Arjun Sarja

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This article is about the actor. For other uses, see Arjun.

Arjun Sarja
Arjun at the ‘Kolaigaran’ Press Meet.jpg
Sarja in 2019
Born
Srinivasa Sarja

Madhugiri, Karnataka, India
Occupation
  • Actor
  • director
  • producer
  • screenwriter
  • distributor
Years active1981–present
Spouse(s)
(
m. 1988)
Children2; including Aishwarya
Parent(s)Shakti Prasad (father)
RelativesKishore Sarja (brother)
Chiranjeevi Sarja (nephew)
Dhruva Sarja (nephew)
Rajesh (father-in-law)

Srinivasa "Arjun" Sarja is an Indian actor, producer, and director who works predominantly in Tamil, Kannada, and Telugu films. Referred to by the media and his fans as "Action King" for his roles in action films,[1][2][3][4] Arjun has acted in more than 150 films, most of them being lead roles.[5][6][7] He is one of few South Indian actors to attract fan following from multiple states of India.[8][9] He has directed 11 films and also produced and distributed a number of films.[10]

In 1993, he starred in S. Shankar's blockbuster Gentleman which opened to positive reviews, while Arjun went on to win the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor.[11][12][13] During this time, he starred in hits such as Jai Hind (1994), Karnaa (1995), and the action thriller film Kurudhipunal (1995), for which Arjun won acclaim for his role while the film became[14] India's official entry for the 68th Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Language Film category.[15][16][17] In 1999, he starred in the political action-thriller, Mudhalvan (1999), which earned him the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor for his role as well as numerous other nominations. He was then featured in Vasanth's romantic drama film Rhythm, where he played a photographer, who eventually falls in love with a widow. Featuring a popular soundtrack and opening to positive reviews, Rhythm also became a commercial success.[18]

Arjun made appearances in the bilingual film Sri Manjunatha (2001) and the Telugu film Hanuman Junction (2001). In 2012, he appeared in the Kannada film Prasad, which screened at the Berlin Film Festival.[19] He won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actor for his work in the film.[20] The multilingual film Abhimanyu (2014) won the Karnataka State Film Award for Second Best Film.[21]

Personal life

Sarja was born to actor Shakti Prasad,[22] and his mother was Lakshmi, an art teacher. He had one elder brother Kishore Sarja, who directed Kannada films.[23] Arjun had always thought and dreamt of becoming a police officer but his fate took him into an entirely different direction.[24]

Arjun is an ardent devotee of Hanuman. He is building the Hanuman temple at the outskirts of Chennai. A 35-foot statue of the Lord Anjaneya was sculpted exclusively for the temple and the statue of the Hanuman is in a sitting posture and weighs around 140 tonnes. The sitting posture of the Hanuman statue is first of its kind in India. The single-stone statue is in 35 feet high and 12 feet wide and 7 feet thick.[24][25]

His nephews Chiranjeevi Sarja and Dhruva Sarja have acted in Kannada movies.[26] Another nephew of Arjun, Bharat Sarja, will also be making his acting debut in 2013.[27] Sarja, inspired by Bruce Lee's 1973 film Enter the Dragon, began training Karate at the age of 16[28] and now holds a black belt.[29]

He is married to Niveditha Arjun in 1988, a former actress who has appeared in the 1986 Kannada film Ratha Sapthami under the stage name of Asha Rani. Kannada actor Rajesh is his father-in-law.[30] Sarja has two daughters, Aishwarya and Anjana.[31] Aishwarya Arjun made her acting debut in 2013.[32]

Allegations

In October 2018, as part of the ＃MeToo movement, actress Shruthi Hariharan accused Arjun Sarja of sexual misconduct, in November 2015, on the set of the 2016 film Vismaya, where she was portraying Arjun Sarja's wife, and filed a sexual harassment case with the police against him.[33][34] Sarja has denied the allegations.[35]

Acting career

1981-1991: Early career and breakthrough

Arjun's father Shakti Prasad, a renowned actor of Kannada films, did not want his son to become an actor and turned down film offers that Arjun began to receive as a teenager. In a surprise move, film producer Rajendra Singh Babu managed to convince Arjun to begin shooting for a feature film for his production house without Shakti Prasad's express permission and consequently, his father agreed to Arjun's career choice. The film Simhada Mari Sainya (1981) featured him as a junior artiste and the director of the film gave him the stage name of Arjun, replacing his original name Ashok Babu.[36] While he began to establish himself Kannada films, he received an offer from actor-producer A. V. M. Rajan and director Rama Narayanan to do a Tamil film Nandri (1984). Simultaneously he was offered a Telugu film, Kodi Ramakrishna's Maa Pallelo Gopaludu (1985) in Telugu too which went on to be a big success, running for a year in three centers.

