Karthi (born Karthik Sivakumar on 25 May 1977) is an Indian film actor, who works in the Tamil film industry. The youngest son of actor Sivakumar, Karthi holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering
and a Master's degree in Industrial Engineering. Since he had always
wanted to become a film director, he returned to India and joined Mani Ratnam as an assistant director. He was offered acting roles and made his acting debut in Paruthiveeran in 2007 as the titular character, a careless village rowdy, winning critical acclaim and several accolades including the Filmfare Award for Best Actor and a Tamil Nadu State Film Award. His next role was that of a coolie in Aayirathil Oruvan (2010), a fantasy-adventure film directed by Selvaraghavan. He achieved consecutive commercial successes with his subsequent releases – Paiyaa (2010), Naan Mahaan Alla (2010) and Siruthai (2011), which established him in the Tamil film industry.
Apart from his film career, Karthi has also been involved in social welfare activities, encouraging fans to do likewise through the "Makkal Nala Mandram", a social welfare club that he inaugurated. In 2011, he became a cause ambassador to promote awareness of lysosomal storage disease.
Early life
Karthi was born on 25 May 1977 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. He was educated at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan, and later at St. Bede's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School, Chennai. He gained a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from the Crescent Engineering College, Chennai. After graduating, he worked as an Engineering consultant in Chennai and considered higher studies abroad. "I was earning about INR 5000, per month and found the work monotonous. That was when I thought, I should do something more", he recalls. Karthi got a scholarship for his higher studies in the United States, and enrolled at Binghamton University, New York, where he earned his Masters of Science in Industrial Engineering. While pursuing his masters, he also attended lectures on filmmaking.
He worked part–time as a graphic designer in New York for a short period, then decided to pursue a career in film–making.He attended two courses in basic film–making at State University of New York before entering films. He stated, "I always knew I wanted to be in films but I did not know exactly what I wanted to do. I loved movies and watched a lot of them. But my father insisted that I get a good education before I joined the film industry".
Career
2007: Debut success
When Karthi returned to India, he met director Mani Ratnam, who offered him the role of Arjun (later played by Siddharth) in the film Aayutha Ezhuthu. He declined the offer and worked as an assistant director on the same film and its Hindi version Yuva because he wanted to become a film director and preferred directing to acting. He continued to receive acting offers and his father convinced him to take up acting, telling him " ... one can always direct films but one will not get a chance to act once you grow older". He accepted his first acting assignment in April 2005. Ameer Sultan approached him to play the titular character in the film Paruthiveeran and He accepted the offer because the film was " ... so compelling". The film was released in July 2005 and experienced financial difficulties, and was almost abandoned by mid–2006. It was released in January 2007, opened to critical acclaim and became commercially successful.
Critics unanimously praised Karthi's portrayal of a careless village rowdy. Behindwoods said: "He has done away with every trace of sophistication in his body language and even handles the sickle with consummate ease. He looks every inch a hot blooded youngster from some rural part of Tamil Nadu [and] appears seasoned in the romantic scenes ... Uninformed people might not believe that this is the young man’s big screen debut. Look out for this guy ... ". Sify said: "It’s hard to believe that it is Karthi’s debut film as he is just spectacular. His expressions, anger, laughter and anguish are all so realistic that you can feel the fire in him." Rediff called his performance "excellent", and " ... one of the top performances of 2007". Karthi received several accolades for his performance, including the Filmfare Award for Best Actor in Tamil.
2010–present: Break after Paruthiveeran
In October 2006, Karthi signed his second project under Selvaraghavan's direction, Idhu Maalai Nerathu Mayakkam, which was supposed to be a romance film, featuring Sandhya as the female lead. Karthi's character was a " ... sophisticated upmarket stylish guy ... ". Selvaraghavan abandoned that project and in July 2007, he announced the production of a fantasy adventure called Aayirathil Oruvan with Karthi in the lead role. Filming began later that year and was expected to be completed by February 2008. The producers planned to release it in mid-2008, but production was delayed and filming continued until early 2009. He had agreed to play the lead character in Linguswamy's next film, Paiyaa, in September 2007. Because of the slow progress of Aayirathil Oruvan, Paiyaa was postponed several times. He later said that he became anxious because he received several film offers but could not work on them because he needed to maintain the continuity of his looks. He said he was " ... dying to start shooting for Paiyaa " and to " ... wear good clothes ... ". During the filming of Aayirathil Oruvan, producer Ravindran complained that Karthi was trying to change his look and move on to Paiyaa before finishing his commitments.
