Vishal Kudawla (born 17 July 1984), also known as Vishnu Vishal, is an Indian actor and producer who appears in Tamil film industry. After a brief career in cricket, he started his acting career in the year 2009 playing the lead role in the sports film Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu, winning acclaim for his portrayal. Vishnu won further acclaim for his role in Neerparavai (2012), portraying a fisherman. He rose to fame with the psychological thriller film, Ratsasan (2018).[2]
After being offered a role by Anand Chakravarthy in Suseenthiran's directorial debut Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu, Vishnu spent months preparing for the role. He had to tan his body sitting for hours in the sun to get dark and look like a player and then for 3 months he trained for kabbadi matches under a coach, for five hours a day.[4] The film opened to very positive reviews, with Vishnu earning a nomination from the Vijay Awards for Best Debut Actor.[7] He had two releases in 2010, portraying an action role in the comedy Bale Pandiya and then played a rowdy from Royapuram in Drohi.[8] Featuring alongside Srikanth in the latter, Vishnu had to put on 15 kg (33 lb) to look mature for the role.[9] He subsequently worked on the comedy, Kullanari Koottam, After a year without any releases, he had two releases in 2014: the romantic comedy Mundasupatti under Thirukumaran Entertainment and the sports drama Jeeva for which he collaborated with Suseenthiran again. Both films won positive reviews and performed well at the box office.[10]
In 2015, he appeared in the science and fiction comedy Indru Netru Naalai directed by R.Ravikumar. The movie was a super hit at the box office.[11] Vishnu had two releases in 2016. His first release of the year was also his first production venture, the comedy film Velainu Vandhutta Vellaikaaran directed by Ezhil, with Nikki Galrani in the female lead. The movie was one of the most profitable ventures at the box office. His final release of the year was Maveeran Kittu, a period drama set in the 1980s. Despite receiving positive reviews, the movie did well at the box office. He finished shooting for Seenu Ramasamy's Idam Porul Yaeval.[12] His next films are Katha Nayagan (2017), Raatchasan (2018) and Silukkuvarupatti Singam (2018) directed by a first time film maker, Chella.
In 2021, the Prabhu Solomon's Kaadan has received mixed reviews from the audience and critics alike.[13] Vishnu Vishal is known for his choice of scripts in different genres that make every film of his unique for his fans. His FIR (2022) too follows in the same vein touching the sensitive issue of branding muslims as terrorist. Vishnu Vishal has delivered one of his best performances.[14]The, which is to hit screens on February 11, 2022 gets banned in Malaysia, Ku
| Year | Film | Role | Notes | Ref(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu | Marimuthu | Won Edison Award for Best Debut Actor Nominated, Vijay Award for Best Debut Actor |
[21] |
| 2010 | Bale Pandiya | Pandiyan | [22] | |
| Drohi | Karunakaran | [23] | ||
| 2011 | Kullanari Koottam | Vetri | [24] | |
| 2012 | Neerparavai | Arulappasamy | Nominated, SIIMA Award for Best Actor | [25] |
| 2014 | Mundasupatti | Gopi | [26] | |
| Jeeva | Jeeva | [27] | ||
| 2015 | Idam Porul Yaeval | Aasaithambi | Unreleased | [28] |
| Indru Netru Naalai | Elango | [29] | ||
| 2016 | Velainu Vandhutta Vellaikaaran | Murugan | Also producer | [30] |
| Maaveeran Kittu | Krishnakumar (Kittu) | [31] | ||
| 2017 | Katha Nayagan | Thambidurai | Also producer | [32] |
| 2018 | Ratsasan | Arun Kumar | [33] | |
| Silukkuvarupatti Singam | Sathyamoorthy (Sakthi) | Also producer | [34] | |
| 2021 | Kaadan | Maaran | Bilingual film (Tamil & Telugu) | [35] |
| Aranya | Singa | [36] | ||
| 2022 | FIR | Irfan Ahmed/ FIR | Also producer | [37] |
| Mohandas | Filming |