SJ Suryah – A writer and director with a “Killer” attitude.

Selvaraj Justin Pandian is better known by his screen name, S.K. Suryah. He was born on 20 July 1968 in Tenkasi district.

After pursuing a tertiary qualification in Loyola College, Chennai, he tried to get into the film industry as an actor. He was taken in as an apprentice by K. Bhagyaraj. He then joined director Vassanth as an assistant director in Aasai and then as an assistant to Sabapathy in Sundhara Purushan. He also made an uncredited appearance in Bharathiraja’s Kizhakku Cheemaiyile.

Suryah then joined the team of directorial duo JD-Jerry for the film Ullasam. Ajith Kumar saw him on set and remembered him from the sets of Aasai. They began discussing a possible script and Surya then pitched the story of Vaalee to Ajith Kumar. Ajith Kumar was so impressed that he asked S.S. Chakravarthy of Nic Arts to produce the film. The film was like a breath of fresh air when it released on 30 April 1999, and firmly entrenched Suryah’s place in the film industry. Vaalee won two Filmfare Awards: Best Actor for Ajith Kumar and Best Female Debut for Jyothika.

Producer A.M. Rathnam, who was invited to the Premiere show of Vaalee, then offered to produce Suryah’s next film – This was Kushi, with Vijay and Jyothika in the lead roles. The role won for Jyothika another Filmfare Award, this time for Best Actress.

After remakes of Kushi in Telugu and Hindi, Suryah launched his third Tamil film. Titled New, it was to have starred Ajith Kumar and Jyothika, but they were both busy with other commitments and Suryah decided to fulfil his long-time ambition to become an actor and cast himself in the lead opposite Simran. The film was made simultaneously in Tamil and Telugu and became the centre of controversy when it sparked protests from various groups because the film’s adult content was seen as vulgar. Suryah defended himself and his film, maintaining that the story called for these scenes.

He then announced the commencement of two projects – Isai and Anbulla Nanbane. Isai was placed on the back-burner while Anbulla Nanbane was retitled Best Friend and then retitled to Anbe Aruyire. Once again, the adult treatment saw the film stuck with the Board of Censors and was eventually released with numerous cuts to mixed reviews. Despite this, the film went on to become a commercial success.

For the next two years, Suryah underwent a challenging period when many of his films were commenced and shelved, some without even commencing shooting.

Suryah then began to accept acting assignments, beginning with Kalvanan Kaadhali opposite Nayanthara and his first dual role in Viyabari.

After suffering numerous delays, he re-launched the film Isai, choosing to score the music himself. Sathyaraj played the antagonist and the film received mixed reviews.

Then began the next acting innings for S.J.Suryah, beginning with his role in Karthik Subbaraj’s Iraivi for which he was nominated for a national award. He played the protagonist in Monster opposite Priya Bhavani Shankar.

He continued to play powerful roles with his quirky portrayals of complex characters in films like Selvaraghavan’s Nenjam Marapathillai, Venkat Prabhu’s Maanaadu, Sivakarthikeyan’s Don and Adhik Ravichandran’s Mark Anthony. He often has the ability to take fairly ordinary lines and turn it into something special and memorable.

SJ Surya will next be seen in Love Insurance Kompany and Sardar 2 before returning to film direction and playing the lead role in the film Killer that will be released in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi.

S.J. Suryah turns 57 today.