Periya Karuppu Thevar

Periya Karuppu Thevar Biography

Periya Karuppu Thevar is a film actor known for doing character roles in Tamil cinema. He is also a well-known folk singer of Tamil Nadu. He has also done playback singing for a few Tamil movies. Fondly called PKT by his friends and dear ones, he was one of the well-established names of folk music in Tamil. He has played character roles on silver screen since 1980s till his death in 2012. Murattu Kaalai and Aadukalam are among his last releases. The actor had starred in more than 200 films, which include his popular roles in Karagattakaran, Pithamagan, Aravaan and Mann Vasanai.

Periya Karuppa Thevar was born in 1936 in Karumathur, Madurai District. He started off his professional career with amateur dramas, and was associated with the famous drama company of Sankaradoss Swamigal during his younger days. While on stage as an actor, he carried away with the role of singer as well. He received appreciation for both his acting and singing talents. He started accepting supporting roles for films since early 1980s, and Alaigal Oivathillai in 1981 was one among them. With 1990s, he concentrated more on his film roles, and stayed active for more than two decades in the industry till he passed away in 2012 following a massive heart attack, aged 75.

He was married and had 4 sons. His sons work in film industry. His elder son, P. Virumandi works as assistant director in the industry, and has also essayed a few character roles. His second son, P. Karthik works as assistant art director in the industry. He sang "Karumathur Katukulae" - a hugely popular festival song in Kamal Haasan’s Virumaandi. He is best known as a character artist in the film industry, notably playing grandfather kind of roles towards the end of his career.

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Updated: June 20, 2018