Sivakarthikeyan – Namma Veetu Pillai

The rise to fame of Sivakarthikeyan is an inspirational one. Like Rajinikanth, Sivakarthikeyan had many challenges in his career and has slowly worked himself up to his current position as one of the leading actors in his tier.

Sivakarthikeyan was born on 17 February 1985 in the Sivagangai district to G Doss, a jail superintendent and Rajji Doss, a housewife. Doss passed away suddenly when Sivakarthikeyan was only 17, an incident that left the teenager broken and powerless.

His life took a turn at college while studying for a Bachelors’ Degree in Computer Science Engineering as he took an interest in mimicry and stand-up comedy – first with his friends and then at college events. This led to him auditioning on Vijay TV for the reality show Kalakka Povathu Yarau.

After winning the show at Vijay TV, he was retained as an achor and acted in a few short films before being offered a role in Ajithkumar’s 2008 film, Aegan. Despite shooting for the film, the scene was eventually omitted from the final cut.

He was then signed on by Aishwarya Rajinikanth-Dhanush to play a small role in her directorial debut, 3 but delays in the release of that film saw his second signing – Pandiraj’s Marina ­– release first, which was his first major role. His first solo lead role was in  Ezhil’s Manam Kothi Parravai.

Despite the box-office success of his third film, Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga, he was still seen by many as a TV anchor trying to be an actor. The success of Edhir Neechal produced by Dhanush and directed by R.S. Durai Senthilkumar opened up a bigger market for his film.

He also enjoyed success with his subsequent film, Varuthapadatha Vaalibar Sangam, the film that marked his debut as a playback singer. This film was his first 100-day run.

Sivakarthikeyan subsequently won the Vijay Tv Entertainer of the Year award and this boosted the success of his subsequent films – AR Murugadoss’s Maan Karate and his second film for Durai Sendhilkumar, Khaki Sattai.

After Rajini Murugan and Remo, came the turning point in his career – Mohan Raja’s Velaikaaran. It was after the release of this film that Sivakarthikeyan himself saw his ballooning star power and he took a decision to clean up his on-screen image, realising that there were many children

In 2018, Sivakarthikeyan established his own production company, Sivakarthikeyan Productions and the first film under this banner was Kanaa, thefilm that marked the directorial debut of Arunraja Kamaraj,

Sivakarthikeyan’s 2021 film, Doctor was his own production and became his first 100-crore film, redefining the dark humour genre for Tamil cinema and opening up new markets for him.

Sivakarthikeyan replicated this success with his next film, Don for Cibi Chakravarthy in his directorial debut. This film became his second 100-crore film.

This trend was broken by Prince which, despite having all the ingredients of a successful entertainer, bombed at the box-office. He bounced back with his first collaboration with director Madonne Ashwin, with the film Maaveeran, This was followed by the long-delayed science fiction entertainer, Ayalaan which raked in 96 crores worldwide.

Sivakarthikeyan struck solid gold with his 2024 film, Amaran, a biopic on the life and death of military hero, Major Mukund Varadarajan. His preparation for the role and the intensity of his performance played a significant role in the film’s stupendous success at the box-office. The film was produced by Kamalhaasan and recently celebrated 100 days on circuit.

What has endeared Sivakarthikeyan to audiences is his humility which remains unchanged despite all his success in the field. He is a role model for many people, having worked his way up from nothing to the level of success he currently enjoys. He currently has two projects on hand – Madharasi for director AR Murugadoss and the other, a period drama for Sudha Kongara, titled Parasakthi.

We hope you enjoy the songs we have selected to commemorate Sivakarthikeyan’s birthday.