also assisting and went on to make a name for himself. He assisted director Ameer in Mounam Pesiyadhe (2002) and Raam (2005).

It was during the initial phases of Ameer's Paruthiveeran (2007) that he began his groundwork for Subramaniapuram and left the production to focus on his film.

He directed, acted and produced the film Subramaniapuram in 2008, his debut directorial venture.

Subramaniapuram centers on a set of vagabond youths in Madurai during the 1980s and their lives that gets enmeshed in politics and crime, eventually leading to tragedy. Subramaniapuram, shot in 85 days, received critical acclaim and became a box-office grosser.

Sasikumar acted in Subramaniapuram as Parama and in Naadodigal (2009) as Karuna, directed by Samuthirakani , and also acted in Malayalam film,Masters (2012) as Milan paul with prithviraj.

After the success of Subramaniapuram, Sasikumar produced Pasanga (2009), directed by debutant Pandiraj, and the self-directed Easan (2010).

M. Sasikumar (born 28 September 1975) is a Tamil film director, actor and producer. He is best known in the Tamil film industry for his debut film Subramaniapuram (2008). The low-budget film received attention for its original script, direction, screenplay, editing and accurate sets and costumes resurrecting Madurai from the 1980s.

Mohan Raja is an Indian film director, who has primarily worked in the Tamil film industry. As of 2015, he has directed eight films, all but one being remakes.After making his debut with the Telugu-language film Hanuman Junction (2001), he went on to remake several successful Telugu films into Tamil, beginning with Jayam (2003), which also launched his brother, Ravi, as a leading actor. Raja then collaborated with Ravi for three consecutive commercially successful films, M. Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi (2004), Something Something... Unakkum Enakkum (2006) and Santosh Subramaniam (2008), all of which were remakes of Telugu films. After a period of mixed success, he returned with his first original script, Thani Oruvan (2015), which went on to become amongst the most profitable Tamil films of 2015.

As a result of his father's involvement in the film industry, Raja regularly visited Vauhini Studios as a teenager to watch his father work as a film editor. Likewise, Mohan's role as the president of the Dubbing Film Producers Association meant that Raja was exposed to world cinema, before he attended the Film Institute to complete his education. He made his directorial debut through the Telugu action comedy film, Hanuman Junction (2001), a remake of the Malayalam film Thenkasipattanam (2000). Featuring an ensemble cast led by Arjun and Jagapati Babu, the film told the story of two childhood friends in a village who fall in love with the same woman and the project went on to become one of the most profitable Telugu films of the year.

 Raja won positive reviews for his work, with Jeevi of Idlebrain.com stating "credit goes to Raja for narrating the story in such a way that all the viewers understand the complex and randomly changing relationships clearly" and that "the film looks solid in most of the scenes", while adding that Raja knows "the mass pulse".Raja then moved on to make his first Tamil film, Jayam (2003), which was a remake of the successful 2002 Telugu film of the same name.

 A romantic thriller set in a village, the film was produced by Raja's father Mohan and starred his younger brother, Ravi, in the lead role alongside Sadha, who had featured in the original version. Jayam opened to mixed reviews, with a critic from The Hindu stating the film gave a sense of "déjà vu" but added that Raja's "treatment is interesting in patches". The film went on to become a surprise success at the box office, and prompted both Raja and Ravi to adopt "Jayam" to their stage names as a prefix, while their home production studio was renamed Jayam Company.

Raja then worked with his father and brother on the production of M. Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi (2004), a remake of the Telugu film Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi (2003). Focusing on the relationship of a single mother and son, the film also featured kick-boxing as a backdrop and was extensively shot in Malaysia. Nadhiya made a comeback to Tamil films by portraying Ravi's mother, while actress Asin made her debut in Tamil films with the project. The film opened in October 2004 to positive reviews, with Behindwoods.com stating "Raja has done well for his second film" and "he has well defined the relationship between a mother and a son in this movie", while The Hindu wrote that "casting is a main draw", praising the inclusion of Nadhiya.

