Sathyaraj

Sathyaraja
File:Sathyaraja Indian film actor and media personality.jpg Sathyaraj in june 2012
Born	Rangaraj Subbaiah (1954-08-03) 3 August 1954 Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India
Years active	1978–present
Spouse	Maheswari
Children	Divya, Sibiraj

Sathyaraj (Tamil: சத்யராஜ்; born Rangaraj Subbaiah 3 October 1954) is an Indian film actor and media personality in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. A Tamil activist and a political influence, he has acted in over 210 films, ranging from action, romantic, drama to comedy. He has worked in pre-dominantly as lead hero in Tamil films from 1984 and played junior artist since 1978 and later from 1982 in pivotal supporting roles in Tamil and later he played pivotal roles in Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada films as well. In 2007, he played the role of Periyar E. V. Ramasamy in the Tamil Nadu government-sponsored film Periyar. As of 2007, he has produced one film, which was Lee, starring his son Sibiraj. He has also directed a movie Villadhi Villain starring himself in three different roles. His best performances are considered to be Kadalora Kavithaigal, Chinna Thambi Periya Thambi, Ganam Courtaar Avargaley, Vedham Pudhithu, Villadhi Villain, Walter Vetrivel, Amaidhipadai,Kalyana Galatta, Englishkaran, Periyar, Onbadhu Roobai Nottu and Nagaraja Cholan MA, MLA.

Early life and family

Sathyaraj was born as Rangaraj in 3 October 1954 to Subbaiah and Nathambal, with two younger sisters. He's known as an ardent fan of M. G. Ramachandran. Sathyaraj completed his primary school education in Tamil at St Mary's Convent, Coimbatore. He completed the equivalent of the tenth standard in Suburban High School, Ramnagar, Coimbatore. Later he joined the Government Arts College, Coimbatore and completed a Bachelor of Science degree in Botany. Actor Manivannan was a co-student in PUC (Class 12 Junior college), and the two began a friendship while there. Sathyaraj is married to Maheswari and the couple have a son and a daughter. His son Sibiraj is an actor.

Career

1978–1985

Sathyaraj entered the film industry after witnessing the shooting of the film Annakili, where he met actor Sivakumar and producer Thiruppur Manian. He joined the drama troupe of Komal Swamynathan. Sathyaraj's first film in a credited role as an actor was Sattam En Kaiyil, in 1978. His first film as the leading hero in Tamil was Saavi in 1985, which was a box-office success but his character was negative one. Later he worked as production manager for the film Kannan Oru Kaikkuzhanthai. In addition to his managerial role, he also had a small acting part in the film. He acted in around 75 films from 1978 to the 1985 till films like Kaakki Sattai, Vikram (1986) starring Kamal Hassan, most of which featured Satyaraj in antagonist roles. In initial part of his career between 1978 and 1982 his negative roles were like playing henchman to the main villain M. N. Nambiar and other villains and his role was minuscule in the film while the main lead hero was Sivaji Ganesan, Jaishankar or Kamal Hassan or Rajnikanth. His college friend Mannivannan directed Sathyaraj for first time in the Tamil film Janvary 1 in 1984 where Sathyaraj had supporting role and has directed Sathyaraj in around 25 films from 1984 to 2013 and of them 18 had Sathyaraj as the main lead hero. His screen space as a villain increased after Irupatthi Naalu Mani Neram (1984) directed by Manivannan, where Mohan was the hero and Sathyaraj the main villain but Sathyaraj’s role was on par with that of Mohan in this film and with this film his acting skills were noticed by many and became famous among Tamil film audience. In Nooravathu Naal and Anbin Mugavari, both again directed by Manivannan, his villainous role had better footage than the heroes Vijaykanth and Mohan. Sathyaraj started receiving offers to act as the hero in Tamil films from 1985. Directors were reluctant to cast him as the main hero as his second film as lead hero Iravu Pookkal(1985) was not huge success. Most of the films he was part of were of action genre in this period.