Aayirathil Oruvan was released in early 2010. Karthi's portrayal of a chief coolie was often compared to that in his debut film. Sify called Karthi's performance " ... a scream.", and said, "Right from his introduction scene till the end, he is lovable and provides humour.", and that he had " ... made a sensational comeback ... ".
In April 2010, Linguswamy's Paiyaa released. A romantic road–trip film, featuring a "...blockbuster album" by Yuvan Shankar Raja, it was very successful. For the first time, he enacted a character that lives in an urban area. He said that he accepted the film because he " ... desperately wanted to play a cool dude on screen". Karthi's performances in Aayirathil Oruvan and Paiyaa earned him further nominations at the 58th Filmfare Awards South in the Best Actor category. Both films were dubbed into Telugu as Yuganiki Okkadu and Aawara, respectively, and were successful.
Karthi's third 2010 film was Suseenthiran's thriller Naan Mahaan Alla, in which he played a middle class young person from Chennai whose life is disrupted when his father is killed. It received good reviews, was very popular,[42] and Karthi's performances was praised by critics. Sreedhar Pillai of Sify wrote: "[Karthi] nails the character to perfection" ... He is one good reason to see the film." Bhama Devi Ravi of Times of India wrote: " ... what a pleasure to see Karthi deliver his best performance to date ... ". Rediff wrote that "Karthi has simply had a ball ... " and "It's been a long time since you saw an actor who can be as convincing in sadness and rage, as in happiness." Naan Mahaan Alla was dubbed into Telugu and released as Naa Peru Shiva in 2011; it was very successful and earned Karthi some Telugu film offers.
Karthi's next film was the action–masala film Siruthai (2011), a remake of the 2006 Telugu film Vikramarkudu. He played two roles; a thief and a police officer. Karthi's performances received favourable reviews. Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu wrote: "Karthi looks and performs better with every film. Siruthai exemplifies the observation". Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff wrote: "But the film belongs to Rocket Raja (Karthi), the sort of adorable ruffian Tamil cinema has been missing for a while. He picks pockets, slices off handbags, charms women and even bashes (!) them up without a single jolt to his conscience." Despite gaining mixed critical response, the film achieved financial success, becoming one of the highest-grossing Tamil films of 2011. In 2011, Siruthai became Karthi's biggest commercial success, cementing his position in the Tamil film industry. Sify said that Karthi had become " ... one of the hottest stars in Kollywood". He made a special appearance in a song in K. V. Anand's Ko (2011), alongside other prominent actors from Tamil cinema.
In May 2011, Karthi began working on a film titled Saguni, directed by Shankar Dayal. Saguni is a mass masala film that " ... has striking similarity to Siruthai ... ". Furthermore he is simultaneously shooting for a film titled Alex Pandian, opposite Anushka Shetty under the direction of Suraj.
Personal life
Karthi was born to Sivakumar and his wife Lakshmi. Sivakumar is a veteran Tamil actor who has appeared in approximately 200 films. He has two siblings; an elder brother, Suriya, also a leading actor in the Tamil film industry, and a younger sister named Brindha. Former leading Tamil film actress, Jyothika Sadanah is Karthi's sister–in–law. On 3 July 2011, Karthi married Ranjani Chinnasamy, who graduated with a Masters degree in English literature from Stella Maris College, Chennai.[58] They were engaged on 29 April 2011 at Ranjani's native village, Goundampalayam in Erode District,[59] and the wedding was held at the CODISSIA trade fair complex in Coimbatore.[60] The wedding was arranged by the elders of the family.
Other work
Karthi has been involved in several charities and social service activities. On his 31st birthday, he inaugurated the Makkal Nala Mandram, in order to encourage his fans to become involved in welfare activities. During the event, Karthi donated blood, donated bicycles to handicapped people, sewing machines to women and schoolbags to children. He presented a cheque of INR 50,000 to YRG Care Centre, which helps AIDS affected children. In 2011, Karthi became a cause ambassador for promoting awareness of lysosomal storage disease. He had also adopted a white tiger cub at Vandalur Zoo and contributed INR 72,000 to protect and preserve the animal. On his birthdays, Karthi visits orphanages and donates funds to them. He told Indiaglitz; "When I see people in need, I make sure I go and help. If I am going on birthdays to reach out to kids in orphanages, it is for my own satisfaction. I feel happier to be with them and it's nice to make them smile on that particular day." On September 2010, he signed a contract with Bharti Airtel to become its brand ambassador in South India and appear in its "Indraikku enna plan" advertising campaign.
