Brinda Master

Brinda Master
Brinda Master
Born	Brinda Gopal; Erode, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupations	Choreographer; director;
Years active	1987–present
Relatives	Kala (sister); Raghuram (brother-in-law); Gayathri Raguram (niece); Prasanna Sujit (nephew); Keerthi Shanthanu (niece);

Last updated May 24, 2025

Brinda Gopal, known professionally as Brinda Master, is an Indian dance choreographer and director ^[1] who primarily works in South Indian cinema. She has choreographed dance sequences for various Indian films. She has won one National Film Award for Best Choreography,^[2] Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Choreographer, twice and Kerala State Film Award for Best Choreography, four times.^[3]

Early life

Brinda Gopal was born into a family of seven girls to Mani Iyer, a caterer, and a homemaker in Erode.^[4] An elder sister Jayanthi, first started dancing and acted as heroine in two films – Uthiripookkal and Poottatha Pookkal. Brindha's second sister Girija, learned Bharatanatyam at Kalakshetra; and went to work with choreographers Thangam and later Raghuram Master, whom she married later, and also become an independent choreographer. Kala, a leading choreographer, is her elder sister.^[5]^[6]

One of her nephews, Prasanna Sujit, is also a film choreographer. One of her niece Gayathri Raghuram, daughter of late Raghuram Master and her sister Girija is also a choreographer and an actress. She has also introduced her another niece Keerthi, daughter of Jayanthi Master and wife of actor Shanthanu Baghyaraj, as an anchor in her dance reality show Maanada Mayilada .^[7]

Career

Through the Bollywood film Insaf Ki Pukar she started her career as an assistant choreographer in 1987.She became independent choreographer with the 2000 Tamil film Mugavaree which features Ajith Kumar and Jyothika in lead roles. She was awarded the 'Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Choreographer by the state government at Tamil Nadu State Film Awards in 2000 for her work for that film.

Selected filmography

Key
†	Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released

As Director & Choreographer
Years	Films	Director	Choreographer	Notes	Ref.
1987	Insaf Ki Pukar	No	Assistant choreographer	Hindi Film
1988	Aakhari Poratam	No	Assistant choreographer	Telugu Film
1988	Janaki Ramudu	No	Assistant choreographer	Telugu Film
1989	Prem Pratigyaa	No	Assistant choreographer	Hindi Film
1991	Phool Aur Kaante	No	Assistant choreographer
1993	Jaagruti	No	Assistant choreographer
1997	Arunachalam	No	Yes
1997	Preminchukundam Raa	No	Yes	Telugu Film
1998	Daya	No	Yes	Malayalam Film
1999	Naanu Nanna Hendthiru	No	Yes	Kannada film	^[8]
1999	Minsara Kanna	No	Yes	Tamil Film
2000	Mugavaree	No	Yes
2003	Kaakha Kaakha	No	Yes
2004	Madurey	No	Yes
2005	Chandramukhi	No	Yes
2005	Udayananu Tharam	No	Yes	Malayalam Film
2006	Aathi	No	Yes	Tamil Film
2006	Sillunu Oru Kaadhal	No	Yes
2007	Deepavali	No	Yes
	Sivaji: The Boss	No	Yes
	Azhagiya Tamil Magan	No	Yes
	Vinodayathra	No	Yes	Malayalam Film
2008	Calcutta News	No	Yes	Malayalam Film
	Dasavathaaram	No	Yes	Tamil Film
	Vaaranam Aayiram	No	Yes
2011	Engeyum Kadhal	No	Yes
2011	Velayudham	No	Yes
2013	Kadal	No	Yes
	Thalaivaa	No	Yes
	Bullett Raja	No	Yes	Hindi Film
2014	Maan Karate	No	Yes	Tamil Film
2014	PK	No	Yes	Hindi Film
2015	Kaaki Sattai	No	Yes	Tamil Film
2016	Rajinimurugan	No	Yes
2016	Remo	No	Yes
2017	Kaatru Veliyidai	No	Yes
2018	Kaala	No	Yes
2018	Sarkar	No	Yes
2019	Nerkonda Paarvai	No	Yes
2020	Darbar	No	Yes
2021	Sulthan	No	Yes
	Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian Sea	No	Yes	Malayalam -Tamil Bilingual Film
	Annaatthe	No	Yes	Tamil Film
2022	Hey Sinamika	Yes	Yes	Debut as director; Tamil Film	^[9]^[10]
	Don	No	Yes	Tamil Film
	Ponniyin Selvan: I	No	Yes
2023	Thugs	Yes	Yes		^[11]^{[ non-primary source needed ]}^[12]
2023	Ponniyin Selvan: II	No	Yes
2025	Thug Life	No	Yes	Tamil Film	^[13]

As Actress
Year	Films	Role(s)	Notes
1994	Nammavar	Nirmala	Debut Acted Film

Music Video
Years	Songs	Works	Notes
2022	"Gandhari"	Director & Choreographer	Music Video

Awards and honours

Year	Award Category	Winner	Ref.
1997	Filmfare Award for Best Choreography – South	Preminchukundam Raa	^[14]
1998	National Film Award for Best Choreography	Daya	^[2]
2000	Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Choreographer	Mugavaree	^[15]
2003	Filmfare Award for Best Choreography – South	Kaakha Kaakha	^[16]
2005	Kerala State Film Award for Best Choreography	Udayananu Tharam
2007	Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Choreographer	Deepavali	^[3]
2007	Kerala State Film Award for Best Choreography	Vinodayathra
2008	Kerala State Film Award for Best Choreography	Calcutta News
2017	Vijay Award for Best Choreographer	Kaatru Veliyidai
2021	Kerala State Film Award for Best Choreography	Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham	^[17]

