R Sarathkumar turns 71 today.

R. Sarathkumar turns 71 today. The star of over 150 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi, Sarathkumar has won two Tamil Nadu State awards and two Filfare Awards south in a career that spans 39 years.

After graduating from college where he represented his college in football, cricket and hockey, he took up bodybuilding and won the Mr Madras University title. He then became a journalist and then moved to Chennai to start a travel agency. There he met Kalaivanan Kannadasan and they soon collaborated in the Karthik-Ambika starrer, Kan Simittum Neram where Sarathkumar was the co-producer and also played an important role.

This led to him being cast as a villain in Vijayakanth’s blockbuster movie, Pulan Visaaranai ­– and this led to a flood of offers to Sarathkumar for similar roles.

He played his first lead role in Senthilnathan’s Palaivanna Paravaigal. It was the first of many films together.This led to him being cast as the second lead in Vijayakanth’s 100^th film, Captain Prabhakaran.

In 1990, Sarathkumar met K.S. Ravikumar for the first time on the sets of Puriyddaha Pudhir, the debut directorial of K.S. Ravikumar. It was the beginning of a close friendship. When Sarathkumar’s career began to falter in the mid-1990s, he wrote a script that would see Sarathkumar in a dual role opposite Meena and Kushbu titled Naataamai. The film was a huge success and won for Sarathkumar the Tamil Nadu State Award, The Filmfare Award and Cinema Express Award for Best Actor. The film revitalised his career.

After experiencing mixed box-office responses to his subsequent films, Sarathkumar found another blockbuster in Vikraman’s Suryavamsam – another role that won him awards from Filmfare and Cinema Express.

His 100^th film –Thalaimagan – failed at the box-office

Sarathkumar’s next major hit as solo lead was the 2005 film, Ayya. This was followed by similar success with Aei and Chanakya.

Sarathkumar continues to play supporting and lead roles. His last lead role – Smile Man (2024) – saw him in his 150^th film, but the film received negative reviews and did not fare well at the box-office.

His last released film is the current blockbuster hit, 3BHK. This was his third release for 2025 after Nesipaya and Nilavukku Enmel Ennadi Kobam.

Sathyaraj was married to Chaya Devi with whom he had two daughters – actress Varaluxmi and Pooja.  Following his much publicised affair with actress Nagma, the couple were divorced in 2000. A year after his divorce he married actress Radhika with whom he has a son, Rahul.

Sarathkumar is no stranger to controversy and has had a few public spats with prominent people. He is actively engaged in politics and launched his own political party in 2007.