Karthik Subbaraj | |
|---|---|
 Karthik at Iraivi Press Meet in 2016 | |
| Born | 19 March 1983 [1] Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Alma mater | Thiagarajar College of Engineering |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2012–present |
| Spouse | Sathya Prema (m. 2011) |
| Relatives | Gajaraj (Father) |
Karthik Subbaraj is an Indian film director, screenwriter and film producer working mainly in Tamil cinema.
Karthik did his schooling in SBOA Matriculation and Higher Secondary School, Madurai after which he went on to study mechatronics at Thiagarajar College of Engineering. During his college days he performed stage shows and skits. [3] His father, Gajaraj, is an actor who has acted in many supporting roles in films like Mundasupatti and Kabali . [4]
He made the short film "Kaatchipizhai" in Madurai, which was selected for Nalaya Iyakunar. [5]
Karthik had intended to direct Jigarthanda first but could not fund the project. He then came up with the story for the low-budget Pizza . The film was a commercial success, remade in Hindi, Bengali and Kannada. [6] This allowed him the opportunity to make Jigarthanda, which received positive reviews and earned actor Bobby Simha a national award. [7] Subbaraj was praised by S. Shankar and Mani Ratnam. [8] [9]
His third movie, Iraivi (2016), received positive reviews, and Subbaraj was praised for the film's portrayal of society's treatment of women. The movie also observed the various ways men's attitudes and behaviors impact women throughout life. He also showcased the pain he gothrough from the producer of his second film, through the character of S. J. Suryah. He then went on and directed a silent thriller, Mercury (2018), starring Prabhu Deva in the lead, which was not a commercial success. [10] He produced Kallachirippu , a web series under his banner Stone Bench Creations. [11]
Subbaraj directed the action drama Petta (2019) with Rajinikanth's 166th film. He also produced the Amazon original movie Penguin starring Keerthy Suresh in the lead role. [12]
He produced the Hotstar Originals web series Triples starring Jai and Vani Bhojan. [13] He also directed Vikram’s starrer Mahaan which was directly premiered on Amazon Prime Video. [14]
He then directed Miracle, a short film for the Amazon Prime anthology film Putham Pudhu Kaalai (2020), [15] and Project Agni, an episode for the Netflix anthology web series Navarasa (2021). In 2021, Karthik directed Jagame Thandhiram , which received mixed reviews.
His next film was the 2022 film Mahaan . In 2023, he went on to direct Jigarthanda DoubleX .
Vivek MV of Deccan Herald notes that Karthik's directorial films usually have plot twists, needledropping of songs composed by Ilaiyaraaja, and flamboyance inspired by Quentin Tarantino's films. Karthik, however, has stated that he prefers not to associate with any particular filmmaking style as he seeks to reinvent himself with every new film, noting how he intentionally avoided including a plot twist in Jagame Thandhiram which disappointed some audiences. [16]
| † | Denotes films that have not yet been released |
| Year | Title | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Pizza | ||
| 2014 | Jigarthanda | ||
| 2015 | Bench Talkies | Segment: Neer | |
| 2016 | Iraivi | ||
| 2018 | Mercury | ||
| 2019 | Petta | ||
| 2020 | Putham Pudhu Kaalai | Segment: Miracle Released on Amazon Prime Video | |
| 2021 | Jagame Thandhiram | Released on Netflix | [17] |
| Navarasa | Netflix original series; segment: Peace | [18] | |
| 2022 | Mahaan | Released on Amazon Prime Video | [14] |
| 2023 | Jigarthanda DoubleX | [19] [20] | |
| 2025 | Suriya 44 † | Filming | |
| Year | Title | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Aviyal | ||
| 2017 | Meyaadha Maan | ||
| 2018 | Kallachirippu | ZEE5 original series | |
| 2020 | Penguin | Released on Amazon Prime Video | |
| Triples | Hotstar original series | ||
| 2021 | Boomika | Released on Star Vijay & Netflix | [21] |
| 2022 | Attention Please | Malayalam film; as presenter | [22] |
| Buffoon | |||
| Ammu | Telugu film released on Amazon Prime Video | [23] | |
| Year | Title | Credited as | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Writer | ||||
| 2024 | Game Changer † | Story | Filming; Telugu Film | |
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| Santhosh Narayanan |  | | | | | | | | |
| Gajaraj | | | | | | | | ||
| Vivek Harshan | | | | | | | |||
| Bobby Simha | | | | | | ||||
| Ramachandran Durairaj | | | | | | ||||
| Aadukalam Naren | | | | | |||||
| Sananth | | | | (uncredited) | |||||
| Vijay Sethupathi | | (cameo) | | | |||||
| Vettai Muthukumar | | | | ||||||
| Deepak Paramesh | | | | ||||||
| Karunakaran | | | | |
Siddharth Suryanarayan, known mononymously as Siddharth, is an Indian actor who primarily works in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi language films. Apart from acting, he has also been involved in films as a screenwriter, producer and playback singer. He has also been featured in many advertisements.
