Sivabalan, better known as Appukutty, is an Indian actor and comedian, who mainly appears in Tamil films. He became recognized following his performance in ''

Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu ''Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu'' () is a 2009 Indian Tamil-language sports drama film written and directed by newcomer Susindran, starring debutant Vishnu Vishal, Kishore, and Saranya Mohan along with numerous other newcomers. The music was composed ...

''. His role as Azhagarsami in ''

Azhagarsamiyin Kudhirai ''Azhagarsamiyin Kuthirai'' () is a 2011 Tamil-language mystery comedy drama film directed by Suseenthiran, based on the short story of the same name penned by writer Bhaskar Sakthi. The film stars Appukutty and Saranya Mohan in lead and feature ...

'' was praised by film critics and fetched him the

National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor The National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor, officially known as the Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Supporting Actor (), is an honour presented annually at India's National Film Awards ceremony by the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF), an ...

Career

Sivabalan hails from a village Nathan Kinaru in

Thoothukudi district Thoothukudi District is one of the 38 districts of Tamil Nadu state in southern India. The district was formed by bifurcation of Tirunelveli district on 20 October 1986. Thoothukudi is the district headquarters and largest city of the distric ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. He moved to

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

in 1994, initially in search of a job for survival only. He was working as a

cleaner A cleaner or a cleaning operative is a type of industrial or domestic worker who cleans homes or commercial premises for payment. Cleaning operatives may specialise in cleaning particular things or places, such as window cleaners. Cleaning ope ...

in hotels, when he was spotted by film personalities and received acting offers from them. He then began acting in small character roles. In an interview in 2011, he stated that he always wanted to be a comedian and that he had appeared in several minor roles for over 17 years, before gaining recognition in

Suseenthiran Suseenthiran is an Indian film director and screenwriter in Tamil cinema. He rose to fame with his directorial debut ''Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu'' (2009). Career Suseenthiran, who originally hails from a small village called Amarapoondi in Palan ...

's ''

''. Suseenthiran went on to cast him in the lead role in his comedy drama film ''

'' (2011). For his performance in the film, Appukutty won the

, while the film was named the Best Popular Film Providing Wholesome Entertainment of 2011. In 2011 he also appeared in an important role in the film ''

Kullanari Koottam ''Kullanari Koottam'' () is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Sribalaji and produced by V. Ashish Jain. It stars Vishnu Vishal and Remya Nambeesan in the lead roles, while the crew of ''Vennila Kabadi Kuzh ...

'' and played a character role in

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeare ...

's 300th film ''

Snehaveedu ''Snehaveedu'' () is a 2011 Indian Malayalam-language family drama film written and directed by Sathyan Anthikad. It was produced by Alan Richard under the company Aashirvad Cinemas. The film stars Mohanlal, Sheela, and Rahul Pillai. It was Mo ...

''. In 2012, he acted in '' Mannaru'' as lead role, next ''

Sundarapandian ''Sundarapandian'' is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by debutant S. R. Prabhakaran. Sasikumar played the title character, besides producing the film, while Vijay Sethupathi, Lakshmi Menon, Soori, Appukutty, Inigo Pr ...

'' as supporting cast. He also played with

Ajith Kumar Ajith Kumar (born 1 May 1971) is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Tamil films. To date, he has starred in over 60 films. His awards include four Vijay Awards, three Cinema Express Awards, three Filmfare Awards South and three Tamil N ...

in movies such as '' Veeram'' (2014) and ''

Vedalam ''Vedalam'' () is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by Siva. It stars Ajith Kumar, Lakshmi Menon and Shruti Hassan while Ashwin Kakumanu, Rahul Dev, Thambi Ramaiah, Kabir Duhan Singh, and Soori play supporting rol ...

'' (2015). He also played an important character in '' Vendhu Thanindhathu Kaadu'' (2022) directed by

Gautham Vasudev Menon Gautham Vasudev Menon (born 25 February 1973) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer and actor who predominantly works in Tamil cinema, Tamil film industry. He has also directed Telugu cinema, Telugu and Hindi cinema, Hindi films th ...

.https://www.thehindu.com/entertainment/reviews/vendhu-thanindhathu-kaadu-movie-review-simbu-and-gautham-menon-are-superb-in-this-very-ordinary-gangster-drama/article65893782.ece

Filmography

References

External links

* Living people 1984 births Indian male film actors Tamil male actors Male actors in Tamil cinema Tamil comedians Best Supporting Actor National Film Award winners People from Thoothukudi district 21st-century Indian male actors {{India-film-actor-stub