Vinayagar Sundar Vel (born 21 January 1966), known professionally as Sundar C., is an Indian film director, actor and producer. He has directed over 34 films in
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
* Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils
**Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia
* Tamil language, nativ ...
and acted in 17 movies as the protagonist.
His notable films include ''
Ullathai Allitha
''Ullathai Allitha'' () is a 1996 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by Sundar C. The film stars Karthik, Rambha and Goundamani, with Manivannan, Jai Ganesh, Senthil, and Jyothi Meena in supporting roles. It revolves around a ...
'' (1996), ''
Arunachalam'' (1997), ''
Unnai Thedi
''Unnai Thedi'' () is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by Sundar C. The film stars Ajith Kumar and Malavika, while an ensemble supporting cast includes Karan, Vivek, Sivakumar, and Srividya. Some of the scenes are ...
'' (1999), ''
Anbe Sivam
''Anbe Sivam'' () is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Sundar C. and produced by K. Muralitharan, V. Swaminathan and G. Venugopal under the banner of Lakshmi Movie Makers. The film was written by Kamal Haasan, and Ma ...
'' (2003), ''
Winner
Winner(s) or The Winner(s) may refer to:
* Champion, the victor in a game or contest
*The successful social class in winner and loser culture
Film
* ''The Winner'' (1926 film), an American silent film starring Billy Sullivan
* ''The Winner'' ...
'' (2003), ''
Giri'' (2004), ''
Kalakalappu
''Kalakalappu'' () () is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by Sundar C. and produced by his wife Khushbu. It stars Vimal, Shiva, Anjali, Oviya and Santhanam, with music composed by Vijay Ebenezer. It was originally ...
'' (2012), ''
Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru
''Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru'' () is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film co-produced and directed by Sundar C. and produced by Khushbu. The film stars Siddharth, Hansika Motwani, and Santhanam. The film was partially reshot ...
'' (2013), ''
Aranmanai
''Aranmanai'' (; ) is a 2014 Indian Tamil horror comedy film co-written and directed by Sundar C. The film features himself alongside an ensemble cast including Sundar C.,Hansika Motwani, Vinay Rai, Andrea Jeremiah, Raai Laxmi, Santhanam, Ko ...
'' (2014), ''
Aambala
''Aambala'' () is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language action comedy film co-written, co-produced and directed by Sundar C. Produced by Vishal, it features him in the leading role alongside an ensemble cast including Hansika Motwani, Prabhu, Vaibha ...
'' (2015) and ''
Kalakalappu 2
''Kalakalappu 2'' is a 2018 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language comedy film written and directed by Sundar C and produced by Khushbu. It is a spiritual successor, spiritual sequel to the 2012 film ''Kalakalappu''. The film features Jiiva, Jai ...
'' (2018).
Sundar C is one of the few directors who directed
Rajinikanth
Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 160 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannad ...
and
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 ...
(in ''
Arunachalam'' (1997) and ''
Anbe Sivam
''Anbe Sivam'' () is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Sundar C. and produced by K. Muralitharan, V. Swaminathan and G. Venugopal under the banner of Lakshmi Movie Makers. The film was written by Kamal Haasan, and Ma ...
'' (2003), respectively.
He took a short break from direction, after his initial launch as an actor in 2006, with the film ''
Thalai Nagaram
''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 ...
'', which became a commercial success. He returned to direction with his trade mark comedy roller coaster in the movie ''
Kalakalappu
''Kalakalappu'' () () is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by Sundar C. and produced by his wife Khushbu. It stars Vimal, Shiva, Anjali, Oviya and Santhanam, with music composed by Vijay Ebenezer. It was originally ...
'' in 2012 and it went on to become a success.
His successful career as a director continued with the 2014
''Aranmanai'' film series.
He also produced the TV series ''
Nandini
Nandini is a female given name. It is derived from the Sanskrit verbal root ''nand'', which means "to rejoice, delight". Literally, ''nandinī'' means a woman who brings joy. The name also specifically refers to a daughter, as a daughter brings ...
'' (2017-2018), along with his wife ( the actress
Khushbu
Khushbu Sundar (born Nakhat Khan; 29 September 1970) is an Indian actress, politician, film producer and television presenter. She is known for her works predominantly in Tamil, besides Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada films. She is a rec ...
) aired on
Sun TV. He also produced movies like ''
Hello Naan Pei Pesuren
''Hello Naan Pei Pesuren'' () is a 2016 Indian Tamil language comedy horror film written and directed by S. Baskar and produced by Sundar C., under the banner Avni Cine Makers. Music was composed by Siddharth Vipin, cinematography was handled ...
'' (2016), ''
Meesaya Murukku
''Meesaya Murukku'' () is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Hiphop Tamizha Aadhi in his directorial debut and stars as the lead along with newcomer Aathmika as the female lead, while Vivek, RJ ...
'' (2017), ''
Natpe Thunai
''Natpe Thunai'' () is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language sports film directed by D. Parthiban Desingu in his directorial debut, while Sreekanth Vasrp and Devesh Jeyachandran have written the film's story, screenplay and dialogues. Produced by Sund ...