References

↑ "'Thugs' first look promises a raw and violent film from Brinda Gopal". The Times of India. 7 September 2022. ISSN 0971-8257. Archived from the original on 11 November 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2024.
1 2 "46th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
1 2 "amilnadu State Awards 2007 & 2008". Dinakaran. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2009.
↑ ^[dead link ]
↑ Ethiraj, Gopal. (21 September 2009) Sunday celebrity:Kala Master: she is 'sagala Kala vallavi' Archived 3 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine . Asian Tribune. Retrieved 2013-11-30.
↑ Tamil movies : Dancing sisters' war dance against Sneha Archived 6 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine . Behindwoods.com (7 July 2006). Retrieved 2013-11-30.
↑ Metro Plus Kochi / People : She makes them dance to her tunes. The Hindu (27 October 2008). Retrieved 2013-11-30.
↑ "Naanu Nanna Hendtheeru". The Hindu . Archived from the original on 9 June 2020 – via csc.archive.org.
↑ "Dulquer Salmaan, Aditi Rao Hydari and Kajal Aggarwal's Hey Sinamika goes on floors". The Indian Express. 12 March 2020. Archived from the original on 4 September 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.
↑ "Choreographer Brindha turns director, casts Dulquer Salmaan, Kajal Aggarwal and Aditi Rao Hydari". Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2020.
↑ "The title look of my next directorial #Thugs is here. With my team🤗". 10 June 2022. Archived from the original on 11 June 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2022– via Twitter.
↑ "'Thugs' first look promises a raw and violent film from Brinda Gopal". The Times of India. 7 September 2022. Archived from the original on 11 November 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2022.
↑ "Trisha Krishnan Preps For A Dance Sequence In Mani Ratnam's Thug Life, Calls It 'Gruelling'". Times Now. 23 May 2024. Retrieved 23 May 2025.
↑ "Filmfare - South Special". filmfare.com. Archived from the original on 10 November 1999. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
↑ "Tamil Nadu announces film awards for three years". IndiaGlitz.com. Archived from the original on 24 October 2004. Retrieved 19 October 2009.
↑ "Pithamagan sweeps FilmFare Awards – Tamil Movie News". IndiaGlitz. 5 June 2004. Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2013.
↑ "50th Kerala State Film Awards: Winners list". The Indian Express . 13 October 2020. Archived from the original on 15 October 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2020.

External links

Brinda Master at IMDb

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[1] "'Thugs' first look promises a raw and violent film from Brinda Gopal". The Times of India. 7 September 2022. ISSN 0971-8257. Archived from the original on 11 November 2022. Retrieved 5 March 2024.

[46thawardPDF-2] 1 2 "46th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 March 2016. Retrieved 12 March 2012.

[Tamilnadu_State_Awards_2007_&_2008-3] 1 2 "amilnadu State Awards 2007 & 2008". Dinakaran. Archived from the original on 2 December 2013. Retrieved 30 September 2009.

[4] [dead link ]

[5] Ethiraj, Gopal. (21 September 2009) Sunday celebrity:Kala Master: she is 'sagala Kala vallavi' Archived 3 July 2013 at the Wayback Machine . Asian Tribune. Retrieved 2013-11-30.

[6] Tamil movies : Dancing sisters' war dance against Sneha Archived 6 March 2013 at the Wayback Machine . Behindwoods.com (7 July 2006). Retrieved 2013-11-30.

[7] Metro Plus Kochi / People : She makes them dance to her tunes. The Hindu (27 October 2008). Retrieved 2013-11-30.

[8] "Naanu Nanna Hendtheeru". The Hindu . Archived from the original on 9 June 2020 – via csc.archive.org.

[9] "Dulquer Salmaan, Aditi Rao Hydari and Kajal Aggarwal's Hey Sinamika goes on floors". The Indian Express. 12 March 2020. Archived from the original on 4 September 2020. Retrieved 27 September 2020.

[10] "Choreographer Brindha turns director, casts Dulquer Salmaan, Kajal Aggarwal and Aditi Rao Hydari". Archived from the original on 11 October 2020. Retrieved 12 March 2020.

[11] "The title look of my next directorial #Thugs is here. With my team🤗". 10 June 2022. Archived from the original on 11 June 2022. Retrieved 11 June 2022– via Twitter.

[12] "'Thugs' first look promises a raw and violent film from Brinda Gopal". The Times of India. 7 September 2022. Archived from the original on 11 November 2022. Retrieved 11 November 2022.

[13] "Trisha Krishnan Preps For A Dance Sequence In Mani Ratnam's Thug Life, Calls It 'Gruelling'". Times Now. 23 May 2024. Retrieved 23 May 2025.

[14] "Filmfare - South Special". filmfare.com. Archived from the original on 10 November 1999. Retrieved 12 January 2022.

[indiaglitz.com-15] "Tamil Nadu announces film awards for three years". IndiaGlitz.com. Archived from the original on 24 October 2004. Retrieved 19 October 2009.

[16] "Pithamagan sweeps FilmFare Awards – Tamil Movie News". IndiaGlitz. 5 June 2004. Archived from the original on 2 November 2013. Retrieved 3 February 2013.

[17] "50th Kerala State Film Awards: Winners list". The Indian Express . 13 October 2020. Archived from the original on 15 October 2020. Retrieved 13 October 2020.

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