Vinayagar Sundar Vel (born 21 January 1968), known professionally as Sundar C., is an Indian film director, actor and producer. He has directed over 34 films in Tamil and acted in over nineteen movies as the protagonist.
His notable films include Ullathai Allitha (1996), Arunachalam (1997), Unnai Thedi (1999), Anbe Sivam (2003), Winner (2003), Giri (2004), Kalakalappu (2012), Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru (2013), Aranmanai (2014), Aambala (2015) and Kalakalappu 2 (2018).
Sundar C is one of the few directors who directed Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan (in Arunachalam (1997) and Anbe Sivam (2003), respectively).
He took a short break from direction, after his initial launch as an actor in 2006, with the film Thalai Nagaram, which became a commercial success.[3][4] He returned to direction with his trade mark comedy roller coaster in the movie Kalakalappu in 2012 and it went on to become a success.
His successful career as a director continued with the 2014 Aranmanai film series.
He also produced the TV series Nandini (2017-2018), along with his wife ( the actress Khushbu) aired on Sun TV. He also produced movies like Hello Naan Pei Pesuren (2016), Meesaya Murukku (2017), Natpe Thunai (2019), Naan Sirithal (2020) and Naanga Romba Busy (2020).
Sundar C started his career as an assistant director to Manivannan and made his directorial debut with the movie Murai Maman (1995). Sundar revealed that he initially wanted a leading action hero to play the lead role in his film and approached Sarathkumar, but the producer was unable to sign the actor. Subsequently, the director chose Jayaram to play the lead role in the film and also said that he tapped into his innate sense of humour, as Jayaram was very famous for his humour in Malayalam.[5] Murai Maman did well at the box office and Sundar went on to direct many humour themed films such as Ullathai Allitha (1996), Mettukudi (1996) and Unakkaga Ellam Unakkaga (1999) with Karthik. In 1997, he directed his highest-profile project till date, Arunachalam, with Rajinikanth. He has also occasionally directed action and thriller films such as Unnai Kann Theduthey (2000), Rishi (2001) and Chinna (2005).[6][7] His favourite heroine was actress Rambha; as a Director he made her as his lead heroine in his 6 movies.
In the late 1990s, Sundar C had a brief career slump, where several of his films became stuck or did not have a theatrical release. Projects including collaborations with Karthik in Athai Magan featuring Ramya Krishnan, Kadhal Solla Vanthen featuring Isha Koppikar, and Vaazhkkai Vaazhvatharkke were affected.[8][9] Likewise, a proposed projects titled Paarvai with Jayaram and Khushbu, was also shelved.[10][11]
In 2003, he directed two films Anbe Sivam and Winner. Winner was successful and the comedy scenes from that film became hugely popular. However, Anbe Sivam, despite being critically acclaimed, under performed at the box office, but became a cult classic. Anbe Sivam remains his only humane realism movie till today out of his regular commercial cinema genre.[12] After directing Rendu (2006), Sundar took a break from directing in order to concentrate on his acting career. He made his acting debut as lead actor with Thalai Nagaram (2006), which was well received. Then he went on to play lead roles with the commercially successful Veerappu (2007), directed by Badri and Sandai (2008) by Sakthi Chidambaram. He then made a comeback as a director with Nagaram Marupakkam (2010).