'' (2019), ''
Naan Sirithal
''Naan Sirithal'' () is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language comedy film written and directed by Raana in his directorial debut. Following the success of ''Meesaya Murukku'' and ''Natpe Thunai'', Sundar C co-produced Aadhi's third film and it became a ...
'' (2020), ''
Naanga Romba Busy
''Naanga Romba Busy'' () is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language crime comedy film directed by Badri. It is a remake of the Kannada film '' Mayabazar 2016'' (2020) and stars Prasanna, Shaam, Ashwin Kakumanu, Yogi Babu, Shruti Marathe, Rittika Sen, ...
'' (2020) and ''
Pattampoochi'' (2022).
Career
Sundar C started his career as an assistant director to
Manivannan
S. Manivannan Rajagopal (31 July 1953 – 15 June 2013), better known by his mononym Manivannan, was an Indian film director, actor and activist who worked mainly in Tamil cinema and also worked in a few Telugu & Malayalam films. In a car ...
and made his directorial debut with the movie ''
Murai Maman
''Murai Maman'' is a 1995 Indian Tamil language comedy film and the directorial debut of Sundar C. The film stars Jayaram and Khushbu. The film had musical score by Vidyasagar and was released on 19 May 1995.
Plot
Sirusu (Jayaram) and his ...
'' (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 unable 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. ''Murai Maman'' did well at the box office and Sundar went on to direct many humour themed films such as ''
Ullathai Allitha
''Ullathai Allitha'' () is a 1996 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by Sundar C. The film stars Karthik, Rambha and Goundamani, with Manivannan, Jai Ganesh, Senthil, and Jyothi Meena in supporting roles. It revolves around a ...
'' (1996), ''
Mettukudi'' (1996) and ''
Unakkaga Ellam Unakkaga
''Unakkaga Ellam Unakkaga'' () is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film written and directed by Sundar C., starring Karthik and Rambha with Goundamani, Vivek, Vinu Chakravarthy, Anju among others in supporting roles. The film, sc ...
'' (1999) with
Karthik. In 1997, he directed his highest-profile project till date, ''
Arunachalam'', with
Rajinikanth
Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 160 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannad ...
. He has also occasionally directed action and thriller films such as ''
Unnai Kann Theduthey
''Unnai Kann Theduthey'' () is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language drama film, directed by Sundar C, starring Sathyaraj, Khushbu, Livingston and Ravali. The film had musical score by Deva and was released in 2000.
Cast
* Sathyaraj as Vichu
*Kh ...
'' (2000), ''
Rishi'' (2001) and ''
Chinna'' (2005). His favourite heroine was actress
Rambha; as a Director he made her as his lead heroine in his 6 movies.
In the late 1990s, Sundar C had a brief career slump, where several of his films became stuck or did not have a theatrical release. Projects including collaborations with Karthik in ''Athai Magan'' featuring
Ramya Krishnan
Ramya Krishnan (born 15 September 1970), also credited as Ramya Krishna (in the Telugu and Kannada film industries) is an Indian actress. She has appeared in over 260 films in five languages: Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi. Ramy ...
, ''Kadhal Solla Vanthen'' featuring
Isha Koppikar
Isha Koppikar (born 19 September 1976) is an Indian actress, model and politician who has mostly appeared in Hindi cinema. She has also acted in several Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Marathi films.
Background
Koppikar was born in Mahim, Bombay (n ...
, and ''Vaazhkkai Vaazhvatharkke'' were affected. Likewise, a proposed projects titled ''Paarvai'' with
Jayaram
Jayaram Subramaniam, (born 10 December 1965) known mononymously as Jayaram, is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Malayalam,Tamil films, along with a few Telugu films. He is also a chenda percussionist, mimicry artist, and occasiona ...
and
Khushbu
Khushbu Sundar (born Nakhat Khan; 29 September 1970) is an Indian actress, politician, film producer and television presenter. She is known for her works predominantly in Tamil, besides Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada films. She is a rec ...
, was also shelved.
In 2003, he directed two films ''
Anbe Sivam
''Anbe Sivam'' () is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Sundar C. and produced by K. Muralitharan, V. Swaminathan and G. Venugopal under the banner of Lakshmi Movie Makers. The film was written by Kamal Haasan, and Ma ...
'' and ''
Winner
Winner(s) or The Winner(s) may refer to:
* Champion, the victor in a game or contest
*The successful social class in winner and loser culture
Film
* ''The Winner'' (1926 film), an American silent film starring Billy Sullivan
* ''The Winner'' ...
''. Winner was successful and the comedy scenes from that film became hugely popular. However, Anbe Sivam, 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. After directing ''
Rendu
''Rendu'' () a 2006 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Sundar C and produced by Khushbu. The film stars Madhavan Madhavan may refer to:
People
* James Madhavan (died 1973), Fijian politician
* Kavya Madhavan (born 1985), ...
'' (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
''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 ...
'' (2006), which was well received. Then he went on to play lead roles with the commercially successful ''
Veerappu
''Veerappu'' is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language action drama film directed by Badri in his directorial debut. It is a remake of the 1995 Malayalam film ''Spadikam'' by Bhadran. It also draws some of the plot from the Malayalam film ''Narasimham ( ...
