Arvind Swami

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Arvind Swamy
Aravind Swamy at 63rd Filmfare Awards 2016 (South) Press Meet.jpg
Swamy at the 63rd Filmfare Awards South in 2016
Born (1970-06-18) 18 June 1970 (age 54)
NationalityIndian
Alma materWake Forest University
Loyola College, Chennai
Occupation
Years active1991–2000
2013–present
Spouse(s)
Gayathri Ramamurthy
(
m. 1994⁠–⁠2010)

Aparna Mukherjee
(
m. 2012)
Children2
Parent(s)V. D. Swami (father)
Vasantha Swami (mother)

Arvind Swamy (born 18 June 1970) is an Indian film actor, model, entrepreneur and television presenter known for his work in Tamil cinema.[1][2] He was introduced as an actor by Mani Ratnam with the blockbuster film Thalapathi (1991) and subsequently starred in successful films such as Roja (1992), Bombay (1995), Minsaara Kanavu (1997) Thani Oruvan (2015), Dhruva (2016), Bogan (2017) and Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (2018).

Swami 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 Bollywood, making his appearance in Saat Rang Ke Sapne (1998).[3] Swamy spent a decade in businesses ranging from software engineering, construction, international trade to global outsourcing, before returning to act with works such as Kadal (2013), Thani Oruvan (2015), Dear Dad (2016), Dhruva (2016), Bogan (2017) and Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (2018). 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

Swami's parents are industrialist V. D. Swami and Bharatanatyam dancer C. V. S. Vasantha.[4][5] Swamy studied at the Sishya School and later in Don Bosco Matriculation Higher 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 Swami wished to be a doctor. In college, he used to be a model for pocket money.[6] 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 he and Santhosh Sivan introduced him into the basics of film-making.[6]

Career

1991–2000: Early career and breakthrough

Swami 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 the 1992 political drama film Roja (1992). Roja and Bombay (1995) won awards at the State and National Film Award functions. His performance in Bombay was called "soulful" by Time magazine.[7] Swamy has won several awards, popular and critical, for his films.[7] He has been described as one of the first few actors in India who is able to achieve pan-Indian appeal. He lends his voice for the Tamil dubbing version for the adult Simba of Disney's The Lion King (1994).[8] His next project was Indira (1995), followed by Telugu Mounam (1995) and Malayalam movie Devaraagam (1996).

He starred in Rajiv Menon's Minsaara Kanavu alongside Kajol and Prabhu Deva, which won four National Film Awards and high box office numbers.[9] 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.[10] His next film was Pudhayal (1997). He appeared in his first straight Hindi film through Priyadarshan's Saat Rang Ke Sapne (1998) produced by Amitabh Bachchan. Co-starring alongside Juhi Chawla, Arvind portrayed the role of a village do-gooder.[10]

Sasanam, which he worked on without remuneration for NFDC, had a belated release in 2006. His final two releases before his sabbatical, En Swasa Kaatre (1999) and Raja Ko Rani Se Pyar Ho Gaya (2000).

Swamy eventually stopped acting in films post-2000, after playing a guest role in Mani Ratnam's Alaipayuthey, and opted to concentrate on his business interests. In 2000, he became the president of InterPro Global, and the chairman and managing director of Prolease India, engaged in transaction processing.[7] 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.[6]

2013–2018: Back to films

After his successful treatment, Mani Ratnam called him once more to play a role in one of his films, Kadal (2013)[8] for which Swamy dropped 15 kilograms.[6]

In 2013, he provided the voice-over for Santhosh Sivan's film Ceylon.[11] In 2015, he acted in a now iconic negative role of Sidharth Abhimanyu in Thani Oruvan, for which he was highly praised and received positive reviews and many awards for his acting.

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 a lot of appreciation from the Telugu audience. Later in a Hindi movie, Dear Dad (2016).[12]

The popular game show Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi recruited Swamy for its third season, which started airing on 30 May 2016.

In 2017, he did the title role of Bogan, co starring Jayam Ravi, for which he again got an outstanding response from the critics and the audience. In 2018, he acted in Bhaskar Oru Rascal. Arvind Swami does a neat job without imitating what Mammootty did in the original.[13] The film is followed by Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (2018). The film was released to positive reviews which also got him the Filmfare Award.[14]

Personal life

Swamy married Gayathri Ramamurthy in 1994 and has one daughter Adhira Swami, born in 1996 and a son Rudra Swami, born in 2000. The couple lived separately for seven years until 2010, when they filed for divorce.[15] He is married to Aparna Mukerjee, a lawyer, since 2012. Arvind Swamy was granted custody of his children.[16]