Rediff.com also listed the film amongst the "best Tamil films of 2004", stating that the film was "a big success". Like Jayam, M. Kumaran son of Mahalakshmi went on to become another highly profitable venture at the box office for the production house. Following the success of the film, Jayam Ravi signed on for films directed by different film makers, while Raja also stated he was looking to work for other production houses.

Raja did not sign on to make any further films, while Ravi experienced two consecutive box office failures after the success of their last collaboration. Subsequently, the duo came together for another home production titled Something Something... Unakkum Enakkum (2006), which would be a remake of Prabhu Deva's successful Telugu film, Nuvvostanante Nenoddantana. (2004). Trisha and Prabhu were signed on to play pivotal roles, with the latter being finalised after unsuccessful negotiations with several other actors.

A family drama focusing on the relationship between a brother and a sister, the film told the story of how a city-bred youngster attempts to please his lover's brother. The film opened to positive reviews in July 2006, with Behindwoods.com noting Raja "should be applauded for hand picking a cast that makes the movie worth watching", while remarking that "it has everything that can well set the box office collections soaring". Likewise Sify added the film was "like a saccharine coated candy floss champion that is superbly packaged" and The Hindu stated "Raja has a way of making remakes successful".The venture went on to become profitable, and scored the third straight success for the actor-director duo.He was then signed on by Gemini Film Circuit to remake Rajkumar Hirani's Hindi film Lage Raho Munna Bhai (2006) into Tamil, but the project failed to materialise.

Raja next began work on the family drama film Santosh Subramaniam (2008), a remake of the Telugu film Bommarillu (2006), after outbidding several other interested parties for the remake rights. The film's original version was made by Raja's friend, Bhaskar, who also stated that Raja would be the most apt director to remake the film into the Tamil language. Ravi and Prakash Raj were chosen again to play lead roles, while Genelia D'Souza was selected as the film's heroine, after winning acclaim for her portrayal of the role in the original version.The film revolved around a father and son relationship; where the son's choices and his ambitions to achieve something in life are subdued by his father, and Raja related the storyline back to his personal life.

Santosh Subramaniam opened to positive reviews from critics, with Raja winning critical acclaim for his work. A critic from Sify.com noted "Raja, a past master at remakes, is once again a winner" and that the film "has simple charm, immensely likeable characters, and the intrinsic humour in the writing makes it a must watch". Similarly, a critic from the The Hindu noted "for the fourth time in succession film-maker Raja shows he can re-make a film to suit the audiences here", stating the script was "aptly re-tuned to suit the Tamil milieu".The film also went on to be ranked amongst the Best Tamil films of the year by the Tamil Nadu State, while it also garnered four Filmfare Award nominations, including one for Best Film. Moreover, it became a very profitable venture for the makers, running for over 100 days in theatres across Tamil Nadu.The producers, AGS Entertainment, subsequently requested Raja to make another film with Ravi after Santosh Subramaniam's success, but Raja gave Ravi's dates to director Prabhu Deva to instead film Engeyum Kaadhal (2011).

After five consecutive successful films, Raja chose to remake the Telugu comedy film, Kick (2009) into Tamil as Thillalangadi (2010), with Ravi in the lead role. The remake rights were purchased for "astronomical sum", a month after the Telugu film's release by Raja's father, Mohan, who was set to produce the film. The film began production in mid-2009 and was shot extensively across Malaysia, with Tamannaah and Shaam signed on to play supporting roles.The film opening to mixed and negative reviews, unlike the original version, whilst Sify.com rated the film as "below average" film and added that it was "boring". Pavithra Srinivasan from Rediff.com cited the film as a "ridiculous pot-boiler" and criticised Ravi's performance as "lacking punch" and also drew criticism to the "wafer-thin story line", giving the film a mere 1.5 out of 5. Behindwoods.com cited "Raja's narration is interesting but is way too long", adding that "the ‘family’ feel which is generally present in Raja's films is missing in Thillalangadi". The film became Raja's first venture to gain predominantly negative reviews, but had an average run at the box office.