'' (2007), directed by
Badri and ''
Sandai
''Sandai'' () is a 2008 Tamil-language action comedy film directed by Sakthi Chidambaram. The film stars Sundar C, Nadhiya, Namitha and Ramya Raj, while Vivek, Lalu Alex, and Mithun Tejasvi, among others, play supporting roles. The music ...
'' (2008) by
Sakthi Chidambaram. He then made a comeback as a director with ''
Nagaram Marupakkam'' (2010).
In 2012, written and directed ''
Madha Gaja Raja
Vinayagar Sundar Vel (born 21 January 1966), known professionally as Sundar C., is an Indian film director, actor and producer. He has directed over 34 films in Tamil and acted in 17 movies as the protagonist.
His notable films include ''Ull ...
'' but the film remains unreleased. Following ''
Kalakalappu
''Kalakalappu'' () () is a 2012 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by Sundar C. and produced by his wife Khushbu. It stars Vimal, Shiva, Anjali, Oviya and Santhanam, with music composed by Vijay Ebenezer. It was originally ...
'' in 2012, he directed film like ''
Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru
''Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru'' () is a 2013 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film co-produced and directed by Sundar C. and produced by Khushbu. The film stars Siddharth, Hansika Motwani, and Santhanam. The film was partially reshot ...
'' (2013), ''
Aranmanai
''Aranmanai'' (; ) is a 2014 Indian Tamil horror comedy film co-written and directed by Sundar C. The film features himself alongside an ensemble cast including Sundar C.,Hansika Motwani, Vinay Rai, Andrea Jeremiah, Raai Laxmi, Santhanam, Ko ...
'' (2014), ''
Aranmanai 2
''Aranmanai 2'' ()() is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language comedy horror film written and directed by Sundar C. The film stars Sundar himself, Trisha, Hansika Motwani, Siddharth, Poonam Bajwa, Soori, Kovai Sarala, Manobala, Chitra Lakshmanan and R ...
'' (2016) and ''
Kalakalappu 2
''Kalakalappu 2'' is a 2018 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language comedy film written and directed by Sundar C and produced by Khushbu. It is a spiritual successor, spiritual sequel to the 2012 film ''Kalakalappu''. The film features Jiiva, Jai ...
'' (2018). He acted in lead role in the horror thriller, ''
Iruttu
''Iruttu'' () is a 2019 Indian supernatural horror film written and directed by V. Z. Durai. It stars Sundar C., Sakshi Choudhary and Dhansika the lead roles; and Vimala Raman, VTV Ganesh, Yogi Babu, and Manasvi Kottachi in supporting roles ...
'' (2019) directed by
V. Z. Durai
V. Z. Durai (born Peer Moideen) is an Indian film director who has worked in the Tamil film industry.
Film career 2000-2010
Durai eventually approached S. S. Chakravarthy to make the film '' Mugavaree'' (2000) with Ajith Kumar. As Durai had ...
. The film was released to positive reviews. And directed
Vishal's film, ''
Action
Action may refer to:
* Action (narrative), a literary mode
* Action fiction, a type of genre fiction
* Action game, a genre of video game
Film
* Action film, a genre of film
* ''Action'' (1921 film), a film by John Ford
* ''Action'' (1980 fil ...
'' (2019). His next release as a director and actor is ''
Aranmanai 3
''Aranmanai 3'' () is an 2021 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language comedy horror film written directed by Sundar C., Sundar C. The film stars an ensemble star cast including Sundar C, Arya (actor), Arya, Raashii Khanna and Andrea Jeremiah, wit ...
,'' produced by
Avni Cinemax
Avni Cinemax also known as Avni Movies and also Avni Telemedia is an Indian film production and distribution company owned by Kushboo and her husband Sundar C. The company was named by the starting letter of their daughter's name Avanthika. Th ...
, with his own production house. The film received negative reviews from critics, but becomes a box-office success, and marked as Hat-trick hit of his ''Aranmanai series''. And he also signed a new film as an lead actor in ''Thalai Nagaram 2'' with
V. Z. Durai
V. Z. Durai (born Peer Moideen) is an Indian film director who has worked in the Tamil film industry.
Film career 2000-2010
Durai eventually approached S. S. Chakravarthy to make the film '' Mugavaree'' (2000) with Ajith Kumar. As Durai had ...
. A sequel to the successful film ''
Thalai Nagaram
''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 ...
'' (2006)''.''
Sundar also officially confirmed that he is going to make his fourth installment in ''Aranmanai series'' on 2023, will begin as ''Aranmanai 4''.
Filmography
As an actor
As a director and writer
As a Singer
As a Producer
Films
Television
Serials
Shows
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sundar C.
Living people
Tamil male actors
Film directors from Tamil Nadu
Tamil film directors
People from Erode district
1968 births
Recipients of the Kalaimamani Award
20th-century Indian film directors
21st-century Indian film directors
Tamil screenwriters
Screenwriters from Tamil Nadu
20th-century Indian male actors
21st-century Indian male actors
Male actors in Tamil cinema
20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights
21st-century Indian dramatists and playwrights