Arun Pandian

Arun Pandian is an Indian actor, film director, film producer and politician who predominately works in Tamil films. He began his career as an actor as part of the critically acclaimed film Oomai Vizhigal (1986). After retiring from acting, he took the post of chief producer for the London-based Ayngaran International, a film production and distribution company, however, he later started his own production and distribution company A&P Groups.

Arun Pandian
Member of the Legislative Assembly
In office 11 May 2011 – 11 May 2016
Preceded by	M. V. R. Veera Kabilan
Succeeded by	M. Govindarasu
Constituency	Peravurani
Personal details
Born	Arun Pandian Chellaiah (1958-07-13) 13 July 1958 (age 66) Batticaloa, Dominion of Ceylon
Spouse	Vijaya
Children	3 including Keerthi Pandian
Relatives	Ramya Pandian (niece), Ashok Selvan (Son-in-law)
Occupation	Actor, director, producer, politician

He is the secretary of South Indian Film Financiers Association (Siffa) and he is also the president of South Indian Film Exporters Association (Sifea).^[1][2]

Politics

He became a Member of Legislative Assembly in 2011 after contesting in the Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election as a Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK) candidate for the constituency of Peravurani.^[3][4][5] On 21 February 2016, Arun Pandian and nine other MLAs tendered their resignations prior to the Assembly election in the state.^[6] On 25 February 2016, he joined the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) in the presence of party general secretary and the then Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayalalithaa.^[7][8]

Family and education

Arun Pandian was born on 13 July 1958 as the son of retired Lieutenant colonel D. P. Chellaiah and resides in Tirunelveli.^[9] His late brother C. Durai Pandian directed the film Uzhiyan (1994) with Arun Pandian starring in the lead role.^[10] He has three daughters including Kavitha Pandian (who worked as a producer) and Keerthi Pandian.^[9] He holds a Bachelors in economics from Madras University.^[9] His daughter Keerthi and his niece Ramya Pandian are working as actresses.

Filmography

Tamil films

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1982	Ilanjodigal
1985	Chidambara Rahasiyam	Arun
1986	Oomai Vizhigal	Vijay
1987	Vilangu	Babu
	Oor Kuruvi	Vasanth
1990	Inaindha Kaigal	Major David Kumar
1991	Adhikari	Duraipandi	Dubbed into Telugu as Customs Officer
1992	Kottai Vaasal	Velu, Sendhoorapandi	Dual roles
1993	Mutrugai	Balakrishnan	Dubbed into Telugu as Lakshyam
1994	Uzhiyan	Thilakan	Dubbed into Telugu as Indian Citizen
1995	Asuran	DSP Prasad	Dubbed into Telugu as Commando
	Raja Muthirai	Rajkumar IPS
1996	Thayagam	Bayilvan	Extended Guest Appearance
	Aavathum Pennale Azhivathum Pennale	DCP Anthony IPS	Dubbed into Telugu as Adhikari
	Thuraimugam	Johnny
1997	Roja Malare	Arun
	Kadavul	Thamizharasan	Dubbed into Telugu as Shakti
1998	Aasai Thambi	Vinodh
	Urimai Por	ACP Raja Yesu Mohamed
1999	Sivan	ACP Alex IPS
2000	Independence Day	SP Subhash IPS
	Veeranadai	Kottaisamy
	Puratchikkaaran	Anbu
2001	Rishi	Sathyan
	Kaatrukkenna Veli	LTTE soldier
2002	Devan	Alex Devan (Jackson)	Also director
2003	Vikadan	Inspector Selvakumar	Also director
2006	Thirupathi	ACP Murali
	Kovai Brothers	Dr. Gnanasekaran
2008	Inba	Mala Ganesan
	Madurai Ponnu Chennai Paiyan	Visa's uncle
2010	Thambi Arjuna	Chief Minister
	Virudhagiri	Franklin Williams
2015	Savaale Samaali	Himself	Cameo appearance
2021	Anbirkiniyal	Sivam
2022	Aadhaar	Yusuf
	Trigger	SI Sathya Moorthy
2024	Athomugam	Indrajith
	Demonte Colony 2	Dr. Richard

Films in other languages

Year	Film	Role	Language	Notes
1992	Prema Shikharam	Anthony	Telugu	Dubbed into Tamil as Rojakkal Unakkaga
1993	Dhadi	Sivaji	Telugu	Dubbed into Tamil as Police Attack
	Nakshathra Poratam	Bhagath		Dubbed into Tamil as Nakshatra Poratam
1994	Anokha Premyudh	Anthony	Hindi
	Neram	Shankar Dada	Telugu
	Dongala Rajyam	Surendran		Dubbed into Tamil as Chinna Durai Periya Durai
	Nyaya Rakshana
1996	Aayudha	Daniel	Kannada	Dubbed into Tamil as Thilagavathi CBI Dubbed into Telugu as CID
1997	Hai Bangalore	Vasudev	Kannada	Dubbed into Tamil as Time Bomb Dubbed into Telugu as Political Encounter
	Jackie Chan	ACP Simha		Dubbed into Tamil and Telugu as Jackie Chan
	Akka	Inspector Ajay		Dubbed into Tamil as Commissioner Ajay
	Central Jail	Prathap
	Lady Commissioner	Suraj		Dubbed into Tamil as Kiran I.P.S
	Lady Tiger			Dubbed into Tamil as Lady Tiger
	Yuva Shakthi	Yuvaraj		Dubbed into Tamil as Pulanaivu Thurai
1998	Amar Akbar Anthony	Anthony		Dubbed into Tamil as Rowdy Vamsam Dubbed into Telugu as Rowdy Vamsham
	King	Chandrahasa
1999	Naga Sakthi	Dhanush	Telugu	Dubbed into Tamil as Naga Devi
	Police	Vijay		Dubbed into Tamil as No. 1 Police
	The Killer	Gowda	Kannada	Dubbed into Tamil as Kakki Chattaya Karuppu Chattaya
2000	Independence Day	SP Subhash
	Nagulamma	Veeranna	Telugu	Dubbed into Tamil as Nagathamman
	Ee Tharam Nehru	CBI Officer Ranjith Kumar
	Sradha	Dr. Lucifer Munna	Malayalam	Dubbed into Tamil as Dhool Police
2001	Orey Thammudu		Telugu
2003	Daali		Kannada
2005	Dhairyam	Police inspector	Telugu
2007	Challenge	Arun

As producer

Year	Movie	Language
1988	Senthoora Poove	Tamil
1992	Kaviya Thalaivan
2002	Devan
2003	Vikadan
2008	Aegan
2009	Sarvam
	Peranmai
	Villu
2010	Angadi Theru
	Nandalala
2012	Murattu Kaalai
2015	Savaale Samaali
2017	Kalavaadiya Pozhuthugal
2018	Junga
2021	Anbirkiniyaal

As story writer

• Uzhiyan (1993)

As distributor

• Sakka Podu Podu Raja (2017)
• Velaikkaran (2017)
• Maayavan (2017)
• Sarkar (2018)
• Viswasam (2019)
• Romeo (2024)