1. Andrea Jeremiah
It is sometimes fascinating to read about how film stars, especially in the South, get into the industry from totally diverse fields, and with no conscious intentions to be in movies. Andrea Jeremiah’s career seems to fit into this category. Her childhood ambition was to go for higher studies and get to become a psychiatrist. But music was always in the background, as she started learning classical Western piano when she was just eight, and she quickly showed her prowess when she formed her own troupe called Young Stars which also was a precursor for her later singing and music composing career.
...2. Anjali
Indian top model and Telugu and Tamil star Anjali was born in Andhara Pardesh in 1986. Acting was her passion so she started her career from short films. Small projects like short films and modeling assignments lead her to the silver screen. Director Siva Nageswara Rao recognized her talent and offered her the role of “Swapna” in Telugu Thriller “Photo” in 2006. Start of her career was from low budget and low profile Telugu films.
In 2007 a new comer writer and director Ram offered her a lead role in a Tamil movie which proved a blockbuster on Tamil and Telugu screen. Her best performance in the role of “Anandhi” awarded her with “Filmfare award for best female debut” and “South Vijay award for best debut actress”. This was the start of a long list of successful films. She has worked in more than 20 Telugu, Tamil and Kannada films.
She won her first “Filmfare award for best actress” and “Tamil Vijay award for best actress” in 2010 for the movie “Angadi Theru”. But this wasn’t the end. She got one more “Filmfare award of best actress” in 2011 for “Engaeyum Eppothum”. These consecutive awards made her a superstar of South Cinema. Her journey towards fame is continued yet. Many of her films are hitting the screen this year that can bring more success to her career.
...3. Veena Sankaranarayanan
Veena Sankaranarayanan is a Tamil costume designer who is known for movies including Kalam, Taramani and Yamirukka Bayamey.
...4. Ram
His real name is Ramasubramaniam. Born in Tamil Nadu, Ram is an Indian director who directs Tamil movies. He had an interest in literature. Hence, he earned the post-graduate degree Master of Arts from the Madras Christian College. He learned to write stories in the Tamil language. He wrote scripts for few short films but then went towards the direction line. He worked with Thangar Bachan for few movies and then he was suggested to meet Rajkumar Santoshi.
...5. J Sathishkumar
J Sathishkumar started his career as a distributor with JSK Film Corporation. He mainly dealt with Hollywood movies while distributing. His first distribution came in the year 2006 with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker starrer, “Rush Hour 3.” In 2007, he distributed another Hollywood film, Live Free Or Die Hard. In the same year, he started producing movies. His debut production venture was Pasupathi C/O Rasakkapalayam. In 2009, he produced the controversial movie, Kadhal Kadhai directed by Velu Prabhakaran. In 2012, his “Aarohanam” directed by Lakshmy Ramakrishnan that featured Viji Chandrasekhar was a super hit. Vijay Sethupathi movie Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom is one among the super hits in the career of JSK. In 2013, Sathish produced “Paradesi” directed by “Bala,” which bagged a lot of awards. But, a surprise had been waiting for JSK in the same year with Thanga Meenkal directed by “Ram.” It is the film that got him a huge appreciation and dozens of awards, in his career so far. 2015 had been a good year for Sathish, as his film with newbies, Kuttram Kadithal grabbed him a National Award. The film directed by “Bramma G” got Tamilnadu State Award and Pondicherry State Award too. Ram’s film “Taramani” with Andrea Jeremiah had a delayed-release. But, it gained a huge appreciation from the audience and critics. Sathish’s Vaa Deal with Arun Vijay and Karthika Nair had been waiting for the release.
...6. Theni Eswar
Theni Eswar is a renowned cinematographer who has currently worked in Ram's Taramani. His other works include director Ram is 'Peranbu' (2018) and Lenin Bharathi's movie 'MerkuThodarchiMalai'(2016). MerkuThodarchi Malai was produced by actor Vijay Sethupathi, which was released in 2016 and was one among 19 films to get selected for a 21st International film festival of Kerala.
