Meena Durairaj, known professionally as Meena, is an Indian actress who predominantly works in South Indian films as well as Hindi cinema. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. Meena has acted in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi films She is one of the most sought after actresses in the South Indian film industry. In addition to acting, Meena is also a playback singer, TV judge, and occasional dubbing artist. She has received numerous accolades, including two Filmfare Awards South, three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, two Nandi Award for Best Actress and Cinema Express Awards. In 1998, she was honoured with the Kalaimamani Award by Government of Tamil Nadu.
Jayaram Subramaniam, known mononymously as Jayaram, is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema, in addition to Tamil and Telugu language films. He is also a chenda percussionist, mimicry artist, and occasional playback singer. Jayaram has acted in more than 200 films and has received several awards, including the Padma Shri, two Kerala State Film Awards, one Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, and four Filmfare Awards South.
Kannathil Muthamittal is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language musical war film written, produced and directed by Mani Ratnam. It was based on a short story, "Amuthavum Avanum" by Sujatha. The film stars R. Madhavan, Simran and P. S. Keerthana with Nandita Das, J. D. Chakravarthy, Prakash Raj and Pasupathy portraying other pivotal characters. The film's score and soundtrack were composed by A. R. Rahman, while Ravi K. Chandran handled the cinematography. Mani Ratnam presents the story of a child of Sri Lankan Tamil parentage adopted by Indian parents, whose desire is to meet her biological mother in the midst of the Sri Lankan Civil War. It was released on 14 February 2002.
K. S. Sethumadhavan was an Indian film director and screenwriter who worked predominantly in Malayalam cinema. He also directed films in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu.
Vineeth Radhakrishnan is an Indian actor, Bharatanatyam dancer, voice artist and choreographer who primarily works in Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu language films. He has also appeared in a few Hindi and Kannada films. He has won several awards including 3 Kerala State Film Awards, Kalaimamani honour from Government of Tamil Nadu and Filmfare Award South nominations.
Thangar Bachan is an Indian film director and actor, cinematographer and novelist. He has served as jury member in National Film Awards.
Erode Venkatappa Ramasamy, revered by his followers as Periyar or Thanthai Periyar, was an Indian social activist and politician who started the Self-Respect Movement and Dravidar Kazhagam. He is known as the 'Father of the Dravidian movement'. He rebelled against Brahmin dominance and gender and caste inequality in Tamil Nadu. Since 2021, the Indian state of Tamil Nadu celebrates his birth anniversary as 'Social Justice Day'.
Bharathi is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language biographical film based on the life of Subramania Bharati starring Sayaji Shinde, Devayani and Nizhalgal Ravi. The film was directed by Gnana Rajasekaran and won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil for the year 2000.
Anuradha, known by her stage name Tara, is an Indian politician and actress active in the Kannada cinema. She joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 2009 and is currently a nominated member of the Karnataka Legislative Council.
The Vijay for Best Supporting Actress is given by STAR Vijay as part of its annual Vijay Awards ceremony for Tamil (Kollywood) films.
Sayahnam is a 2000 Malayalam feature film that marks the directorial debut of R. Sarath, who also wrote the screenplay. The film is a drama centred on the environmental and anti-nuclear issue in India. It stars O. Madhavan, Gomathi Mahadevan, Ebrahim Kutty and Alex Kadavil. It won seven Kerala State Film Awards and two National Film Awards.
R. Sarath is an Indian film director and screenwriter working primarily in the Malayalam film industry.
Sindhu Rajasekaran is an author, academic and filmmaker. Her debut novel Kaleidoscopic Reflections was longlisted for the Crossword Book Award in 2011, while her latest book of non-fiction is the best-selling Smashing the Patriarchy – A Guide for the 21st Century Indian Woman. Sindhu's prose and poetry have appeared in internationally acclaimed literary magazines. She has also published a collection of short stories titled So I Let It Be; it released in 2019.
Sidhartha Siva is an Indian film director, producer, actor, screenwriter and lyricist, who works in Malayalam cinema.
Vietnam Veedu Sundaram was an Indian playwright, screenwriter and film director. He wrote films such as Gauravam, Vietnam Veedu, Gnana Oli, Satyam, Grihapravesam, Justice Gopinath, Annan Oru Koyil, Naan Yen Pirandhen and Naalai Namadhe. He also directed a few films and is well known for his family themes. He written stories films in languages such as Telugu, Kannada and Hindi. He also worked as an actor in films and television.
Ramanujan is a 2014 biographical film based on the life of Indian mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan. The film, written and directed by Gnana Rajasekaran, was shot back to back in the Tamil and English languages. The film was produced by the independent Indian production house Camphor Cinema, ventured by Srivatsan Nadathur, Sushant Desai, Sharanyan Nadathur, Sindhu Rajasekaran. The cast consists of Indian and British film, stage and screen personalities. It marks the Tamil debut of Abhinay Vaddi, the grandson of veteran Tamil film actors Gemini Ganesan and Savitri, as the protagonist.
'K. Bharathi' also known as 'Marumalarchi K. Bharathi' is an Indian film director and actor who has directed village based stories.
Mogamul (transl. Infatuation) is a 1995 Indian Tamil-language film directed by Gnana Rajasekaran based on the novel of the same name by Thi. Janakiraman. The film stars Archana Joglekar, Nedumudi Venu and Abhishek, while Vivek and Vennira Aadai Moorthy play supporting roles. The score and soundtrack were composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The film was released on 14 May 1995 and won the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director.
P. Krishnamoorthy was an Indian film art director, production designer and costume designer who worked predominantly in the South Indian cinema. As of 2015, he had worked in over 55 films in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Sanskrit, Malayalam and English, and won five National Film Awards—three for Best Art Direction and two for Best Costume Design. In addition, he was the recipient of five Kerala State Film Awards and four Tamil Nadu State Film Awards. The five-time National Award winner died in Chennai on 13 December 2020, due to age related ailments.
