Jai Akash

Jai Akash, also known as Akash, is an Indian actor, who acted in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films.^[2] He is famously known for the film Anandam (2001).

Jai Akash
Jai Akash
Born	Jai Sathish Nageswaran[1] (1981-03-18) 18 March 1981 (age 44) Colombo, Sri Lanka
Other names	Akash
Occupation(s)	Actor, Director
Years active	1999-Present

Career

Jai Sathish, of Sri Lankan Tamil origin settled in London, sent his modelling photographs to the "Star Search" service run by Suhasini's entertainment portal website TamilTalkies.com during the late 1990s. K. Balachander used the 'Star Search' platform when casting a new actor to portray the second hero role in Rojavanam (1999) and selected him to be in the film under the stage name of Akash.^[3]

Akash's first Telugu film, Anandam, directed by Sreenu Vaitla and produced by Ramoji Rao, was a Silver Jubilee film for which Akash won many awards for his excellent natural acting. He became an overnight sensation who gained renowned attention from many top producers and directors. However, Akash elected to select projects with new directors, but most of these projects were produced by struggling producers. He acted in several Telugu films including the unreleased June July opposite Actress Sadha, Pilisthe Palukutha opposite Shamitha Shetty, directed by Kodi Ramakrishna, the songs of which composed by M. M. Keeravani became a hit, especially the song "Manasa Ottu Maatadothu".^[4]

He returned to Tamil as a lead with the film Inidhu Inidhu Kadhal Inidhu (2003), a remake of Anandam, opposite Neha, which was again produced by Ramoji Rao. He was credited as Jai Akash due to the presence of Aravind Akash, an actor with a similar name.^[1] In 2004, he teamed up with Sreenu Vaitla again in Anandamanandamaye.

He also starred in six Tamil films between 2004 and 2005; Ramakrishna, Kicha Vayasu 16, Gurudeva, Sevvel, Amudhae and Kaatrullavarai. The Tamil films he acted as hero were with top Tamil directors, such as Agathiyan and Ezhil, but those films didn't get proper release.

Jai Akash again returned to the Telugu film industry as a second hero and acted in three films produced by Super Good Films, namely Andala Ramudu (2006), Nava Vasantham (2007) and Gorintaku (2008). All of these three films became super hit and again Akash received many offers to star as a hero in Telugu. In 2009, he acted and directed a Telugu film named, Sweet Heart, and also acted in the Tamil romantic movie, Adada Enna Azhagu.^[5] In 2010, he starred in a bilingual movie,Vandae Maatharam, where he played alongside Mammootty and Arjun Sarja along with a huge array of actors in supporting roles.^[6]

After a break in directing, Jai Akash returned as a director and acted in the film Ayudha Porattam (2011), which dealt with the issue of arms supply to the island nation of Sri Lanka during the civil war.^[7] Following which, he also worked as a director and acted as a hero in the films Kadhalan Kadhali (2011), Yuganiki Okka Premikudu (2012), Mr. Rajesh (2013) and Aa Iddaru (2013). A notable mention to his self-directed Telugu film, Mr. Rajesh, where he acted in seven roles.^[8]

Jai Akash entered the television field in 2020 with the Tamil soap opera Neethane Enthan Ponvasantham which premiered on 24 February 2020.^[9] In 2023, he entered the Telugu television field with the series Anu Ane Nenu. In 2024, he returned to the Tamil television industry with the series, Nenjathai Killadhe.

Personal Life

He was rumoured to be the former lover of Actor Vijay's wife Sangeetha. However, Jai Akash has denied this and stated he is only acquainted with Sangeetha through Tamil school in London and nothing more.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Language	Notes
1999	Rojavanam	Siva	Tamil
2000	Penngal	Bharath Nageswaran
2001	Ramma Chilakamma	Vishwa	Telugu
	Anandam	Kiran
2002	Roja Kootam	Sriram	Tamil
	Idemi Oorura Babu		Telugu
	Neetho Cheppalani	Balu
	Manasutho	Kanishk
	Pilisthe Palukutha	Ajay
2003	Hitech Students	Akash
	Inidhu Inidhu Kadhal Inidhu	Sibi	Tamil
	Vasantham	Michael	Telugu
	Three Roses	Akash	Tamil	Guest appearance
2004	Anandamanandamaye	Kiran	Telugu
	Ramakrishna	Ramakrishna	Tamil
2005	Kicha Vayasu 16	Krishnamoorthy
	Gurudeva	Guru
	Sevvel	Sevvel
	Amudhae	Dhinakar
	Guru	Guru	Telugu
	Kaatrullavarai	Bala	Tamil
2006	Naidu LLB	Lawyer	Telugu	[10]
	Andala Ramudu	Raghu	Telugu
2007	Jambada Hudugi	Rakesh	Kannada
	Nava Vasantham	Prasad	Telugu
	Dhee	Ajay
2008	Nesthama	Ravi
	Gorintaku	Akash
	Heegu Unte		Kannada
2009	Adada Enna Azhagu	Vasan	Tamil
	Sweet Heart	Raja	Telugu
2010	Namo Venkatesa	Ajay
	Jayahe		Kannada	Dubbed into Telugu as Lady Bruce Lee
	Vandae Maatharam	Ashok	Malayalam Tamil
2011	Ayudha Porattam	Jai / Leader	Tamil	dual role; also director
	Othigai	Suriya
	Kadhalan Kadhali			also director
2012	Madhan			also director
	Yuganiki Okka Premikudu	Gautam	Telugu	also director
2013	Win	Arya		partially reshot in Tamil[11]
	Mr. Rajesh	Seven Characters		also director
	Aa Iddaru	Subash		also director
2014	Kadhalukku Kanillai	Murali / Anand	Tamil	also director[12]
	Donga Prema		Telugu	also director
2015	O Malli
2016	Naan Yaar	Shiva	Tamil	also executive producer and story writer
2017	Aama Naan Porukkithan
2019	Chennai 2 Bangkok	Jai		Also choreographer
2022	Amaichar
2023	Yokkiyan	John / Victor
	Jai Vijayam	Jai		also director, producer and writer

As distributor

• Oruthal (2016)^[13]

Television

Year	Series	Role	Language	Channel
2020–2021	Neethane Enthan Ponvasantham	Surya Prakash (Surya)	Tamil	Zee Tamil
2022	Thavamai Thavamirundhu	ACP M. Abhimanyu
2023	Anu Ane Nenu	Dr. Venkatesh	Telugu	Gemini TV
2024-2025	Nenjathai Killadhe	Goutham	Tamil	Zee Tamil

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Film	Result[14]
2002	Cinema Express Awards	Best Actor	Anandam	Won[15]
2002	Vamsi Film Awards	Best New Actor	Anandam	Won
2002	NTR film Awards	Best Actor	Anandam	Won
2002	Andhra Cine Awards	Best Actor	Anandam	Won
2003	Santosham Award	Best Supporting Actor	Vasantam	Won
2009	Santosham Award	Best Character Actor	Gorintaku	Won[16]
2007	Santosham Award	Best Actor Jury Award	Nava Vasantham	Won