1986-1988

In the 1986 film Kadalora Kavithaigal, he was offered the lead romantic role and Behindwoods said "Sathyaraj broke his image of an action hero and came up with a rollicking performance. He is the real star of the film." He received appreciation for playing Rajnikant’s father in Mr.Bharat(1986), where the film revolved around the conflict between father and son. Manivanan being friends with Sathyaraj kept casting him in pivotal roles in his directorial ventures regularly showcasing different emotions from Sathyaraj in films like Vidinja Kalyanam, Palaivana Rojakkal and Muthal Vasantham. After success of Kadalora Kavithaigal,Sathayraj had box-office hits as the lead hero between 1986 to 1988 like Kadamai Kanniyam Kattupaadu, Makkal En Pakkam, dual role in Mandhira Punnagai, Poovizhi Vasalile, En Bommukutty Ammavuku, Chinappadas and Annanagar Mudhal Theru. Director Manivanan from 1987 started casting Sathyaraj now in positive roles and their combination had box office hits like Jailkattu, Chinna Thambi Periya Thambi, Ganam Kortaar Avargale, Chinnappadas in this period. Sathyaraj received Best Tamil Actor award in Filmfare Awards South for his performance in Vedham Pudhithu(1987). While in Needhiyin Nizhal(1985), he had miniscule supporting role and played second fiddle to the main villain M.N.Nambiar and main hero was Prabhu, but by 1988 since Sathyaraj has established himself as main lead hero, in Chinna Thambi Periya Thambi, both were Paired up as the heroes but Prabhu’s character played second fiddle to Sathyaraj’s character in this film. He played a bi-spectacled leading man in commercially successful Ganam Courtaar Avargaley and his performance was critically acclaimed and established him as a versatile actor. Manivanan directed him as the main lead hero in 12 consecutive box-office hits beginning with Jallikattu in 1987,Chinna Thambi Periya Thambi,Ganam Kortaar Avargale, Manidhan Marivittan,Ullathil Nalla Ullam, Vazhkkaichakkaram, Pudhu Manithan, Therku Theru Machan,Government Mapillai to Amaidhipadai in 1994.

1989-1999

His 99th film was Dravidan and 100th movie was Vaathiyaar Veettu Pillai but the latter fared better at the box-office. After 1988 he had very few flops like Jeeva, Madurai Veeran Enga Saami, Pangali, Magudam, Airport, Kattalai, Veera Pathakkam in this period as he became selective of choosing his roles as main lead hero. In 90’s he attempted more films of comedy and action genre and occasionally did romantic films and had many commercial success in 1990’s till 1999 like Velai Kidaichuduchu, Nadigan, Pudhu Manithan, Rickshaw Mama, Walter Vetrivel, Thai Maaman, Azhagarsamy to name a few. Sathyaraj played a dual role as father and son in the box-office hit Amaidhi Padai and this film is considered among his best performances and later in 2013, a sequel of it was made as Nagaraja Cholan MA, MLA which became Sathyaraj’s 200th film. Sathyaraj from mid-90s made Manivannan a regular actor in the films of him as the lead hero.His pair opposite actress Kushboo and Meena became popular in this decade. The box-office hits of the pair Kushboo-Sathyaraj include Nadigan, Rickshaw Mama, Bramma, Thozhar Pandian, Kalyana Galatta, Malabar Police, Suyamvaram whereas Veeranadai, Unnai Kann Theduthey of the pair were not successful at box-office. The on-screen pair of Sathyaraj-Meena together had hits like Thai Maman, Mamaon Magal, Vallal and later in 2003 with Aalukkoru Aasai. After Thai Maaman became successful in 1994, the same team of Sathyaraj and director Guru Dhanapal decided to do their next venture Maaman Magal in 1995 which was also a hit. directed his first film in 1995 with Villadhi Villain, which had him in in three distinct roles and it was a successful. His chemistry with actors Goundamani, Senthil has been well received and appreciated by the public and hence they have appeared in many movies together since the Vaazhkai Sakkaram in 1990 to Thangam in 2008 and similarly Sathyaraj used to cast Manivanan in his films regularly as the comedian or supporting actor in films with him as the lead hero where the director was some one other-than Manivannan.

