A bodybuilder, journalist, actor and a politician - South star Sarathkumar is a multi-faceted artiste. He was crowned with the title of 'Mr Madras University' in 1974. He ventured into cinema shortly after, and started out by playing negative characters. Soon, he created a mark for himself as a hero and is now celebrated for his brilliant supporting roles. He has acted in multiple languages like Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.
From Sooriyan IPS, Ayya, Thirunavukkarasu to Kanchana, Sarathkumar has been flawless in most of his performances. Some of his most popular films include A Venkatesh’s Maha Prabhu, director Hari’s Aiyya, KS Ravikumar’s Samudhiram, Meena and Khusbu starrer Nattamai, Chennaiyil Oru Naal.
As the actor celebrates his birthday on 14 July, here are some films that you should watch if you are new to the Sarathkumar world.
Surya Vamsam (1997)
In the long list of films in which Sarathkumar played double roles of the father and son, Surya Vamsam tops the chart.
The film is a one-of-a-kind ‘rags to riches’ story. Sarathkumar, in fact, became the 'Ambassador of Inspiration' in 1997, and for years to come he was referred to as ‘Chinraasu’ from Surya Vamsam. SA Rajkumar’s music was a major reason for the film’s success.The film was remade in multiple languages. In Hindi it was titled Sooryavanshi and starred Amitabh Bachchan in the lead.
Surya Vamsam is streaming on SunNxt.
Kanchana (2011)
Sarathkumar plays the titular role in this Tamil horror-comedy. Kanchana is the sequel of Raghava Lawrence’s super hit film Muni. The story revolves around Raghava, who is possessed by Kanchana’s spirit seeking to avenge the injustice she and her family faced.
Sarathkumar’s performance as a transgender was widely appreciated and the film was remade in Hindi as Akshay Kumar-starrer Laxxmi Bomb.
Kanchana is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
Arasu (2003)
The story revolves around Thirunavukkarasu (Sarathkumar), who tries to grapple with a tragic past.
Sarathkumar’s scenes in Arasu with Pichumani (Vadivelu) and (Venu Shastri) Delhi Ganesh are celebrated even today as the ‘classic comedy’ from Kollywood.
The film stars Simran Bagga in the lead and is streaming on Sun Nxt.
Natpukkaga (1998)
The story revolves around best friends Periyaiyya (Vijaykumar) and Muthaiya (Sarathkumar) and the lengths they both go to to prove their loyalty and friendship.
Sarathkumar won the Best Actor award and Natpukkaga bagged the Best Film award in Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and Filmfare Awards South respectively. The film was remade in Telugu as Sneham Kosam and in Kannada as Diggajaru.
Natpukkaga is streaming on Aha Tamil OTT platform.
Pachaikili Muthucharam (2007)
The Gautam Vasudev Menon directorial stars Sarathkumar, Jyotika, Andrea Jeremiah and Milind Soman. The film is inspired by the Hollywood movie Derailed, and it deals with adultery and conning.
Pachaikili Muthucharam broke the monotony in Kollywood by showing the vulnerability in marriages as opposed to “couples living happily ever after”.
Gautam Vasudev Menon had mentioned it was special to him as it was the last film of his that his father saw before he passed away on 14 February that year. ‘Unakkul Naane’ and ‘Un Siripinil’ are memorable tracks composed by Harris Jayaraj.
Pachaikili Muthucharam is streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
On the work front, Sarathkumar has Mani Ratnam’s magnum opus Ponniyin Selvan, the Telugu web series Parampara 2 and Thalapathy Vijay starrer Varisu in the pipeline. He will also feature in his 150th film, The Smile Man.
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