Sashikumar Subramony, better known as Sashi Kumar, is an Indian actor who has worked in Tamil language films, stage and serials. He made a breakthrough as an actor with his performances in
Mani Ratnam
Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Ratnam has won six Nat ...
's ''
Kannathil Muthamittal
''Kannathil Muthamittal'' (also released internationally under the translated title ''A Peck on the Cheek'') is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language musical war film produced and directed by Mani Ratnam. It was based on a short story, "Amuthavum Avanum" ...
'' (2002) and
Balu Mahendra
Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran (19 May 1939 13 February 2014), commonly known as Balu Mahendra, was a Sri Lankan-born Indian cinematographer, director, screenwriter and film editor who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. Widely regarded as ...
's ''
Thalaimuraigal'' (2013), playing the lead role in the later.
'' Currently Creative Producer for PD Studios Kakkai Siraginiley ''
Career
Sashikumar was born in Coimbatore,
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 ...
to a Keralan-born Tamil Iyer and a
Nambudiri
The Nambudiri (), also transliterated as Nampoothiri, Nambūdiri, Namboodiri, Nampoothiri, and Nampūtiri, are a Malayali Brahmin caste, native to what is now the state of Kerala, India, where they constituted part of the traditional feudal el ...
mother. He became interested in acting from a young age, first appearing as Joseph in a nativity play, and completed his studies at
Stanes Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School
Stanes Schools are two schools in Coimbatore and Coonoor.
History
The schools were established by Sir Robert Stanes in 1862, with the Coimbatore branch starting with four children and two teachers.It started as a European and Eurasian school but ...
before doing a degree in Mechanical Engineering. He then attempted to become an actor and sought opportunities by visiting directors' houses including
Balu Mahendra
Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran (19 May 1939 13 February 2014), commonly known as Balu Mahendra, was a Sri Lankan-born Indian cinematographer, director, screenwriter and film editor who worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. Widely regarded as ...
's, where the director asked him to get out after a meeting lasting a few seconds. Unable to get acting role, he instead worked as an editor at JJ TV for a year, until the channel ceased production in 1996. Sashi Kumar became acquainted with cinematographer
Sakthi Saravanan
Sakthi Saravanan is an Indian cinematographer, who works in Tamil and Telugu cinema. He is best known for his hand held and gritty work with Venkat Prabhu and M. Rajesh directorials.
Raadhika
Raadhika Sarathkumar is an Indian actress, entrepreneur, producer and politician who works predominantly in Tamil cinema along with Telugu cinema as well as a few Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada films. She is the founder and CP of the Radaan Media ...
's ''
Chithi'', becoming acquainted with several other film-makers during the period.
Sashikumar worked on the pre-production of a feature film with Balu Mahendra during 2000 but the pair were unable to find a producer, so Sashikumar began acting in Tamil films as a supporting actor. He first appeared as
Rambha's brother in
N. Linguswamy's ''
Aanandham
''Aanandham'' () is a 2001 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by N. Lingusamy and produced by R. B. Choudary. The film features an ensemble cast including Mammootty, Murali, Abbas, Devayani, Rambha, Sneha, Delhi Ganesh ...
'' (2001), before playing the character of a mentally-retarded youngster in ''
Shahjahan
Shihab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram (5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), better known by his regnal name Shah Jahan I (; ), was the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire, reigning from January 1628 until July 1658. Under his emperorship, the Mugha ...
'' (2001). Balu Mahendra then recommended Sashikumar to director
Mani Ratnam
Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Ratnam has won six Nat ...
during a chance meeting at
Vijay Adhiraj
Vijay Adhiraj is an Indian actor who has appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, and Kannada films and serials. He was introduced in the NFDC & Doordarshan produced ''Sahashraphan'' in Hindi, written by then Prime Minister of India Shri. P. V. Narasi ...
's wedding, and the film-maker chose him to portray a
LTTE
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE; ta, தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள், translit=Tamiḻīḻa viṭutalaip pulikaḷ, si, දෙමළ ඊළාම් විමුක්ති කොටි, t ...
separatist in the war drama, ''
Kannathil Muthamittal
''Kannathil Muthamittal'' (also released internationally under the translated title ''A Peck on the Cheek'') is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language musical war film produced and directed by Mani Ratnam. It was based on a short story, "Amuthavum Avanum" ...
'' (2002). He continued to portray small roles in films including in Balu Mahendra's ''
Julie Ganapathi
''Julie Ganapathi'' is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language psychological thriller film written, photographed, edited and directed by Balu Mahendra, starring Saritha, Jayaram and Ramya Krishnan. It is based on the 1987 Stephen King novel '' Misery''. ...
'' (2003), ''
Nala Damayanthi Nala Damayanthi may refer to:
* Nala and Damayanti
''Damayanti'' (Sanskrit: दमयंती) is a character in a love story found in the Vana Parva book of the Mahabharata. She was the daughter of Bhima (not the Pandava one) and a princess ...
'' (2003) and ''
Thalainagaram
''Thalai Nagaram'' () is a 2006 Indian Tamil-language action crime film written and directed by Suraj and produced by V. Ravichandran. The film stars Sundar C and Jyothirmayi, while Vadivelu, Prakash Raj, Bose Venkat, Judo. K. K. Rathnam, and K. ...
''. Following the release of the
S. J. Surya
S. Justin Selvaraj, known by his stage name S. J. Suryah is an Indian film director, screenwriter, actor, composer, producer and music director who has worked predominately in Tamil film industry. He sought to become an actor but started out d ...
-starrer ''
Newtonin Moondram Vidhi
''Newtonin Moondram Vidhi'' () is a 2009 Tamil language action drama film directed by debutant Thai Muthuselvan, who earlier directed television series "Kaathu Karuppu" for Vijay TV. It stars S. J. Suryah, Rajiv Krishna, and Sayali Bhagat, while ...
'' (2009), Sashikumar struggled to gain film offers and considered leaving back to his home town.
Sashikumar returned to star in ''
Sri Ramakrishna Darshanam'' (2012) starring as Indian yogi
Ramakrishna
Ramakrishna Paramahansa ( bn, রামকৃষ্ণ পরমহংস, Ramôkṛṣṇo Pôromohôṅso; , 18 February 1836 – 16 August 1886),——— — also spelled Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, born Gadadhar Chattopadhyaya,, was an In ...
for the venture.
In 2013, he was cast in the lead role in Balu Mahendra's final film, ''
Thalaimuraigal'', portraying an estranged son of the character portrayed by the director. Produced by director
Sasikumar, the film opened to positive reviews in December 2013 but did not garner publicity to perform well at the box office.
The Hindu
''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It began as a weekly in 1878 and became a daily in 1889. It is one of the Indian newspapers of record and the secon ...
called the film "good cinema" and added Sashikumar's "appreciable underplay is his asset" and "sadly, cinema has not used him enough". Rediff.com called the film "brilliant" and Behindwoods.com labelled the film as "an artistic piece of parallel cinema". Balu Mahendra died two months after the film's release.
Filmography
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Subramani, Sashikumar
Living people
Male actors in Tamil cinema
21st-century Indian male actors
Male actors from Tamil Nadu
People from Coimbatore
Place of birth missing (living people)
1974 births