Kalaipuli S. Thanu

Kalaipuli S. Thanu is an Indian film producer, director and distributor, known for his films in Tamil cinema. He has produced several films through his two companies, V Creations and Kalaipuli Films International. Many of his films have been commercially successful, three of which are among the top-ten highest grossing Tamil films. He has won two National Film Awards, two Cinema Express Awards and one Filmfare Awards South.

Kalaipuli S. Thanu
Born	(1958-01-15) 15 January 1958 (age 64) North Arcot, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupations	Producer distributor director
Years active	1985–present
Spouse	Kala
Children	3
Honours	Kalaimamani 2020^[1]

Personal life

Thanu is married to Kala. Their son Kalaprabhu made his directorial debut with Sakkarakatti (2008).^[2] Thanu also has a daughter Kavitha.^[3]

Career

S. Thanu began his career as a film financier and distributor, before becoming a producer and a partner at Kalaipuli Films with S. Thanu and Soori with Yaar? (1985), being their debut film as producers.^[4][5] He initially started as a publicity designer being responsible for christening Rajinikanth as "Superstar" and creating a 35 feet cutout of him in a theatre.^[6] He started his own company V. Creations and went on to produce commercially successful films with Vijayakanth in Cooliekkaran (1987), Nallavan (1988) and Pudhu Padagan (1990). His Vanna Vanna Pookkal (1992) directed by Balu Mahendra won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil. He also did in a cameo appearance for a film Magalir Mattum in 1994.^[7] Kizhakku Cheemayile (1993) and Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000) won the Cinema Express Award for Best Film – Tamil. He has also produced films with Suriya in Kaakha Kaakha (2003), Maayavi (2005) and with Vijay in Sachein (2005), Thuppakki (2012) and Theri (2016). He collaborated with Rajinikanth for the first time for Kabali (2016).^[8]

He has produced four films for Dhanush such as Velaiilla Pattadhari 2 (2017), Asuran (2019), Karnan (2021) and Naane Varuven (2022).

Companies

Thanu owns Kalaipuli Films and V Creations. The former company was registered as a private company on 8 March 2004, and the CEO of the latter is Thanu's other son Paranthaman.^[9][10]

Filmography

As actor

Year	Film	Role
1994	Magalir Mattum	Cameo appearance

As producer

Year	Film	Director(s)	Notes	Ref.
1985	Yaar?	Sakthi-Kannan		^[11]
1987	Cooliekkaran	Rajasekhar		^[12]
1988	Nallavan	S. P. Muthuraman		^[13]
1990	Pudhu Padagan	S. Thanu	Also Director	^[14]
1991	Thaiyalkaran	S. P. Muthuraman		^[15]
1992	Vanna Vanna Pookkal	Balu Mahendra		^[16]
1993	Kizhakku Cheemayile	Bharathiraja		^[17]
1997	V. I. P.	Sabapathy Dekshinamurthy		^[18]
1999	Mannavaru Chinnavaru	P. N. Ramachandra Rao		^[19]
1999	Mugam	Gnana Rajasekaran		^[20]
2000	Kandukondain Kandukondain	Rajiv Menon		^[21]
2001	Aalavandhan	Suresh Krissna		^[22]
2003	Punnagai Poove	Sabapathy Dekshinamurthy		^[23]
2003	Kaakha Kaakha	Gautham Vasudev Menon		^[24]
2005	Maayavi	Singampuli		^[25]
2005	Sachein	John Mahendran		^[26]
2005	Thotti Jaya	V. Z. Durai		^[27]
2006	Chennai Kadhal	Vikraman		^[28]
2007	Thirumagan	M. Rathnakumar		^[29]
2008	Sakkarakatti	Kala Prabhu		^[30]
2009	Kanthaswamy	Susi Ganesan		^[31]
2012	Thuppakki	AR Murugadoss		^[32]
2014	Arima Nambi	Anand Shankar		^[33]
2016	Kanithan	T. N. Santosh		^[34]
2016	Theri	Atlee Kumar		^[35]
2016	Kabali	Pa. Ranjith		^[36]
2017	Velaiilla Pattadhari 2	Soundarya Rajinikanth		^[37]
2017	Indrajith	Kala Prabhu		^[38]
2018	Sketch	Vijay Chandar		^[39]
2018	60 Vayadu Maaniram	Radha Mohan		^[40]
2018	Thuppakki Munai	Dinesh Selvaraj		^[41]
2019	Hippi	Krishna		^[42]
2019	Asuran	Vetrimaaran		^[43]
2021	Karnan	Mari Selvaraj		^[44]
2021	Naarappa	Srikanth Addala		^[45]
2022	Naane Varuven	Selvaraghavan		^[46]
TBA	Vaadi Vaasal	Vetrimaaran		^[47]

As distributor

• 2022 - Iravin Nizhal
• 2022 - Andhagan
• 2021 - Maraikayar: Arabikadalin Singam (Tamil version)
• 2019 - Kurukshetra (Tamil dubbed)
• 2019 - Lucifer (Tamil dubbed)
• 2017 - Velaiilla Pattadhari 2
• 2016 - Parandhu Sella Vaa
• 2016 - Meendum Oru Kadhal Kadhai
• 2015 - Vellaiya Irukiravan Poi Solla Maatan
• 2015 - Thakka Thakka^[48]
• 2014 - Yennamo Yedho
• 2014 - Ner Ethir^[49]
• 2012 - Urumi
• 2011 - Maaveeran
• 2011 - Pathinaaru^[50]
• 2010 - Thottupaar
• 2010 - Milaga
• 1996 - Siraichaalai (Tamil dubbed)
• 1996 - Delhi Diary (Tamil dubbed)

