Karthi (born Karthik Sivakumar on 25 May 1977) is an Indian film actor, who
works in the Tamil film industry. The youngest son of actor Sivakumar, Karthi
holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master's degree in
Industrial Engineering. Since he had always wanted to become a film director, he
returned to India and joined Mani Ratnam as an assistant director. He was
offered acting roles and made his acting debut in Paruthiveeran in 2007 as the
titular character, a careless village rowdy, winning critical acclaim and
several accolades including the Filmfare Award for Best Actor and a Tamil Nadu
State Film Award. His next role was that of a coolie in Aayirathil Oruvan
(2010), a fantasy-adventure film directed by Selvaraghavan. He achieved
consecutive commercial successes with his subsequent releases – Paiyaa (2010),
Naan Mahaan Alla (2010) and Siruthai (2011),which established him in the
Tamil film industry.
Apart from his film career, Karthi has also been involved in social welfare
activities, encouraging fans to do likewise through the "Makkal Nala Mandram", a
social welfare club that he inaugurated. In 2011, he became a cause ambassador
to promote awareness of lysosomal storage disease. Contents
1 Early life
2 Career 2.1 2007: Debut success 2.2 2010–present: Break after
Paruthiveeran 3 Personal life 4 Other work 5 Filmography
Early life Karthi was born on 25 May 1977 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. He was
educated at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan, and later at St. Bede's Anglo
Indian Higher Secondary School, Chennai. He gained a Bachelor of Engineering in
Mechanical Engineering from the Crescent Engineering College, Chennai.[4] After
graduating, he worked as an Engineering consultant in Chennai and considered
higher studies abroad. "I was earning about INR 5000, per month and found the
work monotonous. That was when I thought, I should do something more", he
recalls. Karthi got a scholarship for his higher studies in the United
States, and enrolled at Binghamton University, New York, where he earned his
Masters of Science in Industrial Engineering. While pursuing his masters, he
also attended lectures on filmmaking.
He worked part–time as a graphic designer in New York for a short period, then
decided to pursue a career in film–making. He attended two courses in basic
film–making at State University of New York before entering films. He
stated, "I always knew I wanted to be in films but I did not know exactly what I
wanted to do. I loved movies and watched a lot of them. But my father insisted
that I get a good education before I joined the film industry". Career 2007:
Debut success
When Karthi returned to India, he met director Mani Ratnam, who offered him the
role of Arjun (later played by Siddharth) in the film Aayutha Ezhuthu. He
declined the offer and worked as an assistant director on the same film and its
Hindi version Yuva because he wanted to become a film director and preferred
directing to acting.He continued to receive acting offers and his father
convinced him to take up acting, telling him " ... one can always direct films
but one will not get a chance to act once you grow older". He accepted his
first acting assignment in April 2005. When Ameer Sultan approached him to
play the titular character in the film Paruthiveeran, he accepted the offer
because the film was " ... so compelling".The film was released in July 2005
and experienced financial difficulties, and was almost abandoned by
mid–2006. It was released in January 2007, to critical acclaim and became
commercially successful.
Critics unanimously praised Karthi's portrayal of a careless village rowdy.
Behindwoods said: "He has done away with every trace of sophistication in his
body language and even handles the sickle with consummate ease. He looks every
inch a hot blooded youngster from some rural part of Tamil Nadu [and] appears
seasoned in the romantic scenes ... Uninformed people might not believe that
this is the young man’s big screen debut. Look out for this guy ... ". Sify
said: "It’s hard to believe that it is Karthi’s debut film as he is just
spectacular. His expressions, anger, laughter and anguish are all so realistic
that you can feel the fire in him." Rediff called his performance
"excellent",and " ... one of the top performances of 2007". Karthi
received several accolades for his performance, including the Filmfare Award for
Best Actor in Tamil. 2010–present: Break after Paruthiveeran
In October 2006, Karthi signed his second project under Selvaraghavan's
direction, Idhu Maalai Nerathu Mayakkam, which was supposed to be a romance
film, featuring Sandhya as the female lead.Karthi's character was a "
... sophisticated upmarket stylish guy ... ". Selvaraghavan abandoned that
project and in July 2007, he announced the production of a fantasy adventure
called Aayirathil Oruvan with Karthi in the lead role. Filming began
later that year and was expected to be completed by February 2008. The producers
planned to release it in mid-2008,but production was delayed and filming
continued until early 2009. He had agreed to play the lead character in
Linguswamy's next film, Paiyaa, in September 2007. Because of the slow
progress of Aayirathil Oruvan, Paiyaa was postponed several times. He later
said that he became anxious because he received several film offers but could
not work on them because he needed to maintain the continuity of his looks.
