Sundar C.

Vinayagar Sundar Vel, also known as Sundar C., is an Indian film director and actor. He has directed over 32 films in Tamil and acted in over 9 movies as the protagonist. Initially, he worked as an assistant director to Manivannan. His notable films include Ullathai Allitha (1996), Arunachalam (1997), Anbe Sivam (2003), Winner (2003), Giri (2004), Kalakalappu (2012), Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru (2013), Aranmanai (2014) and Kalakalappu 2 (2018).

Not to be confused with Sundar C. Babu.

Sundar C.
Born	Vinayagar Sundar Vel (1968-01-21) 21 January 1968 Erode, Madras State, India[1]
Nationality	Indian
Occupation	Film director Actor Film producer Screenwriter
Years active	1992 – present
Known for	Founder of Avni Cinemax
Spouse(s)	Kushboo (m.2000–present)
Children	Avantika, Anandita

He took a short break from direction after his initial launch as an actor in 2006 with the film Thalai Nagaram which was a commercial success.[2][3] He returned to direction with his trade mark comedy roller coaster in the movie Kalakalappu in 2012 and it went on to become a moderate success.

His successful career as a director continued with the Aranmanai film series (2014).

He also produced the TV series Nandini along with his wife, actress Kushboo aired on Sun TV. He is a pioneer in television industry to produce a TV Series in 4 languages: Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada, simultaneously.[4] The show has been praised and well received by audience, becoming a huge success and India's most watched television series in a matter of weeks since it first aired.[5] He also produced movies like Hello Naan Pei Pesuren, Muthina Kathirika and Meesaya Murukku. Sundar C is one of the few directors who directed Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan in Arunachalam (1997) and Anbe Sivam (2003), respectively.

Career

Sundar C started his career as an assistant director to Manivannan and made his directorial debut with Murai Maman (1995). Sundar revealed that he initially wanted a leading action hero to play the lead role in his film and approached Sarathkumar, but the producer was unavailable to sign the actor. Subsequently, the director chose Jayaram to play the lead role in the film and also said that he tapped into his innate sense of humour, as Jayaram was very famous for his humour in Malayalam.[6] Murai Maaman did well at the box office and Sundar went on to direct many humour themed films such as Ullathai Allitha (1996), Mettukudi (1996) and Unakkaga Ellam Unakkaga (1999). In 1997, he directed his highest-profile project till date, Arunachalam, with Rajinikanth. He has also occasionally directed action and thriller films such as Unnai Kann Theduthey (2000), Rishi (2001) and Chinna (2005).[7][8] His favourite heroine was actress Rambha; as a Director he made her as his lead heroine in his 6 movies.

In 2003, he directed two films Winner and Anbe Sivam. The former was successful and the comedy scenes from that film became hugely popular. However, the latter, despite being critically acclaimed, under performed at the box office, but became a cult classic. Anbe Sivam remains his only humane realism movie till today out of his regular commercial cinema genre.[9] After directing Rendu (2006), Sundar took a break from directing in order to concentrate on his acting career. He made his acting debut as lead actor with Thalai Nagaram (2006), which was well received. Then he went on to play lead roles with the commercially successful Veerappu, directed by Badri and Sandai by Sakthi Chidambaram. He then made a comeback as a director with Nagaram Marupakkam (2010).

After his blockbuster hit Kalakalappu in 2012, he is continuously giving successful movies like Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru, Aranmanai, Aambala, Aranmanai 2 and Kalakalappu 2. Out of which Aranmanai and Aranmanai 2 are the trend setters in Comedy Horror genre in Tamil film industry. He acted in lead role in the horror thriller, Iruttu (2019) directed by V. Z. Durai. Sundar C. takes charge as the inspector of police. The film was released to positive reviews.[10] And directed Vishal's film, Action (2019).[11] His Next is Aranmanai 3 with Sun Pictures Filming Starts From February 20.[12]

Filmography

As an Actor

Year	Film	Role	Notes	Ref.
1990	Vaazhkai Chakkaram	Constable		[13]
1995	Murai Maman		Cameo appearance	[14]
1997	Arunachalam	Reporter	Cameo appearance	[15]
2006	Thalai Nagaram	Subramaniam (Right)		[16]
2007	Veerappu	Pulippandi		[17]
2008	Sandai	Kathiresan (Kaththi)		[18]
	Aayudham Seivom	Saidai Sathya		[19]
2009	Perumal	Perumal		[20]
	Thee	Sarathy (Samy)		[21]
	Aiyantham Padai	Prabhakaran		[22]
2010	Guru Sishyan	Eeti		[23]
	Vaadaa	Vetrivel		[24]
	Nagaram Marupakkam	Selvam		[25]
2012	Murattu Kaalai	Kaalaiyan		[26]
2014	Ninaithathu Yaaro	Himself	Cameo appearance	[27]
	Aranmanai	Ravi		[28]
2016	Aranmanai 2	Ravi		[29]
	Muthina Kathirikai	Muthupandi		[30]
2019	Action	Passenger	Cameo appearance	[31]
	Iruttu	Chezhiyan		[32]