Awards and honours

National Film Awards

• Won, Best Feature Film in Tamil for Vanna Vanna Pookkal (1992)
• Won, Best Feature Film in Tamil for Asuran (2019)

Cinema Express Awards

• Won, Best Film for Kizhakku Cheemayile (1993)
• Won, Best Film for Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000)

Filmfare Awards South

• Won, Best Film for Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000)
• Nominated, Best Film for Kaakha Kaakha (2003)
• Nominated, Best Film for Thuppakki (2012)
• Nominated, Best Film for Theri (2016)
• Nominated, Best Film for Kabali (2016)
• Nominated, Best Film for Karnan (2021)

South Indian International Movie Awards

• Nominated, Best Film for Thuppakki (2012)
• Nominated, Best Film for Theri (2016)
• Nominated, Best Film for Asuran (2019)
• Nominated, Best Film for Karnan (2021)

Vijay Awards

• Won, Favourite Film for Thuppakki (2012)

Edison Awards

• Won, Best Film for Kabali (2016)

Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards

• Won, Most Popular Movie for Kabali (2016)

IIFA Utsavam

• Nominated, Best Film for Kabali (2016)

Norway Tamil Film Festival Awards

• Won, Best Film for Asuran (2019)

References

1. "T.N. Govt. Announces Kalaimamani awards for 2019, 2020". The Hindu. 20 February 2021.
2. "Thanu: Senior talks about junior". Behindwoods. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
3. "I go happily in torn jeans, rubber chapal and dirty T shirt to see Rahman". Behindwoods. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
4. Nettv4u Tamil (30 November 2015). "Interview with Kalaipuli G Sekaran - I took a movie for 600Rs - Nettv4u". Archived from the original on 21 December 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2017 – via YouTube.
5. Shivakumar, S. (3 April 1987). "Everything's well with the industry". The Indian Express. p. 14. Retrieved 27 December 2022.
6. Pillai, Sreedhar (4 June 2016). "The bigger, the better". The Hindu. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
7. "Kollywood Producer Kalaipuli S Thanu Biography, News, Photos, Videos".
8. "4 years of super hit 'Kabali': Kalaipuli S Thanu feels proud to have produced Rajinikanth's film - Times of India". The Times of India.
9. "KALAIPULI FILMS PRIVATE LIMITED". Zauba Corp. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
10. Parameswaran, Prathibha. "Meet producer Kalaippuli S Thanu, the power behind the 'Kabali' throne". Scroll.in. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
11. "Yaar (1985)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
12. "Cooliekkaran (1987)".
13. "Nallavan (1988)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
14. "Puthuppadagan (1990)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
15. "Thaiyalkaran (1991)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
16. "Vanna Vanna Pookkal (1992)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
17. "Kizhakku Seemayile - IMDb". IMDb.
18. "V.I.P (1997)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
19. "Mannavaru Chinnavaru (1999)".
20. "Mugam (1999)".
21. "Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
22. "Aalavandaan (2001)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
23. "Punnagai Poove (2003) - IMDb". IMDb.
24. "FANTASTIKINDIA : Kaakha Kaakha".
25. "Maayavi (2005)".
26. "Sachein (2005)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
27. "Thotti Jaya (2005) | Thotti Jaya Tamil Movie | Movie Reviews, Showtimes". 5 August 2005.
28. "Chennai Kadhal (2006)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
29. "Thirumagan (2007) | Thirumagan Tamil Movie | Movie Reviews, Showtimes". 13 August 2006.
30. "Ram Gopal Verma to Thanu to A R Rahman - Behindwoods.com Sakkarakatti Kala Prabhu Kalaipuli S Thanu Shantanu K Bhagyaraj Vedhika Taxi Taxi Benny Dayal Blaze Javed Ali Viviane Chaix Bollywood tamil movie news images picture gallery images". Behindwoods.com. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
31. "Kanthasamy (2009)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
32. "Thuppakki (2012)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
33. "Arima Nambi (2014)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
34. "Kanithan (2016)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
35. "Theri (2016)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
36. "4 years of super hit 'Kabali': Kalaipuli S Thanu feels proud to have produced Rajinikanth's film - Times of India". The Times of India.
37. "Vellai Illa Pattathari 2 (2017)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
38. "Indrajith (2017)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
39. "Sketch (2018)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
40. "60 Vayathu Maaniram (2018)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
41. "Thuppakki Munai (2018)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
42. "Hippi (2019)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
43. "Asuran (2019)". MovieBuff. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
44. "Dhanush's film with Mari Selvaraj is titled Karnan. Sivaji Ganesan's fans are not happy". 9 January 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
45. The Hindu Net Desk (22 January 2020). "Telugu remake of 'Asuran' titled 'Naarappa' starring Venkatesh". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
46. "Dhanush's 'Naane Varuven' to hit screens on September 29". The Hindu. 20 September 2022.
47. "Test shoot of Suriya Vetrimaaran movie Vaadivaasal happened". Times Of India.
48. "Producer Kalaipuli Thanu will release Vikranth's next film Thaakka Thaakka". behindwoods.com. 13 June 2015. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
49. . sify.com. Archived from the original on 16 January 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
50. . sify.com. Archived from the original on 25 January 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2017.

External links

• Kalaipuli S. Thanu at IMDb
• S. Thanu's channel on YouTube