During the filming of Aayirathil Oruvan, producer Ravindran complained that
Karthi was trying to change his look and move on to Paiyaa before finishing his
commitments.
Aayirathil Oruvan was released in early 2010. Karthi's portrayal of a chief
coolie was often compared to that in his debut film. Sify called Karthi's
performance " ... a scream.", and said, "Right from his introduction scene till
the end, he is lovable and provides humour.", and that he had " ... made a
sensational comeback ... ".
In April 2010, Linguswamy's Paiyaa released. A romantic road–trip film,
featuring a blockbuster album by Yuvan Shankar Raja, it was very
successful. For the first time, he enacted a character that lives in
an urban area. He said that he accepted the film because he desperately
wanted to play a cool dude on screen. Karthi's performances in Aayirathil
Oruvan and Paiyaa earned him further nominations at the 58th Filmfare Awards
South in the Best Actor category. Both films were dubbed into Telugu as
Yuganiki Okkadu and Aawara, respectively, and were successful.
Karthi's third 2010 film was Suseenthiran's thriller Naan Mahaan Alla, in which
he played a middle class young person from Chennai whose life is disrupted when
his father is killed. It received good reviews, was very popular, and
Karthi's performances was praised by critics. Sreedhar Pillai of Sify wrote:
"[Karthi] nails the character to perfection" ... He is one good reason to see
the film." Bhama Devi Ravi of Times of India wrote: " ... what a pleasure to
see Karthi deliver his best performance to date ... ". Rediff wrote that
"Karthi has simply had a ball ... " and "It's been a long time since you saw an
actor who can be as convincing in sadness and rage, as in happiness." Naan
Mahaan Alla was dubbed into Telugu and released as Naa Peru Shiva in 2011; it
was very successful and earned Karthi some Telugu film offers.
Karthi's next film was the action–masala film Siruthai (2011), a remake of the
2006 Telugu film Vikramarkudu. He played two roles; a thief and a police
officer.[48] Karthi's performances received favourable reviews. Malathi
Rangarajan of The Hindu wrote: "Karthi looks and performs better with every
film. Siruthai exemplifies the observation". Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff
wrote: "But the film belongs to Rocket Raja (Karthi), the sort of adorable
ruffian Tamil cinema has been missing for a while. He picks pockets, slices off
handbags, charms women and even bashes (!) them up without a single jolt to his
conscience." Despite gaining mixed critical response, the film achieved
financial success, becoming one of the highest-grossing Tamil films of
2011. In 2011, Siruthai became Karthi's biggest commercial success,
cementing his position in the Tamil film industry. Sify said that Karthi had
become " ... one of the hottest stars in Kollywood". He made a special
appearance in a song in K. V. Anand's Ko (2011), alongside other prominent
actors from Tamil cinema.
In May 2011, Karthi began working on a political comedy film, Saguni, directed
by Shankar Dayal and featuring him amongst an ensemble cast of supporting
actors. He played Kamalakannan in the film, a villager who comes to the city
to save his palatial house in Karaikudi from being destroyed for a politician's
personal gain and unknowingly transforms to become a kingmaker in Tamil Nadu
politics. The film opened to mixed reviews with Karthi's performance earning
praise and the film became another commercial success for the actor at the box
office.[citation needed] Furthermore he is shooting for a film titled Alex
Pandian, opposite Anushka Shetty under the direction of Suraj. Karthi
confirmed that he will be acting in All in All Azhagu Raja, a romantic–comedy
opposite Kajal Aggarwal and Biriyani with Venkat Prabhu opposite Richa
Gangopadhyay. Personal life
Karthi was born to Sivakumar and his wife Lakshmi. Sivakumar is a veteran Tamil
actor who has appeared in approximately 200 films. He has two siblings; an elder
brother, Suriya, also a leading actor in the Tamil film industry, and a younger
sister named Brindha. Former leading Tamil film actress, Jyothika Sadanah is
Karthi's sister–in–law. On 3 July 2011, Karthi married Ranjani Chinnasamy,
who graduated with a Masters degree in English literature from Stella Maris
College, Chennai. They were engaged on 29 April 2011 at Ranjani's native
village, Goundampalayam in Erode District, and the wedding was held at the
CODISSIA trade fair complex in Coimbatore. The wedding was arranged by the
elders of the family.Other work
Karthi has been involved in several charities and social service activities. On
his 31st birthday, he inaugurated the Makkal Nala Mandram, in order to
encourage his fans to become involved in welfare activities. During the
event, Karthi donated blood, donated bicycles to handicapped people, sewing
machines to women and schoolbags to children. He presented a cheque of INR
50,000 to YRG Care Centre, which helps AIDS affected children. In 2011,
Karthi became a cause ambassador for promoting awareness of lysosomal storage
disease. He had also adopted a white tiger cub at Vandalur Zoo and
contributed INR 72,000 to protect and preserve the animal. On his birthdays,
Karthi visits orphanages and donates funds to them. He told Indiaglitz;
"When I see people in need, I make sure I go and help. If I am going on
birthdays to reach out to kids in orphanages, it is for my own satisfaction. I
feel happier to be with them and it's nice to make them smile on that particular
day."
