Arvind Swamy

Wake Forest University (MA)

Delhi Kumar (biological father)

Arvind Swamy (born 18 June 1970) is an Indian actor, film director and entrepreneur known for his work in Tamil cinema and a few Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam films. He was introduced by Mani Ratnam with Thalapathi (1991) and subsequently starred in Roja (1992), Bombay (1995), Minsara Kanavu (1997), Thani Oruvan (2015), Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (2018), Thalaivi (2023) and Meiyazhagan (2024). He made his debut as a director in the Netflix anthology series Navarasa (2021). He is a recipient of three Filmfare Award South, one Tamil Nadu State Film Award and two SIIMA Awards.

Swamy also starred in other regional film industries, including Telugu and Malayalam films where he has done films such as Mounam (1995), Daddy (1992) and Devaraagam (1996). He has also appeared in Hindi, making his debut appearance as lead actor in Saat Rang Ke Sapne (1998). He briefly worked as a television presenter as the host of the third season of Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi (2012–2016) on Star Vijay.

Early life

Aravind Swamy was born in Kumbakonam in a Tamil Brahmin family to Delhi Kumar. However, he was raised by his biological mother's sister and husband: industrialist V. D. Swamy and Bharatanatyam dancer Vasantha. Swamy studied at the Sishya School and later in Don Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School, P. S. Senior Secondary School and completed his schooling in 1987. He then graduated from Loyola College, Madras in 1990 with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. He then went to the United States to do his master's degree in international business from Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

Arvind Swamy wished to be a doctor. In college, he used to be a model for pocket money. In his Loyola Theatre Society, he wasn't well received and was asked to get off stage. Later on Mani Ratnam saw him in an advertisement and called for a meeting. Then Santosh Sivan introduced him to the basics of film-making.

Career

1991–1996: Early career and breakthrough

Swamy made his debut in Mani Ratnam's action drama film, Thalapathi (1991), where he played a young district collector pitted against a don and his own biological brother. Subsequently, Mani Ratnam signed him on to play the lead role in his 1992 political drama film Roja (1992). Roja and Bombay (1995) won awards at the State and National Film Awards. His performance in Bombay was called "soulful" by Time Magazine. Swamy has won several awards, popular and critical, for his films. He has been described as one of the first few actors in India who is able to achieve pan-Indian appeal. He lent his voice for the Tamil dubbed version of the adult Simba in Disney's The Lion King (1994). His next project was Indira (1995), followed by the Telugu film Mounam (1995) and Malayalam movie Devaraagam (1996).

1997–2000: Career challenges and sabbatical

He starred in Rajiv Menon's Minsaara Kanavu alongside Prabhu Deva and Kajol, which won four National Film Awards besides high box office reviews. During the making of the film, Arvind Swami was critical of Menon changing the script to prioritise Prabhu Deva's role. The film eventually performed well at the box office after a slow start, with Arvind Swami eventually stating he was happy to be a part of the film. His next film, Pudhayal (1997), again saw him portray a role with a cast headlined by another actor, Mammootty. In the film, Arvind wore uncharacteristically loud clothes and portrayed a comedy-oriented role for the first time in his career. Working on the two films meant that he missed out on the opportunity of acting in Mani Ratnam's Iruvar (1997). He appeared in his first Hindi film through Priyadarshan's Saat Rang Ke Sapne (1998) produced by Amitabh Bachchan. Co-starring Juhi Chawla, Arvind portrayed the role of a village do-gooder.

His final two releases before his sabbatical, En Swasa Kaatre (1999) and Raja Ko Rani Se Pyar Ho Gaya (2000) took several years to complete, with long delays during the production phase.

Swamy eventually stopped acting in films post-2000, after playing a guest role in Mani Ratnam's Alai Payuthey, and opted to concentrate on his business interests. As the director of V D Swamy and Company, he continued to engage in international trade and construction businesses. In 2000, he became the president of InterPro Global, and the chairman and managing director of Prolease India, engaged in transaction processing. He was in charge of operations and technology for the delivery of many processes across different verticals globally. He then founded Talent Maximus in 2005, a company engaged in payroll processing and temporary staffing in India. In 2005, he had an accident and injured his spine. He experienced partial paralysis of his leg and suffered in pain for many years. The treatment took another 4–5 years.

2013–present: Back to films

After his successful treatment, Mani Ratnam called him once more to play a role in one of his films, Kadal (2013) In 2013, he provided the voice-over for Santhosh Sivan's film Ceylon.

In 2015, he played the iconic negative role of Sidharth Abhimanyu in Thani Oruvan, for which he was highly praised and received positive reviews and many awards.

