Kalanjiyam | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1971-09-27)27 September 1971 (age 54) Therkkukottai,Tamil Nadu, India |
| Occupation | Film director |
| Years active | 1996–present |
Mu. Kalanjiyam is an Indian film director who has made Tamil films. A winner of theTamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Story Writer, Kalanjiyam has also featured in the lead role in his films.
Kalanjiyam's first film,Poomani (1996), featuringMurali andDevayani, won commercial and critical acclaim, and the director won theTamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Story Writer for 1996. His next venture, the rural dramaKizhakkum Merkkum, starringNapoleon with Devayani, also won positive reviews.[1] A proposed film titledSangeetha Thirunaal, produced by music composerIlaiyaraaja, was planned, but did not materialize.[2] He returned with another film,Poonthottam (1998), with the cast of his first film, but the film went unnoticed as a result of the bigger budget films released around the same time.[3] He then madeNilave Mugam Kaattu (1999), starringKarthik and Devayani, which became his fourth consecutive film with the actress, though the film was panned by critics who cited that the director "disappoints with this well-worn tale of friends sacrificing love for friendship."[4] Kalanjiyam later started other eventually shelved films titledVikadan, with Murali again, andKesavan, withSarathkumar andRambha, before going on to make thePrabhu-starrerMitta Miraasu in 2001.[5][6]
In 2002, the director resurfaced with a project titledSathamintri Muthamidu, which was set to be the launch for actor Mayur,Devayani's younger brother, and actressAnjali, though the film later failed to materialize.[7][8][9] He also began two other films with Anjali,Valiba Desam andEn Kanavu Thaanadi, though those also failed to materialize. In 2010, following actress Anjali's rise to fame, she made a goodwill gesture by agreeing to be a part of a few of Kalanjiyam's future films, noting she considered him her mentor. The director returned with his next film,Karungali in 2011, which saw himself play the lead role of a drug peddler alongside an ensemble cast includingAnjali,Sunitha Varma andAsmitha. The film opened to unanimously poor reviews, with a critic noting that the film was a "crude affair", citing that the "subject in question is too heavy and has been handled in an insensitive way, making the film come across as a cheap sex thriller."[10][11] The film was later dubbed and released in Telugu asSathi Leelavathi, with the director crediting himself under the name Prabhakaran.[12]
In 2013, it was reported that he was working on another project, titledOor Suttri Puranam, with Anjali again, with the actress suffering a freak accident on the set of the film.[13] In a turn of events, Anjali filed charges against the filmmaker, noting he had been advising her step-mother on various issues and she feared that she was being harassed by him.[14] The film has since been stalled, and Kalanjiyam subsequently sought an industry-wide ban against the actress for failing to complete the film.[15] In 2014, he worked as an actor in Kathiravan'sKodai Mazhai and landed in trouble for slapping actressSri Priyanka during the making of the film, prompting her to faint on location. He was injured in an accident in August 2014, when a car he was traveling in toppled inAndhra Pradesh, killing another passenger.[16]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Karungali | Pottalam Ravi | |
| 2016 | Kathiravanin Kodai Mazhai | ||
| 2017 | Kalavu Thozhirchalai | Irfan |
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