On September 2010, he signed a contract with Bharti Airtel to become its brand
ambassador in South India and appear in its "Indraikku enna plan" advertising
campaign. He has also appeared in advertisements for Bru Instant Coffee
along with Kajal Aggarwal, who had earlier acted opposite him in Naan Mahaan
Alla. Filmography Year Film Role Notes 2007 Paruthiveeran
Paruthiveeran Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil Tamil Nadu State Film
Special Prize Vijay Award for Best Male Debut 2010 Aayirathil
Oruvan Muthu Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil 2010
Paiyaa Siva Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil2010
Naan Mahaan Alla Jeeva Prakasam Nominated—Vijay Award for Best Actor
2011 Siruthai Rathnavel Pandian, 'Rocket' Raja 2011 Ko
Himself Special appearance 2012 Saguni Kamalakannan 2013
Alex Pandian Alex Pandian Post-production 2013 All in All Azhagu Raja
Azhagu Raja Filming 2013 Biriyani Filming 2013
Saarpattu Paaramparai Pre-production
works in the Tamil film industry. The youngest son of actor Sivakumar, Karthi
holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and a Master's degree in
Industrial Engineering. Since he had always wanted to become a film director, he
returned to India and joined Mani Ratnam as an assistant director. He was
offered acting roles and made his acting debut in Paruthiveeran in 2007 as the
titular character, a careless village rowdy, winning critical acclaim and
several accolades including the Filmfare Award for Best Actor and a Tamil Nadu
State Film Award. His next role was that of a coolie in Aayirathil Oruvan
(2010), a fantasy-adventure film directed by Selvaraghavan. He achieved
consecutive commercial successes with his subsequent releases – Paiyaa (2010),
Naan Mahaan Alla (2010) and Siruthai (2011),which established him in the
Tamil film industry.
Apart from his film career, Karthi has also been involved in social welfare
activities, encouraging fans to do likewise through the "Makkal Nala Mandram", a
social welfare club that he inaugurated. In 2011, he became a cause ambassador
to promote awareness of lysosomal storage disease. Contents
1 Early life
2 Career 2.1 2007: Debut success 2.2 2010–present: Break after
Paruthiveeran 3 Personal life 4 Other work 5 Filmography
Early life Karthi was born on 25 May 1977 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. He was
educated at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan, and later at St. Bede's Anglo
Indian Higher Secondary School, Chennai. He gained a Bachelor of Engineering in
Mechanical Engineering from the Crescent Engineering College, Chennai.[4] After
graduating, he worked as an Engineering consultant in Chennai and considered
higher studies abroad. "I was earning about INR 5000, per month and found the
work monotonous. That was when I thought, I should do something more", he
recalls. Karthi got a scholarship for his higher studies in the United
States, and enrolled at Binghamton University, New York, where he earned his
Masters of Science in Industrial Engineering. While pursuing his masters, he
also attended lectures on filmmaking.
