Suman is an Indian actor known for his work in

South Indian South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

films. He played the male lead and supporting characters mostly in Telugu and

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

movies. He also featured in a few

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

and

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

. In a career spanning almost 5 decades, he has acted in more than 700 movies in 10 languages. He was one of the most prominent actors of

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

during the 1980s and 1990s.

Early life

Suman was born in a Tulu-speaking

Billava The Billava, Billoru, Biruveru or Bhil, Bhillava people are an ethnic group of India. They constitute 18% of the total Karnata population. They are found traditionally in Tulu Nadu region and engaged in toddy tapping, Agriculture, cultivation an ...

family in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

of present-day

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. 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 Indi ...

. His mother, Kesari Chandra, was the Principal of the

Ethiraj College for Women Ethiraj College for Women is an arts and science college for women in Chennai, India, managed by the Ethiraj College Trust. It was founded in 1948 by the barrister V. L. Ethiraj of Vellore. History Chairmen Source: * V. L. Ethiraj (1948–60 ...

in Chennai. His father, Susheel Chandra, worked for I.O.C. Chennai. He attended The Besant Theosophical High School, Chennai and completed a B.A. in English Literature. Suman learnt music and Sanskrit from H.A.S. Shastri.

Career

He acted in many action and romantic movies in Telugu, including ''Tharangini'' (1982), '' Neti Bharatam'' (1983) and '' Sitaara'' (1984). Suman played many mythological characters such as

Venkateswara Venkateswara (, ), also known as Venkatachalapati, Venkata, Balaji and Srinivasa, is a Hindu deity, described as a form or avatar of the god Vishnu. He is the presiding deity of Venkateswara Temple, Tirumala, Venkateswara Temple, Tirupati. Hi ...

Shiva Shiva (; , ), also known as Mahadeva (; , , Help:IPA/Sanskrit, ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐh and Hara, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the God in Hinduism, Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions w ...

, and

Rama Rama (; , , ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the seventh and one of the most popular avatars of Vishnu. In Rama-centric Hindu traditions, he is considered the Supreme Being. Also considered as the ideal man (''maryāda' ...

in Telugu feature films. He won

Nandi Award for Best Actor The Nandi Award for Best Actor was commissioned by the Nandi Awards committee in 1977. The winner is awarded a "Silver Nandi", "Sri Rajendra Prasad Gold Medal", cash award and a commendation certificate. Venkatesh has won the most Best Actor a ...

for his role in the 1993 film ''

Bava Bavamaridi ''Bava Bavamaridi'' is a 1993 Telugu-language drama film directed by Sarath. It stars Krishnam Raju, Suman, Jayasudha and Malashri, with music composed by Raj–Koti. The film is produced by Editor Mohan, and C. M. Krishna under the M. M. Mov ...

''. He returned to acting by playing the villain in the Tamil films '' Sivaji'' (2007) and ''

Kuruvi ''Kuruvi'' () is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by Dharani. It is produced by Udhayanidhi Stalin under Red Giant Movies. The film stars Vijay in the main lead role alongside Trisha, Suman, Vivek, ...

'' (2008). He played the main antagonist in the

movie '' Sagar alias Jacky'' (2009). He also won the Asianet Film Honour Special Jury Award in 2009. He has also appeared in a Bollywood film, '' Gabbar Is Back'' (2015), starring as the antagonist pit against

Akshay Kumar Akshay Hari Om Bhatia (born Rajiv Hari Om Bhatia; 9 September 1967), known professionally as Akshay Kumar (), is an Indian actor and film producer working in Hindi cinema. Referred to in the media as "Khiladi Kumar", through his career span ...

Politics

Suman initially started showing his interest in politics by supporting

Telugu Desam Party The Telugu Desam Party (TDP; ) is an Indian regional political party primarily active in the Federated state, states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. It was founded by Telugu cinema, Telugu matinée idol N. T. Rama Rao (NTR) on 29 March 1982 a ...

during 1999 under the leadership of the then Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu. In 2004, he, along with his supporters, joined

Bharatiya Janata Party The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...

Personal life

Suman is married to Sirisha, and they have a daughter.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Suman Living people Tulu male actors Male actors in Kannada cinema Male actors in Tamil cinema Male actors in Malayalam cinema Filmfare Awards South winners Male actors in Telugu cinema Indian male film actors Nandi Award winners Year of birth missing (living people) Male actors from Mangalore 20th-century Indian male actors 21st-century Indian male actors