In 2016, he reprised the same role in Telugu in the film Dhruva with Ram Charan, a remake of Thani Oruvan, for which he got appreciation from the Telugu audience. Later that year, he appeared in a Hindi film, Dear Dad. The game show Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi recruited Swamy for its third season, which started airing on 30 May 2016.

In 2017, he played the title role of Bogan, co-starring Jayam Ravi, for which he again got an outstanding response from critics and audience.

In 2018, he acted in Bhaskar Oru Rascal, playing the character Mammootty did in the original. The film was followed by Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (2018). The film was released to positive reviews which also got him the Filmfare Award.

In 2021, he acted in A. L. Vijay's directorial biographical-political drama Thalaivii opposite Kangana Ranaut. He portrayed the character of actor-politician M. G. Ramachandran in the film. He returned to Malayalam cinema after 25 years with Ottu (2022). Arvind Swamy stays true to the character and delivers a natural performance. In 2023, he was seen in the bilingual film Custody. In 2024, the Tamil drama film, Meiyazhagan, where he co -starring with Karthi has opened to positive reviews. He plays the role of Major Srinivasan in Anupam Kher’s upcoming directorial Tanvi the Great (2025).

Unreleased and shelved films

In the late 1990s, several of Arvind Swami's films ran into production troubles. Three of his Tamil films, Gandhi Krishna's Engineer, Azhagam Perumal's Mudhal Mudhalaaga and Mahendran's Sasanam were all stalled after completing a few production schedules. The former two, which featured him opposite Hindi actresses Madhuri Dixit and Karisma Kapoor, respectively, eventually did not have a theatrical release. Sasanam, which he worked on without remuneration, had a delayed release in 2006. Two prominent Hindi films that he signed during the period, Mahesh Bhatt's venture with Aishwarya Rai, and Anupam Kher's directorial debut film co-starring Amitabh Bachchan, also eventually were dropped.

In the late 2010s, several of Arvind Swamy's films were delayed or shelved as a result of production troubles and the actor's insistence to have his salary settled. Production on Sathuranga Vettai 2 began in July 2016, but remains unreleased following a payment dispute with the film's producer Manobala. Vanangamudi was conceptualised by director Selva in 2014, with the shoot taking place in a slow manner over the course of nine years. Likewise, Engineer, Naragasooran, The Leader, and Kallapart began their shoot in mid-2017 through mid-2023, but these films never had a theatrical release. Other projects such as the Hindi-Tamil bilingual remake of Marathi film Kaksparsh and Santhosh Jayakumar's Pulanaivu were shelved despite entering production.

Personal life

Swamy married Gayathri Ramamurthy in June 1994 and has one daughter Adhira, born in 1996, and a son Rudra, born in 2000. The couple lived separately for seven years until 2010, when they filed for divorce. He was granted the custody of his children. He married Aparna Mukerjee in 2012.

Filmography

As an actor

Films

Web series

Television

As narrator

As dubbing artist

As playback singer

• "Udal Manukku" - Iruvar
• "Unnodu Naan Irundha" - Iruvar
• "Kooduvittu Koodu" - Bogan