He worked part–time as a graphic designer in New York for a short period, then
decided to pursue a career in film–making. He attended two courses in basic
film–making at State University of New York before entering films. He
stated, "I always knew I wanted to be in films but I did not know exactly what I
wanted to do. I loved movies and watched a lot of them. But my father insisted
that I get a good education before I joined the film industry". Career 2007:
Debut success
When Karthi returned to India, he met director Mani Ratnam, who offered him the
role of Arjun (later played by Siddharth) in the film Aayutha Ezhuthu. He
declined the offer and worked as an assistant director on the same film and its
Hindi version Yuva because he wanted to become a film director and preferred
directing to acting.He continued to receive acting offers and his father
convinced him to take up acting, telling him " ... one can always direct films
but one will not get a chance to act once you grow older". He accepted his
first acting assignment in April 2005. When Ameer Sultan approached him to
play the titular character in the film Paruthiveeran, he accepted the offer
because the film was " ... so compelling".The film was released in July 2005
and experienced financial difficulties, and was almost abandoned by
mid–2006. It was released in January 2007, to critical acclaim and became
commercially successful.
Critics unanimously praised Karthi's portrayal of a careless village rowdy.
Behindwoods said: "He has done away with every trace of sophistication in his
body language and even handles the sickle with consummate ease. He looks every
inch a hot blooded youngster from some rural part of Tamil Nadu [and] appears
seasoned in the romantic scenes ... Uninformed people might not believe that
this is the young man’s big screen debut. Look out for this guy ... ". Sify
said: "It’s hard to believe that it is Karthi’s debut film as he is just
spectacular. His expressions, anger, laughter and anguish are all so realistic
that you can feel the fire in him." Rediff called his performance
"excellent",and " ... one of the top performances of 2007". Karthi
received several accolades for his performance, including the Filmfare Award for
Best Actor in Tamil. 2010–present: Break after Paruthiveeran
In October 2006, Karthi signed his second project under Selvaraghavan's
direction, Idhu Maalai Nerathu Mayakkam, which was supposed to be a romance
film, featuring Sandhya as the female lead.Karthi's character was a "
... sophisticated upmarket stylish guy ... ". Selvaraghavan abandoned that
project and in July 2007, he announced the production of a fantasy adventure
called Aayirathil Oruvan with Karthi in the lead role. Filming began
later that year and was expected to be completed by February 2008. The producers
planned to release it in mid-2008,but production was delayed and filming
continued until early 2009. He had agreed to play the lead character in
Linguswamy's next film, Paiyaa, in September 2007. Because of the slow
progress of Aayirathil Oruvan, Paiyaa was postponed several times. He later
said that he became anxious because he received several film offers but could
not work on them because he needed to maintain the continuity of his looks.
During the filming of Aayirathil Oruvan, producer Ravindran complained that
Karthi was trying to change his look and move on to Paiyaa before finishing his
commitments.
Aayirathil Oruvan was released in early 2010. Karthi's portrayal of a chief
coolie was often compared to that in his debut film. Sify called Karthi's
performance " ... a scream.", and said, "Right from his introduction scene till
the end, he is lovable and provides humour.", and that he had " ... made a
sensational comeback ... ".
In April 2010, Linguswamy's Paiyaa released. A romantic road–trip film,
featuring a blockbuster album by Yuvan Shankar Raja, it was very
successful. For the first time, he enacted a character that lives in
an urban area. He said that he accepted the film because he desperately
wanted to play a cool dude on screen. Karthi's performances in Aayirathil
Oruvan and Paiyaa earned him further nominations at the 58th Filmfare Awards
South in the Best Actor category. Both films were dubbed into Telugu as
Yuganiki Okkadu and Aawara, respectively, and were successful.
Karthi's third 2010 film was Suseenthiran's thriller Naan Mahaan Alla, in which
he played a middle class young person from Chennai whose life is disrupted when
his father is killed. It received good reviews, was very popular, and
Karthi's performances was praised by critics. Sreedhar Pillai of Sify wrote:
"[Karthi] nails the character to perfection" ... He is one good reason to see
the film." Bhama Devi Ravi of Times of India wrote: " ... what a pleasure to
see Karthi deliver his best performance to date ... ". Rediff wrote that
"Karthi has simply had a ball ... " and "It's been a long time since you saw an
actor who can be as convincing in sadness and rage, as in happiness." Naan
Mahaan Alla was dubbed into Telugu and released as Naa Peru Shiva in 2011; it
was very successful and earned Karthi some Telugu film offers.