...7. Yuvan Shankar Raja
8. Na. Muthukumar
Na. Muthukumar is a poet, lyricist, writer and novelist, who writes in Tamil. He is famous for writing scripts and songs for Tamil films. Na. Muthukumar was born on 12 July 1975 in a small village named ‘Tirur’ near Kanchipuram in Tamil Nadu. His Father, Mr Nagaraj was a Tamil teacher.Mr Nagaraj always maintained a collection of 5000 books throughout his life, and after he had passed away, this collection was preserved by his son in his office. Also, his mother passed away when he was merely four years old. Muthukumar reminisces that he acquired most of the knowledge of his life from his father’s book collection. Also, to help others he has plans to open a library where everybody could access those books. Na. Muthukumar began his career with a dream to be a director. So, he started working under director Balu Mahendra for about four years as assistant director. But due to turn of events, he landed into being a lyricist. He began with writing the lyrics for the Tamil movie ‘Veera Nadai’ which was directed by Seeman.
...9. Vasanth Ravi
Vasanth Ravi or Vasanth Kumar Ravi is a South Indian actor. The doctor turned actor works in the Tamil Cinema. He made his debut in 2015, but he already is a superstar to his fans. He was born and brought up in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. He came into the limelight in 2017 with his debut film Taramani.
...10. Azhagam Perumal
Azhagam Perumal is associated with the Tamil film industry as an actor and a director. He belongs to Kulasekharapuram village of Tamil Nadu. Azhagam’s parents wished their son to become an engineer. Azhagam applied for the Adhyar Fillm Institute, situated in Chennai. His family opposed his decision. He made his parents proud by winning the Gold Medal from the Institute when he passed out in 1991. Azhagam started to work with the Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer, Mr. Mani Ratnam, as an assistant in 1991. His first movie was the Tamil Crime drama Thalapathi that was released in 1991. He worked as an assistant to Mani Ratnam till 1997, for the movie Iruvar. Azhagam also happened to debut his career in acting with Mani Ratnam’s movie Alaipayuthey that was released in 2000.
...11. Mukesh
He is a Malayalam actor and producer, famous for his comedy and drama roles. He was initially a theater artist, writer, and started Kalidasa Visual Magic to produce plays. His first play was Chayanmukhi, directed by Prasanth Narayan, which say him essay Keechaka’s role. He completed his schooling from Infant Jesus School Kollam and BSc from Sree Narayana College, Kollam and also has an LLB degree from Government Law College, Thiruvananthapuram. He married twice. His first wife was actor Saritha with whom he has two sons Shravan and Tejas, who are pursuing their academics from Dubai and New Zealand respectively. His second wife is Methil Devika, dancer, whom he married in 2013.
...12. Rita
Rita Thyagarajan is a Tamil playback singer. She is also known as Sucharitha Thyagarajan. She was born on 10 June 1984 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She sings in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, English, Kannada, and Malayalam language. Her mother is Lalitha Thyagarajan who was an artist and a classical Veena player. She started learning classic Carnatic Music when she was five years old. She later learned Hindustani Classical Music. She completed her education at P.S Senior Secondary School in Mylapore and completed her bachelor's in design from Stella Maris College. She is also a graphic designer and a visualizer.
...13. Senthil Dass
Senthil Dass is an Indian film industry playback singer who has predominantly worked in the Tamil film industry. He started recording his own songs in 2000 and published them on social media platforms and websites. The artist was acknowledged for his work and got the chance to work at different sound label companies. Senthil has done several live shows, events, music festivals and stage performances all over the country.
...14. Suresh Chandra
Suresh Chandra is a renowned Public Relations Officer, working primarily in the Tamil film industry and for some movies in the Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada film industry. He celebrates his birthday on 10 May. He is credited as the P.R.O. for a whopping 190 movies. He is the publicist of famed actor Ajith Kumar. Suresh started his career as a P.R.O. in the Ajith Kumar starrer, Mankatha (2011). This Tamil action thriller follows the story of a suspended cop who gets caught up in a gangster’s world. Directed and written by VenkatPrabhu, this movie garnered positive reviews and got nominated for several awards.
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