A. Venkatesh is an Indian film director and actor working in Tamil cinema. Beginning his career as an assistant, he directed his first film, Mahaprabhu, in 1996.
YNOT Studios is an Indian film production company in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, established by producer S. Sashikanth. As of 2023, the company has produced 21 feature films, which includes productions made in the Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi film industries of India. It has collaborated with filmmakers including Sudha Kongara, Balaji Mohan, Pushkar–Gayathri and Karthik Subbaraj.
Jigarthanda (transl. Cold-heart) is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language crime comedy film written and directed by Karthik Subbaraj and produced by S. Kathiresan. The film stars Siddharth, Lakshmi Menon and Bobby Simha, with Karunakaran and Guru Somasundaram in supporting roles. Gavemic U. Ary was the cinematographer, making his debut in Tamil cinema, and Vivek Harshan was the editor. Santhosh Narayanan composed the songs and background score.
Jayasimha, better known as Bobby Simha, is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Tamil and Telugu films. After making brief appearances in the films Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi and Pizza (2012), he portrayed a kidnapper in Nalan Kumarasamy's Soodhu Kavvum and a comic villain in Alphonse Putharen's Neram. Simha's subsequent performance as the Madurai gangster Sethu in Karthik Subbaraj's Jigarthanda (2014) won him critical acclaim and the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor.
Vivek Harshan is an Indian film editor who works predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films. He has frequently collaborated with Amal Neerad, M. Rajesh, and Karthik Subbaraj since the beginning of their careers. Big B (2007), Jigarthanda (2014), Iyobinte Pusthakam (2014), Iraivi (2016), Varathan (2018), and Bheeshma Parvam (2022) are some of his notable works. He won the National Film Award for Best Editing in 2014 for Jigarthanda.
Rajakumar is an Indian actor, who has worked in Tamil films. Rajakumar debuted in Balaji Tharaneetharan's critically acclaimed Naduvula Konjam Pakkatha Kaanom (2012), Rajakumar has since appeared in pivotal roles in films including Naveena Saraswathi Sabatham (2013) and Naalu Policeum Nalla Irundha Oorum (2015).
Iraivi (transl. Goddess) is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language crime drama film written and directed by Karthik Subbaraj and produced by C. V. Kumar, K. E. Gnanavel Raja and Abinesh Elangovan under their banners Thirukumaran Entertainment, Studio Green and Abi & Abi Pictures, respectively. The film features an ensemble cast with S. J. Surya, Vijay Sethupathi, Bobby Simha, Kamalinee Mukherjee, Anjali, and Pooja Devariya playing leading roles. The plot revolves around three financially struggling men try to overcome their problems, by getting involved in criminal activities though not realising the impact their efforts are having on the women in their lives.
Joseph George, better known as Joju George, is an Indian actor, playback singer, director and producer who primarily works in Malayalam cinema.
Mercury is a 2018 Indian horror thriller film written and directed by Karthik Subbaraj. It stars an ensemble cast including Prabhu Deva, Sananth Reddy, Remya Nambeesan, Indhuja Ravichandran, Deepak Paramesh, Shashank Purushotham, and Anish Padmanabhan, amongst others. Subbaraj presented the film under his own production banner Stone Bench Creations, whilst Jayantilal Gada of Pen India Limited distributed and co-produced the film. It is about the story of five friends who were terrorised by the ghost of a victim, maimed from mercury poisoning.
Deepak Paramesh is an Indian actor, who has appeared in Tamil language films.
