Karthik (actor)

Early life and background

Karthik was born in Chennai to R. Muthuraman, a popular Tamil actor. He is the fourth and youngest child of "Navarasa Thilagam" R.Muthuraman. He studied in St. Bede's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School in Chennai and at New College, Chennai and received a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Film career

Karthik was first introduced by Bharathiraja in the film Alaigal Oivathillai. He received the Best New Face Award from the Tamil Nadu Government in 1980. His film Vanna Kanavugal was a super hit at the box office and K.Balachander praised his performance in the film. He collaborated with leading film directors like Mani Ratnam, K. Balachander, Bharathiraja, Visu, R. Sundarrajan, Ameerjan, R. V. Udayakumar, Priyadarshan, Fazil, Vikraman, Agathiyan, Sundar C., K. S. Ravikumar, P. Vasu and K. V. Anand.

During earlier stages of his career, Karthik worked three times with R. V. Udaya Kumar and enjoyed great success in all their ventures. Later, he formed a partnership with Goundamani in many comedy movies. He was also well received by Tamil audience for his performance in "Nallavanukku Nallavan" in a challenging role against Rajinikanth. His pairing with Rambha was a hit with audience as the pair provided good hits in the 1990s.

Karthik received another breakthrough in his career by portraying a full-length comedy role in Sundar C's Ullathai Allitha (1996) alongside Rambha and Goundamani, then collaborated with the director again in another profitable venture, Mettukudi. He went on to win critical acclaim for his role in Gokulathil Seethai, and turned appeared in K. S. Ravikumar's Pistha, which also won good reviews. Karthik carried on his good streak at the box office in 1998, while also winning accolades for his performances in Vikraman's Unnidathil Ennai Koduthen, Cheyyar Ravi's Harichandra and Selva's Pooveli, and won a Tamil Nadu State Award for Best Actor. He became one of the busiest actors in the industry during the turn of the decade by featuring in several medium-budget comedy films, notably in four further Sundar C ventures including the successful Unakkaga Ellam Unakkaga (1999). His career as a lead actor subsequently began to peter out in the early 2000s, with several of his ventures opening with little publicity or being delayed after financial troubles. Towards the nadir in 2005, he signed on to appear in a negative role in Sathyaraj's Sivalingam IPS, but the film was shelved.

Karthik opted to make a comeback into acting in 2010 and chose to appear in supporting rather than leading roles, much like his contemporaries Prabhu and Sathyaraj. He was first seen portraying a caring police officer in Maanja Velu, before winning positive reviews for his small role as a forest guard in Mani Ratnam's Raavanan. He subsequently went on to play roles in P. Vasu's Puli Vesham (2011) and the Telugu film Om 3D, both of which failed at the box office. He also acted in a negative role in K. V. Anand's Anegan, where he appears alongside Dhanush.

Political career

Karthik entered politics ahead of the 2006 Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly election. He joined the All India Forward Bloc, and was appointed as the Secretary of the Tamil Nadu state unit of the party. He led the party during its electoral campaign on 24 September 2006. He later started his own party Ahila India Naadalum Makkal Katchi in 2009 before the Lok Sabha Elections. He contested from Virudhunagar constituency and got only 15000 votes.

2011 Assembly elections

Karthik's party tried alliance with AIADMK for the 2011 Assembly elections but AIADMK supremo denied tickets for his party. Karthik announced his party will contest alone in 25 to 40 seats after it was not allotted any seat in the AIADMK coalition. Karthik sat on a fast in Madurai demanding Madurai Airport be renamed as Pasumpon Thevar Airport. His party with sizeable Thevar votes in southern Tamil Nadu is believed to eat into the AIADMK votebank. In 2006, former AIADMK minister Nainar Nagendran lost by 2,000 votes in Tirunelveli, where Karthik's party polled more than the margin. Two weeks later he split from ADMK and announced his party will contest independently in 19 constituencies and support DMK in 213 constituencies.

Awards

Relationships

Karthik married actress Ragini in 1988 his co-star in the film Solaikuyil and the couple has two sons, actor Gautham Karthik and Ghayn Karthik. Later he also married Ragini's sister, Rathi, in 1992 and the couple have a son, Thiran Karthik.

Break from films

During the early 2000s, Karthik experienced a difficult period as he began to lose his popularity at the box office and new actors began to emerge in the Tamil film industry. He subsequently signed on to appear in several films, which were either dropped, shelved or indefinitely postponed during the period. Films including Prabhu Nepal's Kadhale Swasam alongside Meena, Sundar C's Kadhal Solla Vandhen with Isha Koppikar and Gowri Manohar's Kashmir with Priyanka Trivedi, had audio release events but failed to have a theatrical release. Likewise, other ventures including Mahesh's Manathil alongside Kausalya, Soundarrajan's Click co-starring Prabhu and Selva's Kai Korthu Vaa progressed before being halted. Similarly, other projects in the early 2000s such as Gurudeva with Rimjim, Muthalaam Santhippil with Kausalya again and Enrum Unnai Naesippaen were dropped soon after filming had begun. During the nadir in 2002, Karthik was signed on by producer Keyaar to make a film titled Enna Peyar Veikalaam directed by Vincent Selva. Despite travelling to Pollachi for the shoot, the actor refused to emerge from his hotel room, and following an extended period of confusion, the film was called off and the Nadigar Sangam began legal proceedings against the actor.

In 2004, Karthik suggested that "his acts and habits" had landed him in trouble and was looking to make a comeback. He subsequently appeared in "comeback" films such as Kushti (2006) and Kalakkura Chandru (2007), both of which had delayed releases and went unnoticed at the box office. Other ventures that the actor described as "comeback projects" such as Kicha's Unnidathil and Raj Kapoor's Sivalingam IPS, were shelved midst production. Later in 2006, he revealed that he had quit taking drugs and was keen to make another attempt at returning to the film industry.