His career as an actor began to take off in the mid-1980s and he sometimes worked for up to seven shifts in a day to keep up with the films he had committed to do.[36][37] In Telugu, he established himself as a bankable actor with roles in films such as Naga Devatha (1986) and Manavadostunnadu (1987). In Tamil, his successful films during the period included Shankar Guru (1987), Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu (1989) and Sonthakkaran (1989). By 1990, his films lost box office value and he was out of work in Tamil and Telugu films for almost a year.[38]

1992-2001: Commercial success and critical acclaim

In 1992, he subsequently chose to direct his feature film Sevagan.[39] Soon after, Shankar cast him in the lead role in his first film, Gentleman (1993), after much persuasion. Arjun had initially rejected the film without listening to Shankar's narration but the director's persistence prompted him to feature in the film as a vigilante against corruption. The film opened to positive reviews and went on to become a trendsetter in the Tamil film industry, as well as achieving significant box office success, while Arjun went on to win the State Award for Best Actor.[40][15] His change of fortune at the box office continued and Arjun began to gain ground as a bankable lead star in action films after his films including his patriotic directorial venture Jai Hind (1994) and Karnaa (1995), where he played a dual role, went on to become blockbusters.[41] Kamal Haasan approached Arjun to play a police officer in the action thriller film Kurudhipunal (1995), and the actor accepted the opportunity and agreed to do the film even without hearing the narration. Arjun won positive acclaim for his role, while the film became India's official entry for the 68th Academy Awards Best Foreign Language Film category.[16]

In the late 1990s, after a series of action films, including Sengottai (1996) and Thaayin Manikodi (1998), he teamed up again with Shankar in the political drama film Mudhalvan (1999). Portraying an ambitious TV journalist who receives the opportunity to become the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for a day, Arjun offered bulk dates for filming the project to Shankar.[42] The film subsequently won positive reviews with Arjun described as having "acquitted himself with aplomb in the challenging role".[43] Arjun received the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor for his role as well as numerous other nominations.

Arjun then briefly experimented in softer roles, portraying critically acclaimed characters of businessman with "shades of grey" in Prabhu Solomon's Kannodu Kanbathellam (1999) and as an energetic civil service officer in Vaanavil (2000). He then featured in Vasanth's romantic drama film Rhythm (2000), where he played a photographer, who eventually falls in love with another widower. Featuring a popular soundtrack and opening to positive reviews, Rhythm also became a commercial success, with a critic noting "Arjun is as polished as ever" and adding "who would have conceived this idea that the "action king" could attempt a soft-natured role of this kind".[18] He carried on with a lighter theme in his next directorial venture, the love story Vedham (2001), while he ventured into Telugu cinema again by appearing in Raja's Hanuman Junction and as a Hindu devotee in Sri Manjunatha (2001).

2002-2010: Action roles and experimentation

The image of "action king" made him popular with town and village centre audiences, who appreciated the actor's fight and stunt scenes. He thus actively chose to specialise in action films, often collaborating with directors who specialised in them such as Sundar C, Venkatesh and Selva. In the mid 2000s, he appeared in several action films with the same premise, often portraying a police officer or a local do-gooder. He directed and featured in both the action films Ezhumalai (2002) and Parasuram (2003), while also being involved in Maharajan's Arasatchi (2004). Some of his films, Giri (2004) and Marudhamalai (2007), were box office successes, with several of his projects were not, including Madrasi (2006), Vathiyar (2006) and Durai (2008), in all of which he was the story writer.[44]

Despite not achieving any significant hit films in the 2000s, producers often considered Arjun as a "minimum guarantee" actor and felt his sizable fan following the four Southern States of India would help recover money even through dubbed versions.[45][46] In a rare experimental film for him in the decade, he portrayed the role of the Hindu deity Hanuman in Krishna Vamsi's devotional film Sri Anjaneyam (2004) and worked on the film without receiving remuneration as a self-confessed worshipper of the deity.[47] He was also cast for a change as a realistic police officer in Bharathiraja's critically acclaimed Bommalattam (2008), where a reviewer felt his "showcase of the soft, subtle yet unrelenting cop was noteworthy".[48] [49]

