Years active 2014-present Role Film director Website Official Page Movies Raja Rani, Theri | Name Arun Kumar Marriage location Chennai Spouse Krishna Priya (m. 2014) | |
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Occupation Film director, screenwriter Height 5 ft 5 inch Nationality Indian Religion Hinduism Zodiac sign Virgo Similar Shah Rukh Khan, Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi |
Film director atlee speaks about the books he bought at chennai book fair
Atlee (born 21 September 1986 as Arun Kumar) is an Indian film director and screenwriter who works primarily in Tamil cinema. He is best known for his directorial debut Raja Rani (2013), produced by Fox Star Studios, for which he was awarded the Vijay Award for Best Debut Director. He worked as an assistant director under filmmaker S. Shankar for the films Enthiran (2010) and Nanban (2012). His Second film was with Ilayathalapathi Vijay titled as Theri which was a Blockbuster became second highest grossing South Indian film of 2016. His third film is again with Vijay and it is 61st film which named Mersal, produced by Sri Thenandal Films. Shooting of the film started from 1 February 2017.,
Contents
- Film director atlee speaks about the books he bought at chennai book fair
- Director atlee explains knowledge gained from shankar shankar revealed colleagues explained
- Career
- Personal life
- Casting
- References

Director atlee explains knowledge gained from shankar shankar revealed colleagues explained

Born in Madurai, Atlee spent all his "growing years" in Chennai. Atlee, aka Arun Kumar, did his Visual Communications at Sathyabhama University.


Career
Atlee began his career at the age of 19, as an assistant director to director S. Shankar for the films Enthiran (2010) and Nanban (2012), a remake of the Hindi film 3 Idiots. His short film, Mugaputhagam (2011), received a massive response from the public and across various media platforms. In 2013, Atlee launched his directorial career with "Raja Rani," a romantic comedy financed by A. R. Murugadoss, Fox Star Studios, and Next Big Films. The film featured Arya, Jai, Nayanthara, Nazriya Nazim, and Sathyaraj in leading roles. Achieving commercial success, "Raja Rani" grossed over ₹50 crores in box office revenue and garnered Atlee the Best Debut Director accolade at the Vijay Awards.
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 mixed reviews from the critics who praised the performances of the cast, soundtrack, score, cinematography, production design, and action sequences. Grossing over ₹156 crores at the box office, it emerged as a huge commercial success and became the second highest grossing Tamil of 2016.
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. Surya, 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 ₹250 crores worldwide. 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.
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 mixed-to-positive reviews and emerged as the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2019, collecting ₹310 crore upon its release. It also became one of the highest-grossing Tamil films of all-time and highest-grossing film of Vijay's career.
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.
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 Misha Ghoshal in supporting roles. It was released directly on Netflix for streaming, on 24 November 2020.
Atlee made his debut in Hindi cinema with Jawan, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi, Priyamani, Sanya Malhotra, Ridhi 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 ₹75 crores (US$9.4 million) on its opening day. It grossed ₹520.79 crores worldwide in its opening weekend.
Personal life
After courting for about 8 years, Atlee was engaged to actress Krishna Priya, whom he married in November 2014.
Casting

Atlee also worked with Arya, Jai, Nazriya Nazim, Nayanthara, and Santhanam in Raja Rani. Prabhu, Raadhika Sarathkumar, and Kaali Venkat director J. Mahendran (Mullum Malarum and Uthiripookkal) Negative role in theri and he currently working in Mersal with Kajal Aggarwal, Vadivelu, Kovai Sarala, Yogi Babu and Cheenu Mohan. he create three director as antagonist in his film J. Mahendran (Mullum Malarum and Uthiripookkal) played main antagonist in Theri, Azhagam Perumal (Dumm Dumm Dumm and Udhaya) in played side antagonist in Theri and S. J. Surya most powerfull antagonist work in Mersal. He also worked with Sivakarthikeyan and Sathish in many short films especially in Mugaputhagam and it`s turning point for Atlee's, Shivakarthikeyan's and Sathish's career in the silver screen. In Raja Rani, it is claimed that Sivakarthikeyan was about to play as Surya (Ex-Lover of Regina) with Nayanthara but he got replaced by Jai due to Shivakarthikeyan's tight schedule of films.