Kalaipuli S. Thanu

Kalaipuli S. Thanu (pronounced [ðaːnu]) is an Indian film producer, director and distributor, known for his films in Tamil cinema. He has produced several films through his two companies, V Creations and Kalaipuli Films International. Many of his films have been commercially successful, three of which are among the top-ten highest grossing Tamil films. He has won two National Film Awards, two Cinema Express Awards and one Filmfare Awards South.

Kalaipuli S. Thanu
Born	(1958-06-25) 25 June 1958 (age 67) North Arcot, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupations	Producer distributor director
Years active	1985–present
Spouse	Kala
Children	3
Honours	Kalaimamani 2020[1]

Personal life

Thanu is married to Kala. Their son Kalaprabhu made his directorial debut with Sakkarakatti (2008).^[2] Thanu also has a daughter Kavitha.^[3]

Career

S. Thanu began his career as a film financier and distributor, before becoming a producer and a partner at Kalaipuli Films with S. Thanu and Soori with Yaar? (1985), being their debut film as producers.^[4][5] He initially started as a publicity designer being responsible for christening Rajinikanth as "Superstar" and creating a 35 feet cutout of him in a theatre.^[6] He started his own company V. Creations and went on to produce commercially successful films with Vijayakanth in Cooliekkaran (1987), Nallavan (1988) and Pudhu Padagan (1990). His Vanna Vanna Pookkal (1992) directed by Balu Mahendra won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil. He also did in a cameo appearance for a film Magalir Mattum in 1994.^[7] Kizhakku Cheemayile (1993) and Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000) won the Cinema Express Award for Best Film – Tamil. He has also produced films with Suriya in Kaakha Kaakha (2003), Maayavi (2005) and with Vijay in Sachein (2005), Thuppakki (2012) and Theri (2016). He collaborated with Rajinikanth for the first time for Kabali (2016).^[8]

He has produced four films for Dhanush such as Velaiilla Pattadhari 2 (2017), Asuran (2019), Karnan (2021) and Naane Varuvean (2022).

Companies

Thanu owns Kalaipuli Films and V Creations. The former company was registered as a private company on 8 March 2004, and the CEO of the latter is Thanu's other son Paranthaman.^[9][10]

Filmography

As actor

Year	Film	Role
1994	Magalir Mattum	Tailor who is fond of Tamil

As producer

Year	Film	Director(s)	Notes	Ref.
1985	Yaar?	Sakthi-Kannan		[11]
1987	Cooliekkaran	Rajasekhar		[12]
1988	Nallavan	S. P. Muthuraman		[13]
1990	Pudhu Padagan	S. Thanu	Also Director	[14]
1991	Thaiyalkaran	S. P. Muthuraman		[15]
1992	Vanna Vanna Pookkal	Balu Mahendra		[16]
1993	Kizhakku Cheemayile	Bharathiraja		[17]
1997	V. I. P.	Sabapathy Dekshinamurthy		[18]
1999	Mannavaru Chinnavaru	P. N. Ramachandra Rao		[19]
	Mugam	Gnana Rajasekaran		[20]
2000	Kandukondain Kandukondain	Rajiv Menon		[21]
2001	Aalavandhan	Suresh Krissna		[22]
2003	Punnagai Poove	Sabapathy Dekshinamurthy		[23]
	Kaakha Kaakha	Gautham Vasudev Menon		[24]
2005	Maayavi	Singampuli		[25]
	Sachein	John Mahendran		[26]
	Thotti Jaya	V. Z. Durai		[27]
2006	Chennai Kadhal	Vikraman		[28]
2007	Thirumagan	M. Rathnakumar		[29]
2008	Sakkarakatti	Kala Prabhu		[30]
2009	Kanthaswamy	Susi Ganesan		[31]
2012	Thuppakki	AR Murugadoss		[32]
2014	Arima Nambi	Anand Shankar		[33]
2016	Kanithan	T. N. Santosh		[34]
	Theri	Atlee Kumar		[35]
	Kabali	Pa. Ranjith		[36]
2017	Velaiilla Pattadhari 2	Soundarya Rajinikanth		[37]
	Indrajith	Kala Prabhu		[38]
2018	Sketch	Vijay Chandar		[39]
	60 Vayadu Maaniram	Radha Mohan		[40]
	Thuppakki Munai	Dinesh Selvaraj		[41]
2019	Hippi	Krishna	Telugu film	[42]
	Asuran	Vetrimaaran		[43]
2021	Karnan	Mari Selvaraj		[44]
	Naarappa	Srikanth Addala	Telugu film	[45]
2022	Naane Varuvean	Selvaraghavan		[46]
2024	Max	Vijay Karthikeyaa	Kannada film
TBA	Train †	Mysskin
TBA	Vaadivaasal †	Vetrimaaran		[47]

As distributor

• 1996 - Delhi Diary (Tamil dubbed)
• 1996 - Siraichaalai (Tamil dubbed)
• 2004 - Gharshana (Telugu)
• 2010 - Milaga
• 2010 - Thottupaar
• 2011 - Pathinaaru^[48]
• 2011 - Maaveeran (Tamil dubbed)
• 2011 - Urumi
• 2014 - Ner Ethir^[49]
• 2014 - Yennamo Yedho
• 2015 - Thakka Thakka^[50]
• 2015 - Vellaiya Irukiravan Poi Solla Maatan
• 2016 - Meendum Oru Kadhal Kadhai
• 2016 - Parandhu Sella Vaa
• 2017 - Velaiilla Pattadhari 2
• 2019 - Lucifer (Tamil dubbed)
• 2019 - Kurukshetra (Tamil dubbed)
• 2021 - Maraikayar: Arabikadalin Singam (Tamil version)
• 2022 - Andhagan
• 2022 - Iravin Nizhal

Awards and honours

National Film Awards

• Won, Best Feature Film in Tamil for Vanna Vanna Pookkal (1992)
• Won, Best Feature Film in Tamil for Asuran (2019)

Cinema Express Awards

• Won, Best Film for Kizhakku Cheemayile (1993)
• Won, Best Film for Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000)

Filmfare Awards South

• Won, Best Film for Kandukondain Kandukondain (2000)
• Nominated, Best Film for Kaakha Kaakha (2003)
• Nominated, Best Film for Thuppakki (2012)
• Nominated, Best Film for Theri (2016)
• Nominated, Best Film for Kabali (2016)
• Nominated, Best Film for Karnan (2021)

South Indian International Movie Awards

• Nominated, Best Film for Thuppakki (2012)
• Nominated, Best Film for Theri (2016)
• Nominated, Best Film for Asuran (2019)
• Nominated, Best Film for Karnan (2021)

Vijay Awards

• Won, Favourite Film for Thuppakki (2012)

Edison Awards

• Won, Best Film for Kabali (2016)

Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards

• Won, Most Popular Movie for Kabali (2016)

IIFA Utsavam

• Nominated, Best Film for Kabali (2016)

Norway Tamil Film Festival Awards

• Won, Best Film for Asuran (2019)