Filmography

Year Film Role Language Notes
1991 Thalapathi Arjun Tamil
1992 Roja Rishi Kumar Tamil Nominated–Filmfare Award For Best Actor – Tamil
Daddy Anand Malayalam
1993 Thalattu Kuzhanthai Tamil
Marupadiyum Gowri Shankar Tamil
1994 Paasamalargal Raj Tamil
Duet Himself Tamil Guest Appearance
1995 Bombay Shekhar Narayanan Pillai Tamil Nominated–Filmfare Award For Best Actor – Tamil
Indira Thiyagu Tamil
Mounam Kiran Telugu
1996 Devaraagam Vishnu Malayalam
1997 Minsaara Kanavu Thomas Thangadurai Tamil
Pudhayal Kodiesvaran Tamil
1998 Saat Rang Ke Sapne Mahipal Sharma Hindi
1999 En Swasa Katre Arun Raj Tamil
2000 Alaipayuthey Ram Tamil Cameo
Raja Ko Rani Se Pyar Ho Gaya Mohit Kumar Hindi
2006 Sasanam Muthiah Tamil
2013 Kadal Sam Fernando Tamil
Ceylon Narrator Tamil
English
2015 Thani Oruvan Dr. Siddharth Abhimanyu/Pazhani Sengalvarayan Tamil Filmfare Award For Best Supporting Actor – Tamil
2016 Dear Dad Nitin Swaminathan Hindi
Uriyadi Narrator Tamil
Dhruva Dr. Siddharth Abhimanyu/Venkanna Chengalarayudu Telugu Nominated–SIIMA Award For Best Actor In A Negative Role (Telugu)
Nominated–Filmfare Award For Best Supporting Actor – Telugu
2017 Bogan Aadhithya Maravarman (Bogan) Tamil
2018 Bhaskar Oru Rascal Bhaskar Tamil
Chekka Chivantha Vaanam Varadharajan “Varadhan” Senapathi Tamil Filmfare Award For Best Actor (Critics) – South
Nominated–Filmfare Award For Best Actor – Tamil
2021 Naragasooran Dhruva Tamil
Thalaivi M. G. Ramachandran (M. G. R.) Tamil
Telugu
Hindi
Kallapart Rajapandi Tamil In post production
Sathuranga Vettai 2 Gandhi Babu Tamil In post production
Vanangamudi
TBA
Tamil Filming
Ottu/Rendagam
TBA
Malayalam
Tamil
Filming
Dubbing artist

Television

Year Title Role(s) Notes Ref(s)
2021 Navarasa
TBA
Also Director [17]
[18]

References

  1. "The Arvind Swami interview: Nationalism, GST, demonetisation and more". Thenewsminute.com. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  2. "Mahesh Manjrekar to remake Kaksparsh in Hindi and Tamil with Arvind Swamy and Tisca Chopra". The Times of India.
  3. "Arvind Swamy Goes To Bollywood Again". Entertainment.oneindia.in. 27 November 2013. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  4. "Arvind Swamy: I found stardom stifling". The Times of India. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  5. "Arvind Swamy". IMDb. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Kamath, Sudhish (31 January 2013). "Return of the heartthrob". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 3 February 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 "An Actor, and a businessman". The Times of India. 14 November 2002. Retrieved 15 December 2012.
  8. 8.0 8.1 "Welcome moviemitra.com". Moviemitra.com. Archived from the original on 10 November 2017. Retrieved 30 December 2017.
  9. "Southern Spice: A chat with Arvind Swamy". Gulf News. 30 January 2013. Retrieved 31 January 2013.
  10. 10.0 10.1 https://web.archive.org/web/19990503053105/http://www.filmfare.com/site/may97/sspecial.htm
  11. "Arvind Swami in Santosh Sivan's 'Ceylon'". The Times of India. 4 June 2013. Archived from the original on 21 June 2013.
  12. Dear Dad movie review: Arvind Swamy's father son drama should not be missed! – Bollywood News & Gossip, Movie Reviews, Trailers & Videos at. Bollywoodlife.com (13 May 2016). Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  13. Baskar Oru Rascal (aka) Bhaskar Oru Rascal review. Behindwoods.com. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  14. Purushothaman, Kirubhakar (27 September 2018) Chekka Chivantha Vaanam Review: Mani Ratnam demolishes gangster cinema – Movies News. India Today. Retrieved 26 August 2019.
  15. "Aravind Swamy's 'happy' divorce". Sify. Archived from the original on 3 December 2010. Retrieved 2 December 2010.
  16. "Arvind Swamy to pay wife Rs 75 divorce settlement". The Times of India. TNN. 2 December 2010. Retrieved 2 December 2010.
  17. "Suriya, Parvathy, Nithya and Vijay Sethupathi among cast for Netflix's 'Navarasa'". The News Minute. 28 October 2020. Retrieved 1 November 2020.
  18. "Fahadh Faasil, Suriya likely to make OTT debut with Mani Ratnam's upcoming web series". Hindustan Times. 17 July 2020. Retrieved 29 October 2020.

External links