Harish Kalyan – Climbing to the Top

Harish Kalyan is the son of film producer and audio label owner, Kalyan. Despite this, Harish’s path to success was a painful one filled with unimaginable obstacles.

He made his acting debut at the age of 20 in the controversial film Sindhu Samaveli directed by Samy. The film was met with lots of resistance and attracted largely negative reviews.

Harish then accepted a role in the film Aridhu Aridhu directed by K.R. Mathivanan, a former assistant to Shankar. This role attracted better reviews, but the film was a commercial failure.

He then got an offer to act in Sattapadi Kuttram directed by Vijay’s father, S.A. Chandrasekhar. This film also attracted very negative reviews and fizzled out at the box-office.

He then played a supporting role in the film Chandamama where Karunas played the lead role. This film and a Telugu film that followed both failed, and a dual language venture titled Guest did not have a theatrical release.

He had his first taste of moderate success with the 2014 film Poriyaalan produced by Vettrimaran and directed by Thanukumar.

He then landed a lead role in Suseendran’s Vil Ambu. This enjoyed moderate success and brought him enough recognition that led to him being a contestant on Vijay TV’s Big Boss hosted then by Kamalhaasan.

His popularity on this TV show led to him being cast in Yuvanshankar Raja’s home production, Pyar Prema Kaadhal where Harish played the lead role opposite Raiza Wilson, who had been a fellow contestant on Big Boss. This role won him a lot of critical praise.

He successfully attempted a different role in Ispade Rajavum Idhaya Raniyum and won a lot of critical acclaim for the way he portrayed the rugged and tough character.

He then shared the lead in Dhanusu Raasi Neyargale with Sanjay Bharathi, the son of director, Sandhanabharathi. This movie was also well received.

The turning point in his career came with the success of his film Dharala Prabhu directed by newcomer Krishna Marimuthu. This led to him signing on to play the lead in Chimbu Deven’s Kasada Thapara, Kaarthikk Sundar’s Oh Mana Penne and M.S. Dhoni’s home production, Let’s Get Married, the last mentioned film getting very negative reviews.

After Dharalla Prabhu, Harish Kalyan’s next major hit film was the 2023 film Parking in which Ramkumar Balakrishnan made his debut as a writer and director. This film opened up new markets for Harish.

He followed this with another blockbuster film – Lubber Pandhu – directed by another newcomer, Thamizharasan Pachamuthu. This was a film that recently won 5 Vikatan awards.

Harish’s other passion is music. He worked on two independent tracks before releasing in 2016 his first independent song where he wrote the lyrics and performed the vocals. Titled I’m Single, the song had music by L.V. Muthukumarasamy.

Harish Kalyan’s forthcoming films include Sasi’s Nooru Kodi Vanavil where he plays a dual role as well as Shanmugam Muthusamy’s action drama, Diesel.

Harish Kalyan turns 35 today.