Ganesan Subbiah (born 25 August 1969), popularly known as Susi Ganesan, is an Indian film director, producer, and writer who predominately works in Tamil films apart from a few Hindi remakes of his own films.

Early life

Ganesan was born on (25 August 1969) Vannivelampatti,

Madurai District Madurai District is one of the 38 districts of the state of Tamil Nadu in southeastern India., United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency The city of Madurai serves as the district headquarters. It houses the famous Sri Meenakshi ...

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 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 ''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 was not publishe ...

''. 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 Gopalaratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and a few Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. H ...

during the filming of ''

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

'' (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. G. Ramachandran, M. Karunanidhi and J. Jayalalithaa, is set against the backdrop ...

'' (1997) and '' Dil Se..'' (1998), Ganesan debuted as a director with the 2002 film '' Virumbugiren''.

Career

His first film, '' Virumbugiren'', was initially titled ''Thithikkum Thee'' and was to feature

Murali Murali may refer to: People Mononyms *Murali (Malayalam actor) (1954–2009), name of Malayalam film actor Muraleedharan Pillai, who appeared in ''Neythukaran'' and ''Aadhaaram'' *Murali (Tamil actor) (1964–2010), Tamil actor who appeared ...

in the lead role of a firefighter, but later

Prashanth Prashanth Thiagarajan (born 6 April 1973), known professionally as Prashanth, is an Indian actor, businessman, playback singer and film producer known for his works predominantly in Tamil cinema. Besides Tamil films, he has also appeared in f ...

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 Cinema of Tamil Nadu, 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 Governmen ...

, winning the Best Director, Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress prizes, while also being adjudged as the Best Film of the year. Ganesan then made ''

Five Star Five Star (also styled as 5 Star) were a British Pop music, pop group, formed in 1983 and comprising siblings Stedman Pearson, Stedman, Lorraine, Denise Pearson, Denise, Doris, and Delroy Pearson. From 1985 to 1988, Five Star had four top-20 a ...

'' (2002), which happened to be his first release, due to the delay of his first project ''Virumbugiren''. ''Five Star'', produced by his mentor

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. He then launched a film titled ''Sakkarai'' with

and Reemma Sen in the lead roles in October 2004, but the film was subsequently postponed then shelved. In 2006, Ganesan made his third film '' Thiruttu Payale''. The film, which featured Jeevan, Sonia Agarwal and Malavika in principal roles, emerged a

sleeper hit In the entertainment industry, a sleeper hit refers to a film, television series, music release, video game or other entertainment product that was initially unsuccessful on release, but eventually became a surprise success. A sleeper hit may have ...

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''. 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 fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...

character. The film had the biggest opening in the year 2009. Ganesan's next directed and produced the Hindi film, '' Shortcut Romeo'' (2013), a remake of his 2006 film '' Thiruttu Payale'' starring Neil Nitin Mukesh and Puja Gupta. 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 during the

MeToo movement in India The IndianMeToo movement, #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 s ...

. 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 dramatists and playwrights 21st-century Indian male writers 1971 births 21st-century Indian screenwriters