Apart from his film career, Karthi has also been involved in social welfare activities, encouraging fans to do likewise through the "Makkal Nala Mandram", a social welfare club that he inaugurated. In 2011, he became a cause ambassador to promote awareness of lysosomal storage disease.
Early life
Karthi was born on 25 May 1977 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. He was educated at Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan, and later at St. Bede's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School, Chennai. He gained a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from the Crescent Engineering College, Chennai. After graduating, he worked as an Engineering consultant in Chennai and considered higher studies abroad. "I was earning about INR 5000, per month and found the work monotonous. That was when I thought, I should do something more", he recalls. Karthi got a scholarship for his higher studies in the United States, and enrolled at Binghamton University, New York, where he earned his Masters of Science in Industrial Engineering. While pursuing his masters, he also attended lectures on filmmaking.
He worked part–time as a graphic designer in New York for a short period, then decided to pursue a career in film–making.He attended two courses in basic film–making at State University of New York before entering films. He stated, "I always knew I wanted to be in films but I did not know exactly what I wanted to do. I loved movies and watched a lot of them. But my father insisted that I get a good education before I joined the film industry".
Career
2007: Debut success
When Karthi returned to India, he met director Mani Ratnam, who offered him the role of Arjun (later played by Siddharth) in the film Aayutha Ezhuthu. He declined the offer and worked as an assistant director on the same film and its Hindi version Yuva because he wanted to become a film director and preferred directing to acting. He continued to receive acting offers and his father convinced him to take up acting, telling him " ... one can always direct films but one will not get a chance to act once you grow older". He accepted his first acting assignment in April 2005. Ameer Sultan approached him to play the titular character in the film Paruthiveeran and He accepted the offer because the film was " ... so compelling". The film was released in July 2005 and experienced financial difficulties, and was almost abandoned by mid–2006. It was released in January 2007, opened to critical acclaim and became commercially successful.
Critics unanimously praised Karthi's portrayal of a careless village rowdy. Behindwoods said: "He has done away with every trace of sophistication in his body language and even handles the sickle with consummate ease. He looks every inch a hot blooded youngster from some rural part of Tamil Nadu [and] appears seasoned in the romantic scenes ... Uninformed people might not believe that this is the young man’s big screen debut. Look out for this guy ... ". Sify said: "It’s hard to believe that it is Karthi’s debut film as he is just spectacular. His expressions, anger, laughter and anguish are all so realistic that you can feel the fire in him." Rediff called his performance "excellent", and " ... one of the top performances of 2007". Karthi received several accolades for his performance, including the Filmfare Award for Best Actor in Tamil.
2010–present: Break after Paruthiveeran
In October 2006, Karthi signed his second project under Selvaraghavan's direction, Idhu Maalai Nerathu Mayakkam, which was supposed to be a romance film, featuring Sandhya as the female lead. Karthi's character was a " ... sophisticated upmarket stylish guy ... ". Selvaraghavan abandoned that project and in July 2007, he announced the production of a fantasy adventure called Aayirathil Oruvan with Karthi in the lead role. Filming began later that year and was expected to be completed by February 2008. The producers planned to release it in mid-2008, but production was delayed and filming continued until early 2009. He had agreed to play the lead character in Linguswamy's next film, Paiyaa, in September 2007. Because of the slow progress of Aayirathil Oruvan, Paiyaa was postponed several times. He later said that he became anxious because he received several film offers but could not work on them because he needed to maintain the continuity of his looks. He said he was " ... dying to start shooting for Paiyaa " and to " ... wear good clothes ... ". During the filming of Aayirathil Oruvan, producer Ravindran complained that Karthi was trying to change his look and move on to Paiyaa before finishing his commitments.
Aayirathil Oruvan was released in early 2010. Karthi's portrayal of a chief coolie was often compared to that in his debut film. Sify called Karthi's performance " ... a scream.", and said, "Right from his introduction scene till the end, he is lovable and provides humour.", and that he had " ... made a sensational comeback ... ".
