A. P. Nagarajan

A. P. Nagarajan Biography

A. P. Nagarajan – the myth master was great film maker associated with Tamil and Telugu cinema, known for producing and directing many trendsetting movies during the era of 1960s and 1970s. His full name is Akkamappettai Paramasivan Nagarajan. Apart from a film producer and director, he was also known as an actor and screenwriter. He set a trend in the 1960s with his mythological films and is known to be the Master of mythological cinema. A self-taught artist, Thiruvilayadal, Saraswathi Sabatham, Thiruvarutchelvar and Thillana Mohanambal are among his big hits. Noted character artist of Tamil cinema, Vadivukkarasi is his niece.

He was born in a family of wealthy landowners in Mannargudi, Tiruvarur district in 1928. Kuppuswamy is his birth name. He lost both this parents in his childhood, that too in a gap of just a few months. Later he was brought up by his maternal grandmother, who introduced him to the world of theatre. She admitted him to a drama company. Later Kuppuswamy joined Avvai T. K. Shanmugam's drama company. There he found so many persons with the name Kuppuswamy and so changed his name to Nagarajan. As a stage actor, he rose to fame through the lead in the play “Gumasthavin Penn” and very soon he became a remarkable actor. Associated with many troupes, he worked with Sivaji Ganesan and Kaka Radhakrishnan also.

He started his own drama company, the Pazhani Kadiravan Nadaga Sabha. After staging so many plays and playing different roles as playwright, actor and director, he made one of those plays to a feature film - “Nalvar” in 1953. Apart from his home production, he acted in movies of other directors as well. Sampoorna Ramayanam (1958) was his first mythological film, which marked his illustrious journey of similar movies, which earned him fame and recognition. Vadivukku Valaigaappu (1962) marked his directorial debut. In 1965, Thiruvilayadal starring Sivaji Ganeshan created new box office records. He was active in the film scene till his death in 1977, and his last film Navarathinam was released the same year.

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Updated: February 20, 2016