A. Sarkunam

A. Sarkunam Biography

A. Sarkunam is a National award winning film director of Tamil film industry. In 2011, his highly acclaimed film - Vaagai Sooda Vaa earned National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil. Started his directorial debut with Kalavani in 2010, Naiyaandi (2013) starring Dhanush and Nazriya Nazim and Chandi Veeran (2015) starring Atharvaa and Anandhi in the leading roles are his other releases. In 2014, he started new production company "A Sarkunam Cinemaz" and his brother A. Nandha Kumar also joined him to produce the film – Manjapai as the debut venture.

A. Sarkunam started his film journey as an assistant director of Tamil film industry. He has been an associate of the successful Tamil director A.L Vijay before he made his directorial debut with Kalavani in 2010. The movie starred Vimal and Oviya in lead roles. Received positive reviews from critics, Kalavani was a sleeper hit at box office. It was a romantic comedy film scripted by Sarkunam himself. Vaagai Sooda Vaa was his second venture as a film director which earned National Film Award for Regional Film. He teamed up with Vimal once again and the lead heroine was newcomer Iniya. Set in the 1960s in a remote village in Tamil Nadu, the movie was highly praised by critics.

Known for selecting rural themes his movies have been critically and commercially appreciated. After these two movies based on the backdrop of villages, he made Naiyaandi (2013) starring Dhanush and Nazriya Nazim, which was for the first time criticized by critics. Yet the movie was a box office hit. Loosely based on the script of Malayalam blockbuster, the movie introduced a lot of controversies including a stay in Kerala release by its Malayalam producer, Mani C. Kappan who was planning to remake the Malayalam classic to Tamil. Second controversy was surrounding its lead actress Nazriya Nazim who accused the director of using a body double for a few shots. Later the movie was released with a few cuts, and Nazriya's actions were negatively received by the Tamil film fraternity accusing it as a public stunt. The controversies did help in making the film a box office hit.

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Updated: January 31, 2016