In late 2009, Raja agreed terms to work with actor Vijay, and spent ten months writing a script based on a story written by director Thirupathisamy in the early 2000s. Thirupathisamy had gone on to make the story into a Telugu film titled Azad (2000), while also began pre-production work to remake it in Tamil as Velan with Vijay and Priyanka Chopra in 2001, before he died later that year. Raja subsequently bought the remake rights and re-worked the script of Azad to suit Tamil audiences and signed on Genelia D'Souza and Hansika Motwani to play other lead roles. The film, which was retitled Velayudham, became Raja's first Tamil venture which did not include his brother in the cast and while writing the script, Raja analysed Vijay's popularity amongst children and women audience to insert certain scenes into the script. The film told the tale of a milkman who turns into a vigilante, with a human interest story as a backdrop. The film opened to positive reviews and became the third highest grossing Tamil film of 2011. A critic from Behindwoods.com noted "Raja has done a fine job of mixing all the elements that go towards making a mass hero film, though he has lost the balance a bit in the last hour", while Rediff.com noted it is "a masala entertainer that doesn't require you to tax your brain cells". In early 2012, Raja began pre-production on remaking the Tamil film Ramanaa (2002) into Hindi with Akshay Kumar and Tamannaah in the lead roles. He later opted out of the film after it went through delays and was not involved in the subsequent remake titled Gabbar Is Back (2015).Raja then briefly forayed into acting and played the father of quadruplets in the comedy thriller, Enna Satham Indha Neram (2014), directed by his friend, Guru Ramesh. Raja shot for the film for six days in Chennai but has not acted in any further venture, after the film had a low-key opening at the box office.

After taking a sabbatical, Raja began working on his first original script for the production house AGS Entertainment in late 2012 and was helped by the writer duo Subha. He worked on the script of Thani Oruvan (2015) for nine months, and revealed that it was based on an original idea about "a man who goes all out to hunt evil in society". He added that in "formulaic Tamil films", the protagonist would require a flashback to show a reason to fight evil or that the "hero would wait for the villain to make the first move", but noted that Thani Oruvan would eschew those typical notions seen in Tamil films.He considered several actors for the lead role but finally chose Jayam Ravi again as he wanted an actor "who would trust him blindly" because he had wanted the film to be a "career-changing film". After unsuccessful negotiations with Arya and Madhavan, Raja cast Arvind Swamy in the role of the main antagonist because he wanted "an actor whose attractiveness would act as a distraction from his evilness". Raja called the film "experimental" and "close to his heart", revealing the efforts he put in to the pre-production of the project. The film began production in late 2013 and took a year and a half to complete shoot, with several delays during production.

The making of the film was marred with the troubles of the original composer backing out, Sun Pictures cancelling their film distribution contract and a spat between the director and the lead actress, Nayanthara. As a result of the delays, Raja and Ravi decided to forgo their salaries for the last schedule to ensure the budget stopped escalating. The film opened in August 2015 to unanimously positive reviews, with Rediff.com noting that the script was "highly intelligent, racy and well-polished script that is perfectly executed" and added it has "flawless execution by the director that deserves all the credit". Likewise Sify.com called the film a "taut, intelligent, and deliciously twisted action drama", while The Times of India praised the "sleek filmmaking". The Hindu stated the film was a "pretty smart, pulpy thriller" and wrote it has "more style than you expect in a Mohan Raja movie". The film subsequently went on to become one of the most profitable Tamil films of 2015, as well as the biggest successes in the careers of Raja and Ravi.

Raja has worked on primarily on official Tamil remakes of Telugu language films, but has stated, "Remakes aren't easy. Taking up a proven hit and making it succeed again is a challenge." While other filmmakers in Tamil cinema have often plagiarised plot lines and scenes from other regional films, Raja has only worked on officially approved remake projects and his six first films were credited to other writers. He has noted his displeasure at being referred to as "Remake Raja" or "Xerox Raja" by the media, and that the constant criticism led him to make his first original script, Thani Oruvan.

