Kalidas Jayaram

In this Indian name, the name Jayaram is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Kalidas.

Kalidas Jayaram (born 16 December 1993) is an Indian actor who appears predominantly in Tamil and Malayalam films.^[2] The son of film actors Jayaram and Parvathy, Kalidas made his debut in the Malayalam film Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal (2000) at the age of six.^[3][4] Later, he starred in Ente Veedu Appuvinteyum (2003), which won him the National Film Award for Best Child Artist.^[5]

Kalidas Jayaram
Born	(1993-12-16) 16 December 1993 (age 31)[1] Perumbavoor, Kerala, India
Alma mater	Loyola College, Chennai
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2000‍–‍2003 (child artist) 2016‍–‍present
Spouse	Tarini Kalingarayar ​ (m. 2024)​
Parents	Jayaram (father) Parvathy Jayaram (mother)

Early and personal life

Kalidas was born the elder of two children, to actors Jayaram and Parvathy in Perumbavoor, Kerala, India.^[6] He has a younger sister Malavika Jayaram. He did his schooling from Padma Seshadri Bala Bhavan, Chennai^[7] and his plus-two from Choice School, Cochin, Kerala. He received his Bachelor's degree in Visual Communication from Loyola College, Chennai.^[8]

Like his father, he is good at imitating actors, and the mimicry performed during a Vijay TV award show and an advertisement for a chocolate brand made him familiar to people.^[9]

He married Tarini Kalingarayar, who was third runner up of Miss Diva 2021, on December 8 2024.^[10][11]

Career

A young Kalidas receiving the Best Child Artist award from Indian President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam

At the age of 7, he made his debut in Sathyan Anthikad's Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal (2000).^[12][13] He received the National Award for Best Child Artist for his second film Ente Veedu Appuvinteyum (2003).^[14][15]

In 2016, he made his debut in Tamil cinema with Meen Kuzhambum Mann Paanaiyum (2016).^[16][17]

He made his debut as a lead actor in Malayalam cinema in Poomaram (2018).^[18] Next, Kalidas had 3 releases: Mr. & Ms. Rowdy (2019),^[19][20] Argentina Fans Kaattoorkadavu (2019)^[21][22] and Happy Sardar (2019).^[23][24]

His work on OTT, especially in Paava Kadhaigal (2020) have brought him critical acclaim. His role as Sathar in Sudha Kongara's short, Thangam, saw him portray the role of a trans woman.^[25] Kalidas played the lead in Balaji Tharaneetharan's second directorial venture Oru Pakka Kathai (2020).^[26]

He has since played supporting roles in the action films Vikram (2022) and Raayan (2024).

Filmography

Films

Key

†	Denotes film or TV productions that have not yet been released

List of Kalidas Jayaram film credits

Year	Title	Role	Language	Notes	Ref.
2000	Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal	Ashok	Malayalam	Child artist	[27]
2003	Ente Veedu Appuvinteyum	Vasudev	Malayalam	Child artist	[28]
2016	Meen Kuzhambum Mann Paanaiyum	Karthik	Tamil		[29]
2018	Poomaram	Gauthaman	Malayalam
2019	Mr. & Ms. Rowdy	Appu	Malayalam		[30]
	Argentina Fans Kaattoorkadavu	Vipinan	Malayalam
	Happy Sardar	Happy Singh	Malayalam		[31]
2020	Putham Pudhu Kaalai	Younger Rajiv Padmanabhan	Tamil	Anthology film; segment Ilamai Idho Idho	[32]
	Paava Kadhaigal	Sathaar	Tamil	Anthology film; segment Thangam	[33]
	Oru Pakka Kathai	Saravanan	Tamil		[34]
2021	Backpackers	Khalil	Malayalam		[35]
2022	Jack N' Jill	Kesh	Malayalam		[36]
	Vikram	Prabhanjan	Tamil		[37]
	Natchathiram Nagargiradhu	Iniyan	Tamil		[38]
2023	Rajni	Naveen	Malayalam	Bilingual film	[39]
	Aval Peyar Rajni		Tamil
2024	Por	Yuvaraj			[40][41]
	Indian 2	Nilesh Krishnaa		Cameo appearance	[42]
	Raayan	Manickavelraayan			[43]

Web series

List of Kalidas Jayaram web series credits

Year	Title	Role	Language	Notes	Ref.
2022	Paper Rocket	Jeeva	Tamil	Released on ZEE5

Discography

List of Kalidas Jayaram film credits for music

Year	Song	Film	Co-singer	Language	Music director
2003	"Thappo Thappo"	Ente Veedu Appuvinteyum	Jayaram	Malayalam	Ouseppachan
2005	"Angethala"	Udayon	Shankar Mahadevan and Mohanlal	Malayalam	Ouseppachan

As voice artist

List of Kalidas Jayaram film credits as voice artist

Year	Title	Language	Character	Director
2005	Udayon	Malayalam	Ponnan	Bhadran

Short films and Music Videos

List of Kalidas Jayaram short film and music video credits

Year	Film	Role	Language	Notes
2020	Did You Sleep With Her	Akku	Malayalam	Short film
2021	Thappu Panniten	Male lead	Tamil	Music album

Awards

List of awards and nominations received by Kalidas Jayaram

Year	Award	Category	Film	Result	Ref.
2001	Asianet Film Awards	Best Child Artist (Male)	Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal	Won	[citation needed]
2003	National Film Awards	Best Child Artist	Ente Veedu Appuvinteyum		[44]
	Kerala State Film Awards	Best Child Artist			[45]
	Asianet Film Awards	Best Child Artist			[citation needed]
2017	6th South Indian International Movie Awards	Best Debut Actor (Tamil)	Meen Kuzhambum Mann Paanaiyum		[citation needed]
2019	21st Asianet Film Awards	Best New Face Actor	Poomaram		[46]
	Vanitha Film Awards[47]	Best New Face Actor			[48]
2021	Blacksheep Digital Awards	Best Actor OTT	Paava Kadhaigal		[49]
	Behindwoods Gold Icon	Best Actor (Critics)			[50]
	JFW Movie Awards	Special Recognition OTT			[51]
	10th South Indian International Movie Awards	Best Supporting Actor (Male) - Tamil			[52]