Vishnuvardhan Kulasekaran

Known for directing movies such as Billa (2007) and Arrambam (2013), Vishnuvardhan Kulasekaran is an Indian director who primarily works in the Tamil film industry. He made his directorial debut in 2003 with the movie Kurumbu and has also appeared as an actor in movies such as Yatchan (2015), Isai (2015), and The Terrorist (1998).

EARLY LIFE
Vishnuvardhan was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India, and has a younger brother named Krishna who is an actor working in the Tamil film industry as well. His father, Kulasekaran, who is now a producer, was a former businessman. Vishnuvardhan completed his schooling from the St. Bede's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School and graduated from the Loyola College, Chennai, where she studied Visual Communication.

PERSONAL LIFE
Vishnuvardhan is married to Anu Vardhan, who works as a costume designer in the Tamil film industry and is the granddaughter of the Tamil actor and singer N.S. Krishnan. Vishnuvardhan and Anu were classmates and had also worked with Santosh Sivan. Anu ha worked as a costume designer in most of Vishnuvardhan's movies.

MOVIE CAREER
As an Actor
During their schooling days, Vishnuvardhan and his brother Krishna regularly participated in dance and drama. At the time, acclaimed director Mani Ratnam was looking to cast child actors for his movie Anjali (1990). Vishnuvardhan's school suggested his name, and along with his brother, he shot for a dance sequence in the movie Anjali. Seven years later, he was once again cast by Mani Ratnam in the movie Iruvar (1997): Vishnuvardhan essayed the role of young Vijaykanth. The following year, Santosh Sivan cast him in his debut venture The Terrorist (1998), it was on the sets of The Terrorist that the actor expressed his desire to direct films. He later went on to work as an assistant director to Sivan in several films.

As a Director
It was in 1997 that Vishnuvardhan first expressed his desire to direct movies. Owing to his passion, he went on to write the script for the movie Arinthum Ariyamalum, which he had planned to be his first movie. However, Gemini Color Labs, the production house that had produced The Terrorist, offered him to make a Tamil remake of the Telugu comedy Allari. Seeing an opportunity to begin his career as a director, Vishnuvardhan accepted the offer thinking he shouldn't ruin the chance. In 2003, he wrote and directed Kurumbu which went on to be a failure at the box office. After the disappointment of Kurumbu, Vishnuvardhan went back to his original script - Arinthum Ariyamalum (2005). The movie starring Prakash Raj, Arya, Navdeep, and Samiksha, turned out to be a critical and commercial success.

The following year he directed the critically acclaimed movie Pattiyal (2006) which is based on the Thai film Bangkok Dangerous released in 1999. Grossing 11 crore INR at the box office, Pattiyal was declared as a hit with Sify stating that Vishnuvardhan rewrote the rules of Tamil commercial cinema. His direction being praised, Vishnuvardhan was compared to Mani Ratnam. He then worked on the remake of the 1980 film Billa. The 2007 movie, titled Billa, starred Ajith Kumar, Nayanthara, and Namitha and was a blockbuster hit. The movie was also selected to be screened at the 61st Cannes Film Festival.

A couple of years later, the director released the film Sarvam (2009) which is based on Alejandro G. Inarritu's 21 Grams. However, unlike his previous two releases, the movie opened to mixed reviews. In 2011, he made his debut in the Telugu film industry with the movie Panjaa. An action romantic thriller, Panjaa (2011) starring Pawan Kalyan also turned out to be a failure at the box office and received negative critic reviews. His next release Arrambam (2013) starring Ajith Kumar, Nayantara, Arya, and Taapsee Pannu was a hit at the box office and received critical acclaim as well. Notable critic Baradwaj Rangan wrote: ''Arrambam is a feet-hands-face movie - the kind of hero-centric film made for fans. Vishnuvardhan manages a reasonable balance. Fans are likely to be delighted with a narrative that pumps up their hero's strengths (coolness; good comebacks, including a terrific punch line about fingerprints) and downplays his failings (dramatics)''. However, reportedly, the film was also criticized for lacking a creative touch as it had striking similarities with the Hollywood movie Swordfish (2001).

In 2015. Vishnuvardhan directed the movie Yatchan featuring Arya, Kreshna, Swati Reddy and Deepa Sannidhi. The action comedy film received mixed reviews at the box office and failed to impress the audience as well.