Kalaipuli S. Thanu
Born (1958-06-25) 25 June 1958 (age 65)
North Arcot, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupations
  • Producer
  • distributor
  • director
Years active1985–present
SpouseKala
Children3
HonoursKalaimamani 2020[1]

Kalaipuli S. Thanu (pronounced [ðaːnu]) 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.

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 Varuvean (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 Varuvean Selvaraghavan [46]
TBA Vaadi Vaasal Vetrimaaran [47]
2024 Train Mysskin

As distributor

Awards and honours

National Film Awards
Cinema Express Awards
Filmfare Awards South
South Indian International Movie Awards
Vijay Awards
Edison Awards
Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards
IIFA Utsavam
Norway Tamil Film Festival Awards

References

  1. ^ "T.N. Govt. Announces Kalaimamani awards for 2019, 2020". The Hindu. 20 February 2021. Archived from the original on 16 January 2022. Retrieved 16 January 2022.
  2. ^ "Thanu: Senior talks about junior". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 6 September 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  3. ^ "I go happily in torn jeans, rubber chapal and dirty T shirt to see Rahman". Behindwoods. Archived from the original on 6 September 2022. 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.((cite web)): CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Shivakumar, S. (3 April 1987). "Everything's well with the industry". The Indian Express. p. 14. Archived from the original on 10 June 2022. 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". Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  8. ^ "4 years of super hit 'Kabali': Kalaipuli S Thanu feels proud to have produced Rajinikanth's film". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  9. ^ "KALAIPULI FILMS PRIVATE LIMITED". Zauba Corp. Archived from the original on 6 September 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  10. ^ Parameswaran, Prathibha. "Meet producer Kalaippuli S Thanu, the power behind the 'Kabali' throne". Scroll.in. Archived from the original on 6 September 2022. Retrieved 6 September 2022.
  11. ^ "Yaar (1985)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  12. ^ "Cooliekkaran (1987)".
  13. ^ "Nallavan (1988)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  14. ^ "Puthuppadagan (1990)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  15. ^ "Thaiyalkaran (1991)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  16. ^ "Vanna Vanna Pookkal (1992)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  17. ^ "Kizhakku Seemayile - IMDb". IMDb. Archived from the original on 30 August 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  18. ^ "V.I.P (1997)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  19. ^ "Mannavaru Chinnavaru (1999)". Archived from the original on 16 March 2022. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  20. ^ "Mugam (1999)".
  21. ^ "Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  22. ^ "Aalavandaan (2001)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  23. ^ "Punnagai Poove (2003) - IMDb". IMDb.
  24. ^ "FANTASTIKINDIA : Kaakha Kaakha". Archived from the original on 2 March 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  25. ^ "Maayavi (2005)".
  26. ^ "Sachein (2005)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  27. ^ "Thotti Jaya (2005) | Thotti Jaya Tamil Movie | Movie Reviews, Showtimes". 5 August 2005. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  28. ^ "Chennai Kadhal (2006)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  29. ^ "Thirumagan (2007) | Thirumagan Tamil Movie | Movie Reviews, Showtimes". 13 August 2006. Archived from the original on 26 January 2021. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  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. Archived from the original on 11 February 2021. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
  31. ^ "Kanthasamy (2009)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  32. ^ "Thuppakki (2012)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  33. ^ "Arima Nambi (2014)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  34. ^ "Kanithan (2016)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  35. ^ "Theri (2016)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  36. ^ "4 years of super hit 'Kabali': Kalaipuli S Thanu feels proud to have produced Rajinikanth's film". The Times of India. Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  37. ^ "Vellai Illa Pattathari 2 (2017)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  38. ^ "Indrajith (2017)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  39. ^ "Sketch (2018)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  40. ^ "60 Vayathu Maaniram (2018)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  41. ^ "Thuppakki Munai (2018)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  42. ^ "Hippi (2019)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  43. ^ "Asuran (2019)". MovieBuff. Archived from the original on 3 November 2019. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
  44. ^ "Dhanush's film with Mari Selvaraj is titled Karnan. Sivaji Ganesan's fans are not happy". 9 January 2020. Archived from the original on 14 February 2021. 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. Archived from the original on 27 January 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2020.
  46. ^ "Dhanush's 'Naane Varuven' to hit screens on September 29". The Hindu. 20 September 2022. Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 28 September 2022.
  47. ^ "Test shoot of Suriya Vetrimaaran movie Vaadivaasal happened". Times Of India. Archived from the original on 20 March 2022. Retrieved 23 March 2022.
  48. ^ "Producer Kalaipuli Thanu will release Vikranth's next film Thaakka Thaakka". behindwoods.com. 13 June 2015. Archived from the original on 8 December 2017. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  49. ^ "Thanu procures world distribution rights of 'Ner Ethir'". Sify. Archived from the original on 16 January 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2017.
  50. ^ "Kalaipuli Thanu to release Pathinaru!". Sify. Archived from the original on 25 January 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2017.

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