Ganeshan Subbiah known as Susi Ganesan is an
Indian film
The Cinema of India consists of motion pictures produced in India, which had a large effect on world cinema since the late 20th century. Major centers of film production across the country include Mumbai, Chennai, Hyderabad, Visakhapatnam, Ko ...
director, producer, scriptwriter and screenwriter.
Early life
Ganesan was born on (25 August 1969)
Vannivelampatti
Vannivelampatti, is a Gram panchayat in Madurai district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu.
History
Vannivelampatti was known as vannivalampatti which means, a village (patti) situated at the right side of the strange Vanni Vinayaka facing wes ...
,
Madurai District
Madurai district is one of the Districts of Tamil Nadu, 38 districts of the States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu in southeastern India., National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Ag ...
in Tamil Nadu to Tamil parents Subbiah and Sittamma. He changed his screen name to Susi Ganesan, his first name being from the first two letters from his parents' first names. He attended Gandhi Nikethan higher secondary school in
T. Kallupatti and also graduated from
Madras Institute of Technology
Madras Institute of Technology (MIT) is an engineering institute located in Chromepet, Chennai, India. It is one of the four autonomous constituent colleges of Anna University. It was established in 1949 by Chinnaswami Rajam as the first self-f ...
with a bachelor's degree in automobile engineering.
During his college days, he was a journalist, writing many articles for the Tamil magazine ''
Ananda Vikatan
''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India.
History and profile
''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 wa ...
''.
He was also chairman of ATHENAEUM, the student body of the Madras Institute of Technology, during 1991–92. After working as an assistant 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 the filming of ''
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...
'' (1995), ''
Iruvar
''Iruvar'' () is a 1997 Indian Tamil-language epic political drama film co-written, produced and directed by Mani Ratnam. The film, inspired by the lives of M. Karunanidhi, M. G. Ramachandran and J. Jayalalithaa is set against the backdrop of ...
'' (1997) and ''
Dil Se..'' (1998), Ganesan debuted as a director with the 2002 film ''
Virumbugiren
''Virumbugiren'' is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by Susi Ganeshan. The film stars Prashanth and Sneha, while Eswari Rao played a pivotal role which fetched her Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Character Artist ...
''.
Career
His first film, ''
Virumbugiren
''Virumbugiren'' is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by Susi Ganeshan. The film stars Prashanth and Sneha, while Eswari Rao played a pivotal role which fetched her Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Character Artist ...
'', was initially titled ''Thithikkum Thee'' and was to feature
Murali in the lead role of a firefighter, but later
Prashanth
Prashanth Thiagarajan (born 6 April 1973), known professionally as Prashanth, is an Indian actor and businessman, known for his works predominantly in Tamil cinema. Besides Tamil films, he has also appeared in few Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam fi ...
was finalized for the lead role. The project, which also marked the debut of actress
Sneha, went through production troubles and released nearly two years after the launch, becoming Ganesan's second release. The film received four awards at the 2001
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards were given for excellence in Tamil cinema in India. They were given annually to honour the best talents and provide encouragement and incentive to the South Indian film industry by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The aw ...
, winning the
Best Director Best Director is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organizations, festivals, and people's awards. It may refer to:
Film awards
* AACTA Award for Best Direction
* Academy Award for Best Director
* BA ...
,
Best Actress
Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress awar ...
and
Best Supporting Actress prizes, while also being adjudged as the
Best Film
This is a list of categories of awards commonly awarded through organizations that bestow film awards, including those presented by various film, festivals, and people's awards.
Best Actor/Best Actress
*See Best Actor#Film awards, Best Actress#F ...
of the year.
Ganesan then made ''
Five Star
Five Star (also styled as 5 Star) are a British pop group, formed in 1983 and comprising siblings Stedman, Lorraine, Denise, Doris and Delroy Pearson. Between 1985 and 1988, Five Star had four top 20 albums and 15 top 40 singles in the UK ...
'' (2002), which happened to be his first release, due to the delay of his first project ''Virumbugiren''. ''Five Star'', produced by his mentor
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 ...
under the banner
Madras Talkies
Madras Talkies is an Indian entertainment company, which was established by director Mani Ratnam and his brother G. Srinivasan as partners in 1995. Madras Talkies has actively involved in production of films and television serials, which are d ...
, featured five newcomers in the title roles. The story focused on friendship, love with social awareness and a touch of human emotions. The film won him the
Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Storywriter
The Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Storywriter is given by the state government as part of its annual Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for Tamil (Kollywood) films.
List of winners
;Key
References
{{Tamil Nadu State Film Awards
Actor
...
. He then launched a film titled ''Sakkarai'' with
Prashanth
Prashanth Thiagarajan (born 6 April 1973), known professionally as Prashanth, is an Indian actor and businessman, known for his works predominantly in Tamil cinema. Besides Tamil films, he has also appeared in few Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam fi ...
and
Reemma Sen
Reema Sen (born 29 October 1981) is an Indian actress and model who primarily appeared in Bengali theatre films, Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi films.