He works with his team of assistants to blend in changes to the script to suit the culture of Tamil audiences, and thrashes out every single shot from the original version to add or subtract sequences. He has also revealed that he analyses whether to introduce tracks to suit regional tastes and pays particular attention to the cast list. Raja has won acclaim for his casting decisions and was praised for putting Nadhiya in a comeback role as a young mother in M. Kumaran S/O Mahalakshmi and for casting Asin, then branded by the film industry as an "unlucky actress", as the film's heroine despite the producer dissuading his choice. Meanwhile, he gave Prabhu a supporting role as a brother in Something Something... Unakkum Enakkum, marking an early foray away from lead roles for the actor, which won him acclaim from critics.Likewise, his decision to cast Arvind Swamy as an antagonist in Thani Oruvan, because of his "attractiveness" also received acclaim, following the film's success.

Venkataraghavan Ranganathan , better known as Raaghav on screen, is film actor and television personality in Tamil Nadu, India. Before his break into films, he appeared in season 1 of Jodi Number One.

He first appeared in supporting roles in several films, he is making his debut as the lead hero with, Nanjupuram. He is a gold medalist from College of Engineering, Guindy,Chennai. He then went on to further his studies in the University of Illinois and later came back to Chennai, where he worked as a software engineer. But due to his passion for media, he shifted to a career of acting.

He got married to his TV co star Preetha. He and his wife appeared together in Jodi Number 1 in Vijay TV and Maanada Mayilada in Kalaignar TV. In borth the reality shows they were the 1st runner up.

Sakthi Saravanan is an Indian cinematographer, who works in Tamil and Telugu cinema. He is best known for his hand held and gritty work with Venkat Prabhu and M. Rajesh directorials. He has been the cinematographer for many critically acclaimed films such as Chennai 600028, Saroja, Siva Manasula Sakthi, Goa and Boss Engira Bhaskaran. He also cranked the camera for Venkat Prabhu's Mankatha.

Robo Shankar is a Tamil stand-up comedian who has also appeared in character roles in Tamil films. He made his breakthrough with STAR Vijay's Kalakkapovathu Yaaru performing stand up comedy. He is a now cast regular on several shows on STAR Vijay and has presented television shows for the channel. He visited and performed stage shows in more than 30 countries.

He is awarded "Doctorate" by International Tamil University, USA.

Mahadevan (also credited as Pithamagan Mahadevan) is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil language, Telugu and Malayalam films. He made his breakthrough portraying the antagonist in Bala's Pithamagan and the film's name has subsequently been used as a prefix to his stage name to distinguish him from other artistes called Mahadevan.

Ameer Sultan is an Indian film director, producer and actor, working in the Tamil film industry. He has directed four films and was critically acclaimed for three of them, the romantic comedy Mounam Pesiyadhe (2002), the mystery thriller Raam (2005) and the drama Paruthiveeran (2007). He made his acting debut in Yogi (2009).

Ameer Sultan was born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu India. He initially studied economics and worked as an entrepreneur before starting to work as an assistant director to Tamil filmmaker Bala on his award winning film Sethu in 1999.

Shortly after, he directed his first film, the romantic comedy Mounam Pesiyadhe (2002). The film starred Suriya in the lead and became Trisha Krishnan's first release featuring her in a leading role. The same year, he began his own production company, Teamwork Production House. 

His second directorial was the mystery thriller Raam, which he produced himself and released three years later. The film, which revolves around an autistic teenager, portrayed by Jiiva, who is highly attached to his mother, but becomes suspected of having murdered her, received critical acclaim, with Jeeva and the film's composer Yuvan Shankar Raja winning awards at the 2005 Cyprus International Film Festival.  It also became Jeeva's breakthrough in the film industry, who till then had appeared in two unsuccessful home productions only.

In 2007, he directed the drama Paruthiveeran set in a village in Tamil Nadu, which marked the debut of Karthi, younger son of Sivakumar and brother of Suriya. Critics heaped high praise on the film and Ameer's direction, while Karthi as well as Priyamani, who performed the female lead, won several notable prizes for their performances. 

Paruthiveeran remains Ameer's most acclaimed work, having received six Filmfare Awards South including the Best Film and Best Director trophies, two National Film Awards, two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and four Vijay Awards. The film further fetched accolades at international platform, winning the Best Film Award at the Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema and Netpac Special Mention award at the Berlin International Film Festival.

He is currently working on his fourth directorial, Aadhi Bhagavan, featuring Jayam Ravi and Neetu Chandra in the lead roles. Ameer's next film is Jihad which is his own production.That is a love story.