2011-present: Character roles and recent projects

Since the turn of the decade, Arjun has attempted to move away from his "action king" image and accepted to star in films where he would play the antagonist or a supporting role, with the move drawing praise from film critics.[50] In 2011, Arjun accepted the opportunity to play an extended guest role alongside Ajith Kumar in Venkat Prabhu's action thriller Mankatha, with critics praising his performance as a police officer in the blockbuster.[51] The following year he appeared in Kannada film Prasad, for which he won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actor. Portraying a middle-class father with a deaf and dumb son, Arjun noted it was a rewarding experience for him to break the monotony of his standard roles and attempt something different, admitting he was moved by the script.[52] The film opened to unanimously positive reviews in March 2012 and then was selected to be screened at the Berlin Film Festival, with critics labelling Arjun's portrayal as a "stunning performance" and his "career-best".[19]

Arjun collaborated with Mani Ratnam with Kadal (2013), in which the actor portrayed a negative role of a smuggler in coastal Tamil Nadu. While the film opened to mixed reviews and became a box office failure, Arjun won rave reviews for his portrayal with Sify.com noting Arjun is "deliciously despicable in his career's most memorable negative role" and The Hindu labelling him as "brilliant".[53] He then won acclaim for his portrayal of a real-life police officer K. Vijay Kumar in the bilingual film Vana Yuddham (2013), the biopic of notorious forest brigand Veerappan, as well as for his role of a paralysed swimming coach in Vasanth's romance film, Moondru Per Moondru Kadal (2013).[54]

His directorial venture, Jai Hind 2 (2014) contained a message about the declining state of the Indian education system. The film became a box office success in Kannada, while the Tamil version did not perform well at the box office.[55] In 2017, he appeared in his 150th film Nibunan, an action thriller where he played a police officer hunting a serial killer.[56] The film won positive reviews, with a critic noting that Arjun "looks stylish and suave as the fit and honest officer, and excels in a couple of action blocks he gets".[57] He then directed a biligual film titled Prema Baraha (2018) starring his daughter Aishwarya Arjun in the leading role[58] While, the Kannada version performed well, the Tamil version, Sollividava, went unnoticed at the box office.[59]