Early life and education
Sen was born in Kolkata on 29 October 1981. She completed high school fro ...
in the lead roles in October 2004, but the film was subsequently postponed then shelved.
In 2006, Ganesan made his third film ''
Thiruttu Payale
''Thiruttu Payale'' ( en, Naughty thief) is a 2006 Indian Tamil-language black comedy thriller film written and directed by Susi Ganesan. The movie stars ''Kaakha Kaakha'' fame Jeevan, Sonia Agarwal, Abbas, Malavika, Vivek, Manoj K. Jayan, ...
''. The film, which featured
Jeevan,
Sonia Agarwal
Sonia Agarwal is an Indian actress known for her works predominantly in Tamil cinema and a few Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. She is best known for her performances in the films such as ''Kaadhal Kondein'' (2003), ''7G Rainbow Colony'' (2 ...
and
Malavika in principal roles, emerged a
sleeper hit
In the entertainment industry, a sleeper hit is a film, television series, music release, video game, or some other entertainment product that was initially unsuccessful on release but became a success later on. A sleeper hit may have little promo ...
and ranked among the highest-grossing Tamil films of the year. It was named the
third Best Film of the year by the Tamil Nadu State Government and gave major breaks to the leading actors, with the performances of Jeevan and Malavika, in particular, being considerably appreciated. Then, Ganesan directed ''
Kanthaswamy
''Kanthaswamy'' is a 2009 Indian Tamil-language superhero film written and directed by Susi Ganesan, starring Vikram as the titular character, with Prabhu, Shriya Saran, Ashish Vidyarthi, Mukesh Tiwari, Krishna Ghattamaneni and Vadivelu form ...
''. The film dealt with the disparity of rich and poor in Indian society, and it was reportedly the first South Indian film in that the protagonist, portrayed by
Vikram, conceived a
superhero
A superhero or superheroine is a stock character that typically possesses ''superpowers'', abilities beyond those of ordinary people, and fits the role of the hero, typically using his or her powers to help the world become a better place, ...
character. The film had the biggest opening in the year 2009.
Ganesan's next directed and produced the Hindi film, ''
Shortcut Romeo
''Shortcut Romeo'' is an Indian action crime thriller film directed and produced by Susi Ganeshan, under the banner of Susi Ganesh Productions. It is the Hindi remake of the director's own Tamil film ''Thiruttu Payale'' (2006), starring Neil Ni ...
'' (2013), a remake of his 2006 film ''
Thiruttu Payale
''Thiruttu Payale'' ( en, Naughty thief) is a 2006 Indian Tamil-language black comedy thriller film written and directed by Susi Ganesan. The movie stars ''Kaakha Kaakha'' fame Jeevan, Sonia Agarwal, Abbas, Malavika, Vivek, Manoj K. Jayan, ...
'' starring
Neil Nitin Mukesh
Neil Nitin Mukesh Chand Mathur (born 15 January 1982) is an Indian actor, producer and writer who mainly works in Bollywood films . Born to singer Nitin Mukesh and grandson of Mukesh (singer), Mukesh, he debuted as a child artist in ''Vijay (19 ...
and
Puja Gupta
Puja Gupta (born 30 January 1987) is an Indian model and actress. She is a former Miss India Universe, a title she won in 2007.
Life and career
Gupta was born in New Delhi, India. Her modeling breakthrough came in 2007 when she won the title ...
.
After a long break from the Tamil film Industry, Susi Ganesan returned with a sequel to his film ''Thiruttu Payale''. ''Thiruttu Payale 2'' featured Bobby Simha, Prasanna and Amala Paul in lead roles. The movie was released in Nov 2017 and made an average collection.
In 2018, Ganesan was accused by filmmaker
Leena Manimekalai
Leena Manimekalai is an Indian filmmaker, poet and an actor. Her works include five published poetry anthologies and a dozen films in genres, documentary, fiction and experimental poem films. She has been recognised with participation, mentions ...
during the
MeToo movement in India
The international #MeToo movement began in late 2018 (and continues to the present day) to manifest in areas of the Indian society including the government, the media, and the Bollywood film industry. In India, the Me Too movement is seen as ...
. Her accusation was supported by Amala Paul, whom Ganesan had worked with, in ''Thiruttu Payale 2''. In response, Ganesan filed a defamation suit against Manimekalai at the Saidapet Magistrate Court.
Awards
Filmography
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ganesan, Susi
People from Madurai district
Tamil film directors
Madras Institute of Technology alumni
Living people
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners
Indian male screenwriters
Tamil screenwriters
Tamil film producers
Film directors from Tamil Nadu
Screenwriters from Tamil Nadu
21st-century Indian film directors
21st-century Indian dramatists and playwrights
21st-century Indian male writers
1971 births
21st-century Indian screenwriters