Thirupathisamy was 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, known for his works in

Telugu cinema Telugu cinema, also known as Tollywood, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Telugu language, widely spoken in the states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Telugu cinema is based in Film Nagar, Hy ...

and

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' ...

. After making his debut in 1998 with the successful ''

Ganesh Ganesha ( sa, गणेश, ), also known as Ganapati, Vinayaka, and Pillaiyar, is one of the best-known and most worshipped Deva_(Hinduism), deities in the Hindu deities, Hindu pantheon and is the Supreme God in Ganapatya sect. His image is ...

'', he has gone on to make other box office hits including '' Azad'' and ''

Narasimha Narasimha ( sa, नरसिंह, lit=man-lion, ), sometimes rendered Narasingha, is the fourth avatar of the Hindu god Vishnu. He is regarded to have incarnated in the form of a part-lion, part-man being to slay Hiranyakashipu, to end rel ...

''. He died in a car accident in Chennai in June 2001.

Early life

Tirupathisami, hailed from an ordinary family in Vannarpet, Chennai. He graduated with master of law from the Ambethkar College. He began his career as a journalist with

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 ...

Career

Thirupathisamy started his film career assisting

Suresh Krissna Suresh Krissna (born 25 June 1959) is an Indian film director who has directed Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi Language films. His first independent film as a director was '' Sathya'' (1988), with Kamal Haasan. He is well known for ha ...

in films '' Veera'' (1994) and ''

Baashha ''Baashha'' is a 1995 Indian Tamil-language gangster action film written and directed by Suresh Krissna. The film stars Rajinikanth, Nagma and Raghuvaran, with Janagaraj, Devan, Shashi Kumar, Vijayakumar, Anandaraj, Charan Raj, Kitty, Sath ...

'' (1995). He made his directorial debut with ''

'' (1998), a Telugu language action film starring

Venkatesh Venkatesh is a given name and family name from the Indian subcontinent derived from Venkateswara, a Hindu deity. Notable persons with the name include: * A. Venkatesh Naik (born 1936), member of the 14th Lok Sabha of India * A. Venkatesh (directo ...

, which went on to win five

Nandi Awards The Nandi Awards are the awards that recognise the excellence in Telugu cinema, Telugu theatre and Telugu television, and Lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. Presented annually by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the award is named after ...

. Thirupathiswamy made '' Azad'', another successful Telugu action film, starring

Nagarjuna Nāgārjuna . 150 – c. 250 CE (disputed)was an Indian Mahāyāna Buddhist thinker, scholar-saint and philosopher. He is widely considered one of the most important Buddhist philosophers.Garfield, Jay L. (1995), ''The Fundamental Wisdom of ...

Soundarya K. S. Sowmya (18 July 1972 – 17 April 2004), better known by her stage name Soundarya, was an Indian actress who worked predominantly in Telugu_cinema, Telugu films and has also worked in Kannada, Tamil language, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam f ...

and

Shilpa Shetty Shilpa Shetty Kundra (born Ashwini Shetty; Née Shetty; 8 June 1975) is an Indian actress who works mainly in Hindi-language films. Shetty made her screen debut in the thriller ''Baazigar'' (1993) which garnered her nominations for two Filmfare ...

in 2000 and won positive reviews for his work. He was then signed up to direct a Tamil film, ''

'', after director

N. Maharajan N. Maharajan is an Indian film director who directed Tamil and Hindi films. He made his debut with '' Vallarasu'' and directed other films ''Anjaneya'' and ''Arasatchi''. He had provided scripts for Hindi films '' Zor'' and Champion Career Maha ...

had opted out of making the Vijayakanth-starrer. Due to the success of his previous two films and his work in ''Narasimha'', the director was also signed up to direct ''Velan'' with Vijay and

Priyanka Chopra Priyanka Chopra Jonas (; ; born 18 July 1982) is an Indian actress and producer. The winner of the Miss World 2000 pageant, Chopra is one of India's highest-paid actresses and has received numerous accolades, including two National Film Awar ...

in the lead roles, which would have been a remake of his Telugu film ''Azad''. However the director died before the release of the film after being a part of a car crash while returning home from an editing session - the producers of ''Narasimha'' later dedicated the film to him. The story of the planned film, ''Velan'', was later used by

M. Raja Mohan Raja is an Indian filmmaker and screenwriter who primarily works in Tamil and Telugu film industries. After making his debut in the Telugu film ''Hanuman Junction'' (2001), he went on to remake several successful Telugu films into Tamil, ...

when he made ''

Velayudham ''Velayudham'' is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language superhero film written and directed by Mohan Raja. It stars Vijay in titular role with Genelia in the lead, while Hansika, Santhanam, Saranya Mohan, Soori, Abhimanyu Singh, and Vineet Kumar in ot ...

'' (2011) with Vijay. Actor Srikanth's character in the film '' Sadhurangam'' (2011) was named after Thirupathisamy, who was the director

Karu Pazhaniappan Karuppaih Palaniappan, credited on-screen as Karu Palaniappan, is an Indian film director, actor, and television host who works in the Tamil film industry. He has also hosted the show Thamizha Thamizha on Zee Tamil. Biography Palaniappan hails ...

's close friend.Videos – Azhagu Kutti Chellam
/ref> Similarly,

AR Murugadoss Murugadoss Arunasalam (born 25 September 1974), commonly known as A. R. Murugadoss, is an Indian film director, producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in the Tamil film industry. He is best known for directing action films mainly on ...

noted that the story of his production ''

Engaeyum Eppothum ''Engaeyum Eppothum'' () is a 2011 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language romantic film, romantic comedy drama Road movie, road film written and directed by M. Saravanan (film director), M. Saravanan in his Tamil debut, he had earlier directed th ...

'' (2011) reminded him of the tragic incident of Thirupathisamy's death.

Filmography

As a director

As an assistant director

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thirupathisamy 1969 births 2001 deaths Tamil film directors Telugu film directors 20th-century Indian film directors Road incident deaths in India Film directors from Tamil Nadu