In April 2010, Linguswamy's Paiyaa released. A romantic road–trip film, featuring a "...blockbuster album" by Yuvan Shankar Raja, it was very successful. For the first time, he enacted a character that lives in an urban area. He said that he accepted the film because he " ... desperately wanted to play a cool dude on screen". Karthi's performances in Aayirathil Oruvan and Paiyaa earned him further nominations at the 58th Filmfare Awards South in the Best Actor category. Both films were dubbed into Telugu as Yuganiki Okkadu and Aawara, respectively, and were successful.
Karthi's third 2010 film was Suseenthiran's thriller Naan Mahaan Alla, in which he played a middle class young person from Chennai whose life is disrupted when his father is killed. It received good reviews, was very popular,[42] and Karthi's performances was praised by critics. Sreedhar Pillai of Sify wrote: "[Karthi] nails the character to perfection" ... He is one good reason to see the film." Bhama Devi Ravi of Times of India wrote: " ... what a pleasure to see Karthi deliver his best performance to date ... ". Rediff wrote that "Karthi has simply had a ball ... " and "It's been a long time since you saw an actor who can be as convincing in sadness and rage, as in happiness." Naan Mahaan Alla was dubbed into Telugu and released as Naa Peru Shiva in 2011; it was very successful and earned Karthi some Telugu film offers.
Karthi's next film was the action–masala film Siruthai (2011), a remake of the 2006 Telugu film Vikramarkudu. He played two roles; a thief and a police officer. Karthi's performances received favourable reviews. Malathi Rangarajan of The Hindu wrote: "Karthi looks and performs better with every film. Siruthai exemplifies the observation". Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff wrote: "But the film belongs to Rocket Raja (Karthi), the sort of adorable ruffian Tamil cinema has been missing for a while. He picks pockets, slices off handbags, charms women and even bashes (!) them up without a single jolt to his conscience." Despite gaining mixed critical response, the film achieved financial success, becoming one of the highest-grossing Tamil films of 2011. In 2011, Siruthai became Karthi's biggest commercial success, cementing his position in the Tamil film industry. Sify said that Karthi had become " ... one of the hottest stars in Kollywood". He made a special appearance in a song in K. V. Anand's Ko (2011), alongside other prominent actors from Tamil cinema.
In May 2011, Karthi began working on a film titled Saguni, directed by Shankar Dayal. Saguni is a mass masala film that " ... has striking similarity to Siruthai ... ". Furthermore he is simultaneously shooting for a film titled Alex Pandian, opposite Anushka Shetty under the direction of Suraj.
Personal life
Karthi was born to Sivakumar and his wife Lakshmi. Sivakumar is a veteran Tamil actor who has appeared in approximately 200 films. He has two siblings; an elder brother, Suriya, also a leading actor in the Tamil film industry, and a younger sister named Brindha. Former leading Tamil film actress, Jyothika Sadanah is Karthi's sister–in–law. On 3 July 2011, Karthi married Ranjani Chinnasamy, who graduated with a Masters degree in English literature from Stella Maris College, Chennai.[58] They were engaged on 29 April 2011 at Ranjani's native village, Goundampalayam in Erode District,[59] and the wedding was held at the CODISSIA trade fair complex in Coimbatore.[60] The wedding was arranged by the elders of the family.
Other work
Karthi has been involved in several charities and social service activities. On his 31st birthday, he inaugurated the Makkal Nala Mandram, in order to encourage his fans to become involved in welfare activities. During the event, Karthi donated blood, donated bicycles to handicapped people, sewing machines to women and schoolbags to children. He presented a cheque of INR 50,000 to YRG Care Centre, which helps AIDS affected children. In 2011, Karthi became a cause ambassador for promoting awareness of lysosomal storage disease. He had also adopted a white tiger cub at Vandalur Zoo and contributed INR 72,000 to protect and preserve the animal. On his birthdays, Karthi visits orphanages and donates funds to them. He told Indiaglitz; "When I see people in need, I make sure I go and help. If I am going on birthdays to reach out to kids in orphanages, it is for my own satisfaction. I feel happier to be with them and it's nice to make them smile on that particular day." On September 2010, he signed a contract with Bharti Airtel to become its brand ambassador in South India and appear in its "Indraikku enna plan" advertising campaign.
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