Karthi's next film was the action–masala film Siruthai (2011), a remake of the
2006 Telugu film Vikramarkudu. He played two roles; a thief and a police
officer.[48] Karthi's performances received favourable reviews. Malathi
Rangarajan of The Hindu wrote: "Karthi looks and performs better with every
film. Siruthai exemplifies the observation". Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff
wrote: "But the film belongs to Rocket Raja (Karthi), the sort of adorable
ruffian Tamil cinema has been missing for a while. He picks pockets, slices off
handbags, charms women and even bashes (!) them up without a single jolt to his
conscience." Despite gaining mixed critical response, the film achieved
financial success, becoming one of the highest-grossing Tamil films of
2011. In 2011, Siruthai became Karthi's biggest commercial success,
cementing his position in the Tamil film industry. Sify said that Karthi had
become " ... one of the hottest stars in Kollywood". He made a special
appearance in a song in K. V. Anand's Ko (2011), alongside other prominent
actors from Tamil cinema.
In May 2011, Karthi began working on a political comedy film, Saguni, directed
by Shankar Dayal and featuring him amongst an ensemble cast of supporting
actors. He played Kamalakannan in the film, a villager who comes to the city
to save his palatial house in Karaikudi from being destroyed for a politician's
personal gain and unknowingly transforms to become a kingmaker in Tamil Nadu
politics. The film opened to mixed reviews with Karthi's performance earning
praise and the film became another commercial success for the actor at the box
office.[citation needed] Furthermore he is shooting for a film titled Alex
Pandian, opposite Anushka Shetty under the direction of Suraj. Karthi
confirmed that he will be acting in All in All Azhagu Raja, a romantic–comedy
opposite Kajal Aggarwal and Biriyani with Venkat Prabhu opposite Richa
Gangopadhyay. Personal life
Karthi was born to Sivakumar and his wife Lakshmi. Sivakumar is a veteran Tamil
actor who has appeared in approximately 200 films. He has two siblings; an elder
brother, Suriya, also a leading actor in the Tamil film industry, and a younger
sister named Brindha. Former leading Tamil film actress, Jyothika Sadanah is
Karthi's sister–in–law. On 3 July 2011, Karthi married Ranjani Chinnasamy,
who graduated with a Masters degree in English literature from Stella Maris
College, Chennai. They were engaged on 29 April 2011 at Ranjani's native
village, Goundampalayam in Erode District, and the wedding was held at the
CODISSIA trade fair complex in Coimbatore. The wedding was arranged by the
elders of the family.Other work
Karthi has been involved in several charities and social service activities. On
his 31st birthday, he inaugurated the Makkal Nala Mandram, in order to
encourage his fans to become involved in welfare activities. During the
event, Karthi donated blood, donated bicycles to handicapped people, sewing
machines to women and schoolbags to children. He presented a cheque of INR
50,000 to YRG Care Centre, which helps AIDS affected children. In 2011,
Karthi became a cause ambassador for promoting awareness of lysosomal storage
disease. He had also adopted a white tiger cub at Vandalur Zoo and
contributed INR 72,000 to protect and preserve the animal. On his birthdays,
Karthi visits orphanages and donates funds to them. He told Indiaglitz;
"When I see people in need, I make sure I go and help. If I am going on
birthdays to reach out to kids in orphanages, it is for my own satisfaction. I
feel happier to be with them and it's nice to make them smile on that particular
day."
On September 2010, he signed a contract with Bharti Airtel to become its brand
ambassador in South India and appear in its "Indraikku enna plan" advertising
campaign. He has also appeared in advertisements for Bru Instant Coffee
along with Kajal Aggarwal, who had earlier acted opposite him in Naan Mahaan
Alla. Filmography Year Film Role Notes 2007 Paruthiveeran
Paruthiveeran Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil Tamil Nadu State Film
Special Prize Vijay Award for Best Male Debut 2010 Aayirathil
Oruvan Muthu Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil 2010
Paiyaa Siva Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil2010
Naan Mahaan Alla Jeeva Prakasam Nominated—Vijay Award for Best Actor
2011 Siruthai Rathnavel Pandian, 'Rocket' Raja 2011 Ko
Himself Special appearance 2012 Saguni Kamalakannan 2013
Alex Pandian Alex Pandian Post-production 2013 All in All Azhagu Raja
Azhagu Raja Filming 2013 Biriyani Filming 2013
Saarpattu Paaramparai Pre-production
