Santhana Bharathi is an Indian film director and actor who has primarily worked in

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywood' ...

Career

Santhana Bharathi originally wanted to be a director but didn't get the right opportunity, even after working for a well known director like

C. V. Sridhar Chitthamoor Vijayaraghavalu Sridhar (22 July 1933 – 20 October 2008) was an Indian screenwriter and film director. He has directed nearly 60 films in Tamil language, Tamil, Hindi language, Hindi and Telugu language, Telugu Languages. Ea ...

. At the time, he had been looking for offers with his friend

P. Vasu Vasudevan Peethambharan, known professionally as P Vasu, is an Indian director, writer and actor who works in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi, and Malayalam language films. In a career spanning three decades, Vasu has directed over 64 films.

. Finally, they got a movie called ''

Panneer Pushpangal ''Panneer Pushpangal'' () is a 1981 Indian Tamil-language romance film jointly directed by Santhana Bharathi and P. Vasu in their directorial debut. The film stars Pratap, Venniradai Moorthy and newcomers Suresh Kumar and Shanthi Krishna. It ...

'' in the year 1981. It was a success. Santhana Bharathi, along with his friend Vasu started directing many other movies under the name “Bharathi Vasu”. Santhana Bharathi started directing films of his own, after doing five films together with his friend Vasu, who also went on to become a popular director on his own. Santhana Bharathi's films such as '' Guna'', '' Chinna Mapillai'', '' Mahanadhi'' gained high appreciation. He often hired his friends

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...

and

Crazy Mohan Mohan Rangachari (16 October 1952 – 10 June 2019) known professionally as Crazy Mohan, was an Indian actor, comedian, screenwriter and playwright. An engineer by profession, Mohan started writing plays and established his own drama troupe calle ...

in his works. He has directed several films such as '' Guna'' (1991) and the

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil The Indian Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several aw ...

, '' Mahanadhi'' (1994).

Family

Bharathi's father M. R. Santhanam was an actor and producer, one of the earliest members of the

Nadigar Sangam The Nadigar Sangam ( en, Actors' association), officially known as the South Indian Artistes' Association (SIAA), is a union for film, television, and stage actors in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, based in Chennai. Formed in 1952, the grou ...

. His brother

R. S. Shivaji R. S. Shivaji (born 26 October 1956) is an Indian actor, who is known for his work in Tamil films. He has often collaborated in films involving Kamal Haasan and Raaj Kamal Films International, working as an assistant director, sound designer an ...

is also an actor. Bharathi's son Sanjay Bharathi is also a director.

Filmography

As actor

Television

As director

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bharathi, Santhana Living people Tamil male actors Tamil film directors Male actors from Chennai Film directors from Chennai People from Dindigul district 20th-century Indian film directors 20th-century Indian male actors 21st-century Indian male actors Male actors in Tamil cinema Telugu film directors 1952 births