References

References

1. (18 June 1970). "Happy Birthday Arvind Swamy: Five unknown facts about the megastar".
2. (4 November 2017). "The Arvind Swami interview: Nationalism, GST, demonetisation and more".
3. "Mahesh Manjrekar to remake Kaksparsh in Hindi and Tamil with Arvind Swamy and Tisca Chopra". [[The Times of India]].
4. (6 August 2021). "Navarasa movie review: Netflix delivers a potpourri of greats and duds, Arvind Swami stands out". [[Hindustan Times]].
5. (27 November 2013). "Arvind Swamy Goes To Bollywood Again".
6. (17 May 2016). "Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi Season 3 On Vijay TV From 30 May 2016".
7. "Throwback to actor Delhi Kumar speaking about Aravind Swamy #SunTV #SunTVThrowback #DelhiKumar". Sun TV.
8. Bhattacharya, Roshmila. (1 August 2015). "Arvind Swamy: I found stardom stifling". [[The Times of India]].
9. "Exclusive biography of #ArvindSwamy and on his life.".
10. Joshi, Namrata. (25 April 2016). "The return journey". The Hindu.
11. "This actor was once Rajinikanth's competitor, suffered paralysis, then built a business worth ₹3300 crore".
12. Kamath, Sudhish. (31 January 2013). "Return of the heartthrob". The Hindu.
13. "Welcome moviemitra.com".
14. (30 January 2013). "Southern Spice: A chat with Arvind Swamy". Gulf News.
15. "South Special".
16. "Rediff on the NeT, Movies: Gossip from the southern film industry".
17. (14 November 2002). "An Actor, and a businessman". The Times of India.
18. Joshi, Namrata. (25 April 2016). "The return journey".
19. (4 June 2013). "Arvind Swami in Santosh Sivan's 'Ceylon'". [[The Times of India]].
20. subramanian, anupama. (30 August 2015). "Movie review 'Thani Oruvan': A thriller that hardly misses a note".
21. (14 January 2016). "Nayanthara and Arvind Swami win awards at CIFF".
22. (9 December 2016). "Dhruva movie review: Ram Charan Teja, Arvind Swami steal the show".
23. "Dhruva review. Dhruva Telugu movie review, story, rating".
24. [https://www.bollywoodlife.com/news-gossip/dear-dad-movie-review-arvind-swamys-father-son-drama-is-the-most-realistic-and-hard-hitting-film-this-year/ Dear Dad movie review: Arvind Swamy's father son drama should not be missed! – Bollywood News & Gossip, Movie Reviews, Trailers & Videos at] {{Webarchive. link. (6 March 2019 . Bollywoodlife.com (13 May 2016). Retrieved 26 August 2019.)
25. (25 May 2016). "Vijay TV set to launch NVOK Season 3 with Aravind Swamy from 30th May".
26. Davis, Maggie. (3 February 2017). "Jayam Ravi & Arvind Swamy's flawless performance leaves critics impressed!".
27. [https://www.behindwoods.com/tamil-movies/baskar-oru-rascal/bhaskar-oru-rascal-review.html Baskar Oru Rascal (aka) Bhaskar Oru Rascal review] {{Webarchive. link. (6 March 2019 . Behindwoods.com. Retrieved 26 August 2019.)
28. Purushothaman, Kirubhakar (27 September 2018) [https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/regional-cinema/story/chekka-chivantha-vaanam-review-mani-ratnam-demolishes-gangster-cinema-1350325-2018-09-27 Chekka Chivantha Vaanam Review: Mani Ratnam demolishes gangster cinema – Movies News] {{Webarchive. link. (6 March 2019 . ''India Today''. Retrieved 26 August 2019.)
29. "Arvind Swami & Kunchacko Boban's Rendagam to release on September 2".
30. "Rendagam Movie Review: Twist-filled gangster drama leaves us wanting more". The Times of India.
31. "Movie makers launch a glimpse of Arvind swamy's look from 'Custody'". The Times of India.
32. "Karthik Subbaraj praises Karthi's 'Meiyazhagan', says 'What a beautiful film'". The Times of India.
33. "Arvind Swami to play Major Srinivasan in Anupam Kher’s Tanvi The Great". Cinema Express.
34. (13 December 2021). "Arvind Swami to dub for Sathuranga Vettai 2 this week, payment dues cleared".
35. (31 May 2014). "Arvind Swami to make a comeback in director Selva's next".
36. "Arvind Swamy and Regina Cassandra's 'Kallapart' teaser is out now!". The Times of India.
37. (29 March 2018). "Arvind Swami takes a dig at Gautham Menon. Here's what the director has to say about entire issue".
38. (19 June 2019). "Arvind Swami-Santhosh P Jayakumar film titled 'Pulanaivu'".
39. (15 January 2014). "Sourthern superstar Arvind Swamy to make a comeback to Bollywood!".
40. (26 April 2016). "Arvind Swamy opens up on his comeback to cinema". [[The Hans India]].
41. (2 December 2010). "Arvind Swamy to pay wife Rs 75L divorce settlement".
42. "Aravind Swamy's 'happy' divorce".
43. (16 May 2012). "Arvind Swamy, wife file for divorce".
44. (2 December 2010). "Arvind Swamy to pay wife Rs 75 divorce settlement". [[The Times of India]].
45. (2021-06-18). "Happy Birthday Arvind Swamy: Five unknown facts about the megastar".
46. (25 January 2024). "'Singapore Saloon' social media review: The RJ Balaji starrer is a fun blaster, say Netizens". The Times of India.
47. (28 October 2020). "Suriya, Parvathy, Nithya and Vijay Sethupathi among cast for Netflix's 'Navarasa'".
48. (17 July 2020). "Fahadh Faasil, Suriya likely to make OTT debut with Mani Ratnam's upcoming web series". [[Hindustan Times]].
49. (3 August 2024). "IC 814 The Kandahar Hijack teaser: Vijay Varma, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur lead Netflix series on harrowing incident". The Indian Express.