On 24 October 2008, Ameer was arrested.  Being a Tamil activist, he took part in a film rally condemning state atrocities against Tamils in Sri Lanka, organized by director Bharathiraja, also a Tamil activist, and other prominent Tamil directors, actors, and producers. 

The rally was part of statewide protests across Tamil Nadu in 2008 condemning Sri Lanka. During the rally, Ameer and fellow director Seeman made speeches criticizing the Indian government and expressing support to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a Tamil separatist group on the island.  The two were later released on bail with the help of their assistant directors, Bharathiraja, and actor R. Sarath Kumar. Ameer sultan has expressed strong support to Eelam Tamils right to self-determination and the independence of Tamil Eelam.

Ravi K. Chandran is an Indian cinematographer. He has frequently collaborated with leading Indian filmmakers like Priyadarshan, Shaji Kailas, Mani Ratnam, Rajiv Menon, Sanjay Leela Bhansali and A. R. Murugadoss. Ravi has won two Filmfare Awards and one Southern Filmfare Award during his career.


Ravi K. Chandran was born in the village Maduranthakam, Tamil Nadu as the youngest child. Following graduating from the A. M. Jain College in 1982, Ravi K. Chandran started his career in the film industry. In addition to this, he works as the Director of Photography of many music videos and ad films. He began his career by assisting his brother, K. Ramachandra Babu and later turned into an independent cinematographer in 1992 by filming Kilukkampetti, a Malayalam film directed by Shaji Kailas. Later he donned camera for a more Shaji Kailas directorials including Thalasthanam, Sthalathe Pradhana Payyans, Ekalavyan, Mafia and The King. His entry into Tamil cinema was in 1994 through Honest Raj starring Vijayakanth.


He has since worked as a cinematographer on Tamil films as well as Hindi films. Movies he has worked on as cinematographer includeVirasat (1997), Minsaara Kanavu (1997), Punaradhivasam (1999), Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000), Citizen (2001), Dil Chahta Hai (2001), Kannathil Muthamittal (2002), Boys (2003), Aayitha Ezhuthu (2004), Yuva (2004), Paheli (2004), Black (2005), Fanaa (2006), Saawariya (2007) .Now he is planning to direct a Tamil film Yaan which features Jiiva as lead.


Ravi Chandran is the younger brother of K. Ramachandra Babu, who himself is a noted cinematographer. He is married to Hemalata and currently resides in Chennai with his two sons.

Bava Lakshmanan is a popular Tamil actor, who hailed from Madurai. His original name is Lakshmanan. His friends used to call him as Bava and the name stayed with him till now.

Bava Lakshmanan has seven siblings. He has two sisters and five brothers. When a shooting troupe came to Madurai to shoot in the Madurai Meenakshi Amman temple, the director called Bava Lakshmanan, who was watching the shooting. He asked him whether he is interested to act and Bava nodded yes, after getting the permission from his family. He was just seven years, when he entered the film industry.

When he was doing his 9th standard, Bava was taken to the popular director Bharathiraja, who was searching for a young hero, who is in his teens. When seeing Bava, Bharathiraja told, he is so young and let me introduce him after three years. And that person who was introduced in the place of Bava was Karthik and the film was Alaigal Oivathillai. Then he settled in Chennai, by working at his uncles’s building contract office. His first movie was Sirayil Sila Raagangal. He worked as a manager in that movie and acted in a minor role too.

He also worked with FEFSI Vijayan. Bava assisted director Vikraman and he acted in almost all his movies. He became very popular through Sollamalae. His dialogue in Mayi is popular still now. He acted with Vadivelu in almost 40 films. Bava is not yet married, but he is interested in searching a good life partner. His brother has also acted in movies and he is also running an orchestra called Vellai Roja. Bava Lakshmanan is currently acting in Kaathiruppor Pattiyal. He expects the film to give a good twist in his career.

Bava Lakshmanan’s favorite actors are Ajith Kumar and Vijayakanth. Bava Lakshmanan also thanks Sarath Kumar, as he helped a lot in his medical expenses. Let us wish Bava to get success in his endeavors.