Karthi turns 48 today

Karthi is the son of veteran actor Sivakumar and the younger brother of actor Suriya. After graduating as an engineer in Chennai, Karthi found employment locally but was not satisfied, and then accepted a scholarship for higher studies at Binghamton University in New York.

On returning to India, Karthi began his film career as an assistant director to Maniratnam in the film Aaayudha Ezhuthu in which he played an uncredited cameo.

Persuaded by his father to accept acting roles, Karthi made his official debut in the lead role of Ameer’s Paruthi Veeran which was a runaway success, but released more than two years after its commencement. Apart from the positive comments from film critics, Karthi also won the Filmfare Award for best Actor for his role in Paruthi Veeran.

In 2006 he signed to star in a romance directed by Selvaraagavan, but this project was subsequently shelved and replaced with the fantasy adventure, Aayirathil Oruvan. Once again, the film suffered numerous and expensive delays which led Karthi to postpone or cancel other offers, including multiple postponements of Paiya.

Aayirathil Oruvan and Paiya released within a short period of each other, the former gaining critical praise but faltering at the box-office. Paiya turned out to be a winner for Karthi. Both these films earned him Filmfare nominations for Best Actor.

He enjoyed more success with his next film, Naan Mahaan Alla, directed by Suseenthiran and played his first dual role under Siva’s direction in the commercially successful Siruthai.

His next film, Saguni bombed at the box-office and his luck was no better with his much hyped Alex Pandian.

Karthi was hoping to change the trend with his romantic comedy, All in All Azhagu Raja, but the film had largely negative reviews and limped at the box-office. (Personal note: I loved the film and cannot understand how it failed at the box-office)

The following year – in 2014 – Karthi regained his form with his brilliant performance in Pa. Ranjith’s action drama, Madras. He followed this with the commercially successful Kombain and his much praised role with Nagarjunna in the bilingual project, Thozha.

Kashmora was an experimental film that did not really enjoy much success and his first film under Maniratnam’s direction – Kaatru Velliyidai – received negative reviews and bombed at the box-office.

Karthi bounced back by winning another Filmfare Award for Best Actor for his powerful role in H. Vinoth’s Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru – a huge box-office success.

Karthi’s collaboration with director Pandiraj – Kadaikutty Singam – was a moderate success, but his film for debutante Rajath Ravishankar – titled Dev was a colossal failure at the box-office and received very negative reviews.

Until this point, Karthi had had an unsteady career, but then came the biggest hit of his career – his film for director Lokesh Kanagaraj, Kaithi, which was the forerunner of Kamalhaasan’s Vikram and the beginning of the Lokesh Cinematic Universe.

Karthi had moderate success with Sulthan and Viruman but once again showed his resilience by widely lauded performances in Ponniyin Selvan 1 & 2.

He played father and son in the commercially successful Sardar which has a sequel scheduled to release later this year. His next film, Japan, did not fare well at the box-office, but his last released film – Meiyyazhagan – was a huge box-office hit and a widely praised role.

He will next be seen in Sardar 2 and Vaa Vathiyaar and will commence work on the sequel to Kaithi in February 2026.

Karthi is an active and vocal member of the Nadigar Sangam and is involved in numerous charity work. He is married to Ranjani and they have two children.