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Atlee (director)
Indian film director, screenwriter and film producer (born 1986) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Arun Kumar (born 21 September 1986), known professionally as Atlee, is an Indian film director, screenwriter and film producer best known for his work in Tamil films. He initially worked as an assistant director under S. Shankar in the films Enthiran (2010) and Nanban (2012). He made his directorial debut with the film Raja Rani (2013), produced by Fox Star Studios, for which he was awarded Best Debut Director by the Vijay Award and the Tamil Nadu State Award for best dialogue writer.
Atlee has directed and written films like Theri, Mersal, and Bigil all featuring Vijay. Atlee made his debut in Hindi cinema with Jawan (2023), starring Shah Rukh Khan, which became an all-time blockbuster at the box office. He is currently making his Telugu film debut with AA22xA6, starring Allu Arjun.
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Career
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Atlee did a degree in visual communications in Sathyabama University, Chennai and made the short film En Mel Vizhundha Mazhaithuli, which won two national level awards. He then appealed to Mani Rathnam, S. Shankar and Gautham Vasudev Menon in search of work and Shankar agreed for him to work under him.[2] He began his career at the age of 25, as an assistant director for the films Enthiran (2010) and Nanban (2012), a remake of the Hindi film 3 Idiots. Another one of his short films, Mugaputhagam (2011), received a massive response from the public and across various media platforms.
In 2013, Atlee went on to make his directorial debut with Raja Rani, a rom com produced by A. R. Murugadoss. It starred Arya, Jai, Nayanthara, Nazriya Nazim, and Sathyaraj. It earned over ₹50 crores at the box office and won him the Best Debut Director award at the Vijay Awards.[3][4]
Following the success of Raja Rani, Atlee went on to direct his next film, Theri (2016), an emotional action thriller, produced by Kalaipuli S. Thanu, starring Vijay, Samantha, and Amy Jackson in the lead roles. It received positive reviews from the critics who praised the performances of the cast, soundtrack, score, cinematography, production design, and action sequences. Grossing over ₹150 crores at the box office, it emerged as a huge commercial success and became the second highest grossing Tamil of 2016.[5]
In 2017, Atlee went on to direct Mersal, an action thriller, produced by Thenandal Studio Limited. Again starring Vijay, it also had Nithya Menen, Kajal Aggarwal, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, S. J. Suryah, Sathyaraj, Vadivelu, Hareesh Peradi, and Kovai Sarala appear in pivotal supporting roles. It was a commercial success, becoming one of the highest-grossing films in Tamil cinema, grossing more than ₹260 crores worldwide. Best director award for the film Mersal in SIIMA awards in 2018. The film became the recipient of various accolades. The film was released on 6 December 2018 in China by HGC Entertainment. Due to demand, the film was screened at the largest cinema theatre in Europe Grand Rex, France. The film was screened at the Hainan International Film Festival in Hainan, China and at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea.[6]
Atlee directed his next film, Bigil (2019), a sports action drama, produced by AGS Entertainment. He reunited for the third and second time with Vijay and Nayanthara, respectively. It also starred Jackie Shroff, Vivek and Kathir in other prominent roles. The music was composed by A. R. Rahman. Upon release, it received fairly positive reviews and emerged as the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2019, collecting ₹305 crore upon its release. It also became one of the highest-grossing Tamil films of all-time and one of the highest-grossing film of Vijay's career.[7]
He also ventured into producing films. In 2017, Atlee and his wife, Priya Atlee, started their own production house, A for Apple Productions. They jointly produced their first film with Fox Star Studios, Sangili Bungili Kadhava Thorae, a horror comedy, written and directed by Ike. It starred Jiiva, Sri Divya, and Soori in the lead roles.[8]
In 2020, Atlee and Priya produced their second film, Andhaghaaram, a supernatural horror thriller film, written and directed by V. Vignarajan. It was produced by Priya Atlee, alongside Sudhan Sundaram, and Jayaram, under their banner, Passion Studio and K. Poornachandra's O2 Pictures. It starred Arjun Das, Vinoth Kishan, and Kumar Natarajan in the lead roles along with Pooja Ramachandran and Meesha Ghoshal in supporting roles. It was released directly on Netflix for streaming, on 24 November 2020.[9]
Atlee made his debut in Hindi cinema with Jawan,[10] starring Shah Rukh Khan, Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi, Priyamani, Sanya Malhotra, Riddhi Dogra, along with others. Deepika Padukone and Sanjay Dutt made a special appearance and cameo appearance, respectively, in the film. It was produced by Khan's wife, Gauri Khan, and Gaurav Verma, under Red Chillies Entertainment. The music was composed by Anirudh Ravichander. It released on 7 September 2023 to generally positive reviews from both the critics and audience, alike. It set the record for a Hindi film grossing ₹129 crores (US$12.9 million) on its opening day. It grossed ₹520.79 crores worldwide in its opening weekend. It made about ₹1150 crores worldwide in its entire run and become an all-time blockbuster at the box office.[11]
Atlee and Priya produced their third film in Hindi with Baby John starring Varun Dhawan, Keerthy Suresh, and Wamiqa Gabbi; its remake of his Tamil film, Theri (2016). The music was composed by Thaman S.[12][13] He will be collaborating with Allu Arjun and Sai Abhyankkar in AA22, which is being produced by Kalanithi Maran, under Sun Pictures.[14][15]
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Personal life
Atlee married actress Krishna Priya on 9 November 2014.[16] Their son was born on 13 January 2023.[17]
Filmography
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As director
As producer
As actor
Recurring collaborations
Editor Ruben, art director T. Muthuraj and actor Sai Dheena have worked on five of Atlee's films. Shobi and Yogi Babu has worked on four of his films. This list only concerns Atlee's directorial films.
Plagiarism allegations
Atlee's films, though commercially successful, have been criticized for having overly-familiar stories that have been done-to-death, starting from the 1980s of Tamil cinema. Raja Rani was described as an upgraded version of Mouna Ragam (1986), while Theri was described as having been highly inspired by Chatriyan (1990). Chatriyan was produced by veteran filmmaker Mani Ratnam, while Mouna Ragam was the latter's own directional film.[20] Mersal was described as an upgraded version of Apoorva Sagodharargal (1989) as well as Moondru Mugam (1982).[21] Bigil was described as "Chak De! India on steroids".[22] Atlee has countered that, despite having been sued for plagiarism numerous times, he has won all the cases filed against him.[23]
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Accolades
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References
External links
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