Jagame Thandhiram is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by Karthik Subbaraj and produced by YNOT Studios and Reliance Entertainment. The film stars Dhanush, James Cosmo, Joju George, Aishwarya Lekshmi and Kalaiyarasan. It marks the Indian film debut of Cosmo and the Tamil debut of George. In the film, a gangster from Madurai is recruited to help a British crime lord take down a rival, but later gets caught off guard by the moral dilemmas that follow.
Chakravarthy Ramachandra is an Indian film producer who has worked on Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam-language films. After beginning his career as an independent producer, he joined YNOT Studios as its CEO.
Putham Pudhu Kaalai is a 2020 Indian Tamil-language anthology film, consisting of five short film segments, directed by Sudha Kongara, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Suhasini Maniratnam, Rajiv Menon, and Karthik Subbaraj. The film features an ensemble cast of Jayaram, Kalidas Jayaram, Shruti Haasan, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Andrea Jeremiah, Bobby Simha, M. S. Bhaskar, Ritu Varma, Urvashi, Suhasini Maniratnam, Anu Haasan, Kathadi Ramamurthy, Komalam Charuhasan, Gurucharan C, Leela Samson, Sharath Ravi and Vettai Muthukumar among others. The film was entirely shot during the COVID-19 pandemic in India and was set against the backdrop of the country's 21-day lockdown in March 2020. The film was released on Amazon Prime Video on 16 October 2020. A sequel titled Putham Pudhu Kaalai Vidiyaadhaa released in 2022.
Jagame Thandhiram is the eleven-song soundtrack album composed by Santhosh Narayanan for the 2021 Tamil film of the same name, starring Dhanush and directed by Karthik Subbaraj. Continuing his association with Subbaraj after Anirudh Ravichander being roped in for Petta, the film also marks Santhosh's third collaboration with Dhanush after Kodi, Vada Chennai and Karnan. The album which featured lyrics written by Vivek, Dhanush, Arivu, Anthony Daasan and Madurai Babaraj was released by Sony Music India on 6 June 2021.
Mahaan is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film directed by Karthik Subbaraj and produced by S. S. Lalit Kumar under Seven Screen Studio. It stars Vikram and Dhruv Vikram, alongside Simran, Bobby Simha, Sananth, Vettai Muthukumar, Deepak Paramesh and Aadukalam Naren. The film revolves around Gandhi Mahaan's journey from a commerce teacher to a liquor baron, but his journey takes a twist when his son Dadabhai Naoroiji, an extremist Gandhian, vows revenge on Gandhi Mahaan for violating the Gandhian principles and abandoning his family.
Teejay Arunasalam is British playback singer and actor who has worked in Indian cinema, particularly Tamil language films. After making his acting debut in the Tamil film Asuran (2019) alongside Dhanush, he has also appeared in significant roles in Thatrom Thookrom (2020), anthology web series Putham Pudhu Kaalai Vidiyaadhaa (2022), and in Pathu Thala (2023) with Silambarasan.
Stone Bench Creations is an Indian film production company based in Chennai, India. It was established in 2016 by Indian director Karthik Subbaraj. As of 2023, the company has produced 16 feature films, including productions made in the Tamil and Malayalam film industries. It has collaborated and been produced with filmmakers including Rathna Kumar, Karthik Subbaraj, Ponram, Ashok Veerappan and Malayalam film director Jithin Issac Thomas. The production company made its debut with the film Bench Talkies. Stone Bench also produced more than five original content for the streaming services Netflix, Amazon Prime, ZEE5, Disney+ Hotstar and SonyLIV. Stone Bench also presents other language films in Tamil Nadu, including 777 Charlie.
Jigarthanda DoubleX is a 2023 Indian Tamil-language action drama film written and directed by Karthik Subbaraj and jointly produced by him, Kaarthekeyen Santhanam, S. Kathiresan and Alankar Pandian under Stone Bench Films, Five Star Creations and Invenio Origin. The film is a spiritual successor and prequel to Jigarthanda (2014) and stars Raghava Lawrence, S. J. Suryah and Nimisha Sajayan. Set in the 1970s, it revolves around an upcoming policeman trying to kill a gangster by going undercover as a filmmaker.
Suriya 44 is the working title of an upcoming Indian Tamil-language film written, directed, and co-produced by Karthik Subbaraj. The film stars Suriya and Pooja Hegde in the lead roles, alongside Jayaram, Joju George, Karunakaran, Sujith Shankar, Thamizh, Ramachandran Durairaj, Prem Kumar, Sandeep Raj and Remya Suresh.
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