2001-present

The year 2000 proved to be unsuccessful for Sathyaraj. 4 films between 2000-01 like Puratchikaaran, Veeranadai, Aandan Adimai and comedy film Looty were flops and his only commercial success came with P.Vasu’s comedy film Asathal, Sunder C's Unnai Kann Theduthey and G.Sai Suresh’s Kunguma Pottu Gounder. As many new young actors who debuted in 1990’s had established themselves as heroes successfully by 2000 like Ajith Kumar, Vijay, Madhavan and others like Jeeva, Shrikant made their mark in mid-2000s and also since Sathyaraj’s hair was receding and had begun using wig while playing the lead hero in Tamil films , critics felt Sathyaraj’s career as solo lead hero may end . Sathyaraj re-invented himself as a hero soon with his performances in 2002 film Maaran and as a romantic hero in Vivaramana Aalu and with his performance in comedy film Aalukkoru Aasai in 2003 . Sathyaraj and director Shakthi Chidambaram’s combination gave 3 consecutive hits like "Ennama Kannu", "Maha Nadigan" and Englishkaran. Few films like Sena (film), Ramachandra (film), Alagesan, Gowravargal received negative reviews in this decade. From 2005, he started accepting even those scripts where though the film revolves around his character and he is the hero, he may not necessarily be a person aged below 30 in the film.. He co-starred with his son for very first time in Jore which became successful and Bizhat described "It's interesting to watch the father - son combination together in Jore. Sathyaraj then acted with his son in 3 more successful ventures Mannin Maindhan. , Vetrivel Sakthivel and Kovai Brothers, where the real life father-son played brothers. In 2007, he produced a Tamil film Lee (film) with Sibiraj as the lead hero and it was critically acclaimed box-office hit. He ventured into Telugu Cinema after long time as a supporting actor with Sankham in 2009 and later did Mirchi in 2012, both of which were successful and entered Malayalam Cinema with Aagathan in 2009. From 2005 till 2013 , he again had consistent successful Tamil films as lead hero in box office like 6'2, Vanakkam Thalaiva, his 170th film Kurukshetram (2006), Periyar (film), Kannamoochi Yenada?, Thangam, Nagaraja Cholan MA, MLA. He received Vijay Award for Best Actor for Onbadhu Roobai Nottu in 2007 and was also nominated for his performance in Periyar in the same year. He accepted pivotal supporting roles in Tamil films like Aayiram Vilakku, Uchithanai Muharnthaal and Nanban – all of which were box-office hits. The Sathyaraj-director Manivannan combination had given earlier hits like 'Mamman Magal', 'Pudhu Manithan' and 'Vazhkaichakram', 'Amaidhipadai' and others and for the Manivannan’s 50th directorial venture, Manivannan casted Sathyaraj again in the lead role in the film Nagaraja Cholan MA .,MLA and this film became the 200th film of Sathyaraj and became a blockbuster in 2013. In 2013, Sathyaraj made his debut in Hindi films with Chennai Express.