Filmography

Main article: Arjun Sarja filmography

Awards

References

  1. ↑ Prasad, G (12 September 2008). "Promoting patriotism in a 'powerful' way is his style". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 16 September 2008. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
  2. ↑ Ashok Kumar, S.R. (14 July 2005). "For king of action, direction is a passion". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 11 May 2006. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
  3. ↑ Ashok Kumar, S.R. (26 December 2008). "Lots of action, little logic". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 2 February 2009. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
  4. ↑ "Arjun on a Mission". The Times of India. 11 May 2009. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
  5. ↑ "150 is just another number for this Ageless Charmer". indiaglitz. 29 July 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  6. ↑ "Arjun Sarja is now 150 not out". The Times of India. 15 May 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  7. ↑ "I've completed 150 films; let me experiment at least now". The Times of India. 22 June 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  8. ↑ "Actor Arjun crosses a new milestone". The Hans India. 30 May 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  9. ↑ "Arjun in Allu Arjun's next movie!". Telugu Cinema. 27 March 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  10. ↑ "As a director, I should be open to directing all genres: Arjun Sarja". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 9 June 2018.
  11. ↑ Vijayakumar, Sindhu (16 March 2009). "Arjun all set". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2010.
  12. ↑ Vijayakumar, Sindhu (16 March 2009). "Arjun". The Times of India.
  13. ↑ "Arjun's avatars". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 14 September 2009. Archived from the original on 10 November 2012.
  14. ↑ S. Shiva Kumar (20 January 2012). "Silver screen's valiant hero". The Hindu. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 C V Aravind (19 May 2013). "Donning different roles". Deccan Herald. DHNS. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Rediff on the Net, Life/Style: The silence that speaks". 9 October 2017. Archived from the original on 9 October 2017.
  17. ↑ "Jai Hind-II from Arjun - Tamil Movie News". Indiaglitz.com. 12 April 2010. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "Rhythm: Movie Review". Indolink.com. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 "Prasad Movie Review". Supergoodmovies.com. 23 March 2012. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 BollywoodLife (2 March 2012). "Arjun Sarja: I want a change from my action roles – Bollywood News & Gossip, Movie Reviews, Trailers & Videos at". Bollywoodlife.com. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 Khajane, Muralidhara (13 February 2016). "Film awards: a balance between main and independent film-making streams". The Hindu.
  22. ↑ "Arjun holds a black belt in Karate". The Times of India. 13 October 2012. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2013.
  23. ↑ "Kishore Sarja: A talent wasted". Rediff. 29 June 2009. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 "Action King Arjun". BehindWoods. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  25. ↑ "Arjun builds a Hanuman temple". indiaglitz. Retrieved 3 May 2018.
  26. ↑ "Siblings galore in Sandalwood". The Times of India. 17 April 2013. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  27. ↑ Joy, Prathibha (4 July 2012). "It's films for another Sarja boy". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  28. ↑ "Tamil celebs who didn't want to act". Times of India. Retrieved 11 October 2020.
  29. ↑ "Arjun holds a black belt in Karate still he supports LTTE group and a follower of prabhakaran". The Times of India. TNN. 13 October 2012. Archived from the original on 2 February 2014. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  30. ↑ "Rajesh honarary doctorate". Indiaglitz. 4 January 2012. Archived from the original on 4 October 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  31. ↑ "Nilacharal".
  32. ↑ "Aishwarya Arjun faints on the sets". The Times of India. 29 April 2013. Archived from the original on 13 May 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  33. ↑ "FIR Against Actor Arjun Sarja After Sruthi Hariharan Files Sexual Harassment Complaint". outlookindia.com. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  34. ↑ "FIR registered against Arjun Sarja after Sruthi Hariharan's sexual harassment complaint". The News Minute. 27 October 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  35. ↑ "Arjun Sarja accused of sexual harassment, actor denies allegations". The Indian Express. 20 October 2018. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 "An enjoyable conversation with Arjun". Chennai Online. Archived from the original on 24 August 2004. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  37. ↑ "Kodi Ramakrishna- Arjun's 'Rani Ranamma' launch". Indiaglitz. 15 April 2013. Retrieved 19 June 2013.
  38. ↑ "Tamil Movie Cafe (Tmcafe.com) -Interview with Tamil Movie Actor, Action King Arjun". Tamil Movie Cafe. Archived from the original on 2 July 2001. Retrieved 22 July 2021.
  39. ↑ "The Indian Express - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com.
  40. ↑ Kumar, S. Shiva (20 January 2012). "Silver screen's valiant hero - SouthKannada". The Hindu. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  41. ↑ "Cinema News | Movie Reviews | Movie Trailers". IndiaGlitz. 1 September 2017. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  42. ↑ "Minnoviyam Star Tracks". Chandrag.tripod.com. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  43. ↑ "Cinema Reviews - The Hindu". cscsarchive. 25 July 2011. Archived from the original on 25 July 2011.
  44. ↑ "Welcome to". Sify.com. 20 January 2007. Archived from the original on 27 April 2014. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  45. ↑ "Friday Review Chennai : Start! Camera! Arjun!". The Hindu. 11 June 2010. Archived from the original on 17 June 2010. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  46. ↑ "Movie review: Koti". Telugu Cinema. 28 April 2009. Archived from the original on 28 April 2009.
  47. ↑ "Telugu cinema director Krishna Vamsi on Telugu Movie Sri Anjaneyam". Idlebrain.com. 11 April 2004. Archived from the original on 21 April 2004. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  48. ↑ "Friday Review Chennai / Film Review : The puppet shocks! - Bommalattam". The Hindu. 19 December 2008. Archived from the original on 1 February 2009. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  49. ↑ Archive (19 December 2008). "Archive News". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 1 February 2009. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  50. ↑ "I'm not the villain in 'Kadal': Arjun". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  51. ↑ "Review". Sify.com. 31 August 2011. Archived from the original on 29 June 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  52. ↑ BollywoodLife (2 March 2012). "Arjun Sarja: I want a change from my action roles". Bollywoodlife.com. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  53. ↑ "Review : Kadal". Sify.com. 1 February 2013. Archived from the original on 7 June 2013. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  54. ↑ Rangarajan, Malathi (24 February 2013). "From Kadal to Kaadhal - Delta". The Hindu. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
  55. ↑ Nikhil Raghavan (25 May 2013). "Bright spark". The Hindu. Retrieved 5 August 2014.
  56. ↑ "Vismaya movie review: What the zodiac won't foretell". Bangalore Mirror.
  57. ↑ "Nibunan Review {3.5/5}: A thriller loaded with suspense, mystery, serial murders, sentiments, and more" – via timesofindia.indiatimes.com.
  58. ↑ "'Prema Baraha' movie review: Love, stunts and lots of earnestness". The New Indian Express.
  59. ↑ "'Sollividava' movie review: A wannabe Dil Se". The New Indian Express.
  60. ↑ Dhananjayan 2011, pp. 154–155.
  61. ↑ "Tamilnadu Government Announces Cinema State Awards −1999". Dinakaran. Archived from the original on 10 February 2001. Retrieved 20 October 2009.
  62. ↑ "Winners List of TSR-TV9 National Film Awards 2011 and 2012". www.ragalahari.com. Retrieved 22 July 2021.

External links

Template:TamilNaduStateAwardForBestActor

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