In 2012, written and directed Madha Gaja Raja but the film remains unreleased. Following Kalakalappu in 2012, he directed film like Theeya Velai Seiyyanum Kumaru (2013), Aranmanai (2014), Aranmanai 2 (2016) and Kalakalappu 2 (2018). He acted in lead role in the horror thriller, Iruttu (2019) directed by V. Z. Durai. The film was released to positive reviews.[13] And directed Vishal's film, Action (2019).[14] His next release as a director and actor is Aranmanai 3, produced by Avni Cinemax , with his own production house. The film makes highly positive reviews from critics and becomes a Hat-trick hit of his Aranmanai series.[15] And he also signed a new films as an lead actor in an untitled film with Kattappava Kanom fame Mani Seiyon,[16] and Thalai Nagaram 2 with V. Z. Durai. A sequel to the successful film Thalai Nagaram (2006).[17]
| Year | Film | Role | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | Vaazhkai Chakkaram | Constable | Cameo appearance | [18] |
| 1995 | Murai Maman | Panchayat villager | Cameo appearance | [19] |
| 1997 | Arunachalam | Reporter | Cameo appearance | [20] |
| 2006 | Thalai Nagaram | Subramaniam (Right) | Lead debut | [21] |
| 2007 | Veerappu | Pulippandi | [22] | |
| 2008 | Sandai | Kathiresan (Kaththi) | [23] | |
| Aayudham Seivom | Saidai Sathya | [24] | ||
| 2009 | Perumal | Perumal | [25] | |
| Thee | ACP Sarathy (Samy) | [26] | ||
| Aiyantham Padai | Prabhakaran | [27] | ||
| 2010 | Guru Sishyan | Eeti | [28] | |
| Vaadaa | Vetrivel | [29] | ||
| Nagaram Marupakkam | Selvam | [30] | ||
| 2012 | Murattu Kaalai | Kaalaiyan | [31] | |
| 2014 | Ninaithathu Yaaro | Himself | Cameo appearance | [32] |
| Aranmanai | Ravi | [33] | ||
| 2016 | Aranmanai 2 | Ravi | [34] | |
| Muthina Kathirikai | Muthupandi | [35] | ||
| 2019 | Action | Passenger | Cameo appearance | [36] |
| Iruttu | Inspector Chezhiyan | [37] | ||
| 2021 | Aranmanai 3 | Ravi | [38] | |
| 2022 | Pattampoochi  |
Inspector Kumaran | Completed | [39] |
| Vallaan |
TBA | Post-production | [40] | |
| Thalai Nagaram 2 |
TBA | Filming | [17] | |
| One 2 One |
TBA | Filming | [41] |
| Year | Film | Song | Composer | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Sandai | "Vaadee En Kappakezhungu" | Dhina | |
| 2010 | Guru Sishyan | "Subbaiyaa Subbaiyaa" | Sung with Sathyaraj |
Main article: Avni Cinemax
| Year | Film | Cast | Director |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Hello Naan Pei Pesuren | Vaibhav Reddy, Aishwarya Rajesh, Oviya, Karunakaran | S. Bhaskar |
| 2017 | Meesaya Murukku | Hip Hop Adhi, Aathmika, Vivek, Vigneshganth | Hip Hop Adhi |
| 2019 | Natpe Thunai | Hip Hop Adhi, Anagha, Karu Pazhaniyappan, Harish Uthaman | Desingu Parthiban |
| 2020 | Naan Sirithal | Hip Hop Adhi, Iswarya Menon, K. S. Ravikumar, Sha Ra | Raana |
| Naanga Romba Busy | Ashwin Kakumanu, Rittika Sen, Prasanna, Yogi Babu | Badri | |
| 2021 | Aranmanai 3 (Co Producer) | Arya, Raashi Khanna, Vivek, Andrea Jeremiah, Sakshi Agarwal | Sundar C |
| 2022 | Pattampoochi |
Sundar C, Jai, Honey Rose | Badri |
| Year | Serial | Credited as | Channel | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Producer | Writer | |||
| 2017–2018 | Nandini |  |
|
Sun TV Udaya TV |
| 2018 | Maya | |
|
Sun TV |
| 2018–2020 | Lakshmi Stores |  |
|
Sun TV Gemini TV |
| 2021 | Jothi | |
|
Sun TV |
| Year | Serial | Role | Channel |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Ninaithale Inikkum | Guest | Vendhar TV |
| 2016 | Simply Khushbu | Zee Tamil | |
| 2018 | Nandhini Kudumbam Special Show | Himself | Sun TV |
| 2019 | Vanakkam Tamizha | Guest |