As a director and writer

Year	Film	Credited as		Notes
		Director	Writer
1995	Murai Maman	Y	Y
	Murai Mappillai	Y	Y
1996	Ullathai Allitha	Y	Y
	Mettukudi	Y	Y
1997	Arunachalam	Y	N	Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film
	Janakiraman	Y	Y
1998	Naam Iruvar Namakku Iruvar	Y	Y
1999	Unnai Thedi	Y	Y
	Suyamvaram	Y	N	Directed by fourteen directors
	Unakkaga Ellam Unakkaga	Y	Y
2000	Azhagarsamy	Y	N
	Kannan Varuvaan	Y	Y
	Unnai Kann Theduthey	Y	Y
2001	Ullam Kollai Poguthae	Y	Y
	Rishi	Y	N
	Azhagana Naatkal	Y	Y
2003	Anbe Sivam	Y	N
	Winner	Y	Y
2004	Giri	Y	Y
2005	London	Y	N
	Thaka Thimi Tha	Y	N
	Chinna	Y	N
2006	Rendu	Y	Y
2010	Nagaram Marupakkam	Y	Y
2012	Kalakalappu	Y	Y	25th film as a director
	Madha Gaja Raja	Y	Y	Unreleased
2013	Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru	Y	Y
2014	Aranmanai	Y	Y	Nominated, Vijay Award for Favourite Director
2015	Aambala	Y	Y
2016	Aranmanai 2	Y	Y
2018	Kalakalappu 2	Y	Y
2019	Vantha Rajavathaan Varuven	Y
	Action	Y	Y
2020	Aranmanai 3	Y	Y	Pre-production

As a Singer

Year	Film	Song	Composer	Notes
2008	Sandai	"Vaadee En Kappakezhungu"	Dhina
2010	Guru Sishyan	"Subbaiyaa Subbaiyaa"		Sung with Sathyaraj

As a Producer

Year	Film	Language
2017	Meesaya Murukku	Tamil
2019	Natpe Thunai
2020	Naan Sirithal

As a TV Series Producer

• Nandini (S.1:2017-2018)
• Maya (2018)
• Lakshmi Stores (2018–2020)
• Nandini (S.2:2020)

References

1. https://www.instagram.com/tv/B5pj4r8nZXn/. Retrieved 7 December 2019. Missing or empty |title= (help)
2. "Sundar C. is on a roll". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 2 October 2007. Retrieved 8 May 2010.
3. "Hat trick?". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 28 March 2008.
4. "Another fantasy serial- Nandhini on Gemini Tv".
5. "Nandini serial Ratings". barcindia.co.in.
6. BehindwoodsTV (18 September 2015). "Sundar C - "Rajini said NO to that song!" - BOFTA Masterclass - BW" – via YouTube.
7. "UNNAI KANN THEDUTHEY : A movie review by Balaji Balasubramaniam". Bbthots.com. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
8. "Chinna review. Chinna Tamil movie review, story, rating". IndiaGlitz.com. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
9. "The Hindu : Anbe Sivam". Thehindu.com. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
10. https://www.sify.com/movies/iruttu-review-an-engaging-horror-thriller-review-tamil-tmhjoWidfdbhf.html
11. https://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movies/action/action-review.html
12. https://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movies-cinema-news-16/sun-pictures-kalanithi-maran-to-produce-sundar-cs-aranmanai-3-cast-details-here.html
13. "Vazhkai Chakkaram". Spicyonion.com. Retrieved 9 February 2020.
14. "Murai Maman Tamil Movie - Critic Review". Moviecrow.com. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
15. "Arunachalam Tamil Movie, Wiki, Story, Review, Release Date, Trailers". FilmiBeat.com. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
16. "Movie Review : Thalainagaram". Sify.com. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
17. "Veerappu Review". Behindwoods.com. 26 November 2006. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
18. "Review: Sandai is illogical". Rediff.com. 24 March 2008. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
19. "Aayudham Seivom Tamil Movie Review". IndiaGlitz.com. 30 June 2008. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
20. "Perumal Movie Review". Behindwoods.com. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
21. "Movie Review : Review -Thee". Sify.com. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
22. "Aindham Padai is below average". Rediff.com. 27 July 2009. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
23. "Cinema Plus / Film Review : Viewer's woes – Guru Sishyan". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 14 May 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
24. "What's special in 'Vaada'?". IndiaGlitz.com. 3 April 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
25. "Nagaram Marupakkam Review – Tamil Movie Review by V.S. Rajapur". Nowrunning.com. 20 November 2010. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
26. "Movie Review : Murattu Kaalai". Sify.com. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
27. "Ninaithathu Yaro Movie Reviews, Stills & Wallpapers - Sulekha Movies". Movies.suleka.com. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
28. "Aranmanai (2014)". IMDb.com. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
29. "Aranmanai 2". Cineplex.com. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
30. "Muthina Kathirikai review. Muthina Kathirikai Tamil movie review, story, rating". IndiaGlitz.com. Retrieved 23 August 2017.
31. https://www.deccanchronicle.com/entertainment/movie-reviews/161119/action-review-this-vishal-film-is-strictly-for-action-lovers.html
32. https://www.cinestaan.com/movies/iruttu-38501

External links

• Sundar C. on IMDb