Filmography

As actor

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2013	Dhoom 3			1978	Sattam En Kayil
1979	Yenippadigal
1982	Moondru Mugam	"Dhaadi" Raj
1983	Paayum Puli
1984	Nooravathu Naal
	24 Mani Neram
	Enakkul Oruvan
	Naan Mahaan Alla	Jagan
1985	Saavi
	Naan Sigappu Manithan	Mohanraj
	Thiramai
	Muthal Mariyathai
	Pagal Nilavu	Devarajan
	Kaakki Sattai	Vicky
	Pillai Nila	Vicky
1986	Vikram	Sugirtharaja
	Dharmam
	Iravu Pookkal
	Mandhira Punnagai
	Mr. Bharath	Gopinath
	Muthal Vasantham	Kungumapottu Gounder
	Rasigan Oru Rasigai
	Vidinja Kalyanam
	Kadalora Kavithaigal	Das
1987	Aalappirandhavan	Aalappirandhavan
	Kadamai Kanniyam Kattupaadu	SI Balaram
	Makkal En Pakkam	Samraj
	Manathil Uruthi Vendum	Guest Appearance
	Pookkal Vidum Thoodhu
	Vedham Pudhithu	Balu Thevar
	Jallikattu	Arjun
	Chinna Thambi Periya Thambi	Periya Thambi
	Poovizhi Vasalile	Jeeva
1988	En Bommukutty Ammavukku	Vinod
	Ganam Courtaar Avargaley
	Annanagar Mudhal Theru	Shiva/Ram Singh
	Jeevaa
	Pudhiya Vaanam
1989	Chinnappadass
	Pick Pocket
	Thaai Naadu
	Dravidan
	Annakili Sonna Kadhai
	Vaathiyaar Veettu Pillai		100th film
1990	Ulagam Pirandhadhu Enakkaga	Quarter Govindhan, Raja
	Vaazhkai Sakkaram
	Mallu Vetti Minor	Rassappa Gounder, Marappa Gounder
	Velai Kidaichuduchu
	Nadigan	Raja/Devaraj
	Madurai Veeran Enga Saami
1991	Pudhu Manithan	Kabali
	Bramma	Ravi Varman
1992	Thirumadhi Pazhanisamy	Pazhanisamy
	Therku Theru Machan	Subramani
	Pangali	Shakthivel/Durai
	Magudam
	Rickshaw Mama
1993	Udan Pirappu	Sathya
	Airport	Captain Arjun
	Kattalai
	Walter Vetrivel	Vetrivel
1994	Amaithipadai	Thangavelu, Nagaraja Cholan (Ammaavaasai)
	Veera Padhakkam
	Vandicholai Chinraasu	Chinnarasu
	Thozhar Pandian
	Thai Maaman	Rasappan
1995	Engirundho Vandhaan
	Villadhi Villain	Edison/Poovu/ Advocate Meenakshi Sundaram	Also director
	Maaman Magal
1996	Senathipathi	Senathipathi, Sethupathi
	Sivasakthi	Siva
1997	Periya Manushan	Ramakrishnan, Subramani
	Pagaivan	Vasu
	Vallal	Durairasu
1998	Kalyana Galatta	Jeeva
1999	Malabar Police	Chinnasamy, Ramasamy
	Ponnu Veetukkaran
	Azhagarsamy	Azhagarsamy
	Suyamvaram	Arunachalam
2000	Ennamma Kannu	Kaasi
	Puratchikaaran	Anna
	Veeranadai	Periya Karuppan
	Unnai Kann Theduthey	Vichu
2001	Lootie	Rasappa
	Asathal	Vetri
	Kunguma Pottu Gounder	Kunguma Pottu Gounder, Kandhasamy
	Aandan Adimai	Sivaraman
2002	Vivaramana Aalu	Mayilsamy
	Maaran	Maaran
2003	Ramachandra	Ramachandra
	Military	'Military' Madhavan
	Sena	Sena
	Aalukkoru Aasai	Arivazhagan
2004	Sound Party	Kumaresan
	Adi Thadi	Thirupathi
	Sema Ragalai
	Jore	Sabapathy
	Azhagesan	Azhagesan
	Maha Nadigan	Sathya
2005	Iyer IPS	Gopal Iyer, Venkatachalapathy
	Mannin Maindhan	Pratap	Extended Cameo
	6'2	James/Balamurugan
	Englishkaran	Thamizharasu
	Vetrivel Sakthivel	Vetrivel
	Vanakkam Thalaiva	Manikkam
2006	Kovai Brothers	Ganesh
	Suyetchai MLA	Nambirajan
	Kurukshetram	Bharath
2007	Adavadi	Bharath
	Periyar	Periyar Ramasamy Nayakar	Nominated, Vijay Award for Best Actor
	Kannamoochi Yenada	Arumugam Gounder
	Onbadhu Roobai Nottu	Madhava Padayachi	Winner, Vijay Award for Best Actor
2008	Thangam	Thangam
	Vambu Sandai	Jeevanantham
2009	Sankham	Sivayya	Telugu film
2010	Aagathan	Hareendra Varma	Malayalam film
	Guru Sishyan	Guru
	Pollachi Mappilai
	Irandu Mugam	Sarveswaran
	Gowravargal	Thondaiman
2011	Sattapadi Kutram	Subash Chandrabose
	Vengayam	Himself
	Aayiram Vilakku	Lingam
	Uchithanai Muharnthaal	Nadesan
2012	Nanban	Virumandi Santhanam (Virus)	Winner, Vijay Award for Best Supporting Actor Pending—SIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Tamil
2013	Mirchi	Deva	Telugu film
	Nagaraja Cholan MA, MLA	Nagaraja Cholan (Ammaavaasai)	200th film
	Chennai Express	Durgeshwara Azhagusundaram	Hindi film Filming
	Thalaivaa		Released on 8/9/2013
	Kalavadiya Pozhudugal	Periyar Ramasamy Nayakar	Delayed (Special appearance)
	Muriyadi	Devan	Delayed
	Sivappu		Filming
	Kalavaram		Filming
	Raja Rani		Filming
	Varuthapadaatha Vaalibar Sangam	Sivanandi	Filming
	Sigaram Thodu		Filming
2014	Baahubali		Filming Simultaneously shot in Telugu and Tamil

As producer

• Lee (2007)

As director

• Villathi Villain (1995)

Awards and Nominations

Won

• Kalaimamani Award
• 1991 - M.G.R Award from the Government of Tamil Nadu
• 1987 - Filmfare Best Actor Award for Vedham Pudhithu
• 2007 - Periyar Award for his role in the film Periyar
• 2007 - Honorary Doctorate from Sathyabama University

External links

• Sathyaraj at IMDb