Karthik (actor)

Murali Karthikeyan Muthuraman (born 13 September 1960), better known by his stage name Karthik, is an Indian actor, playback singer and politician who works in Tamil cinema.

He is the son of veteran actor R. Muthuraman.

Karthik was born as Murali Karthikeyan Muthuraman on 13 September 1960 in Ooty to veteran actor R. Muthuraman.

He has two sons, Gautham and Ghayn, from his first marriage with Ragini, and another son, Thiran, from his second marriage with Rathi.

In the 1980s and 90s, Karthik was one of the biggest stars in the industry.

He was first introduced by Bharathiraja in the Tamil film Alaigal Oivathillai (1981) and became a lead actor in Tamil films by his own.

He has also appeared in some Telugu films where he was initially credited as Murali.

Karthik is popularly known as Navarasa Nayagan (multi-talented actor) for his "ability to emote all forms of actions and emotions".

He has acted in more than 125 films.

He has been the recipient of four Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, a Nandi Award and four Filmfare Awards South.

Karthik was first introduced in Tamil cinema by Bharathiraja in the film Alaigal Oivathillai (1981).

He received the Best New Face Award from the Tamil Nadu Government in 1981.

He starred in the Telugu version of the film Seethakoka Chilaka that same year under the stage name Murali.

He collaborated with leading film directors such as Mani Ratnam, Bharathiraja, Visu, R. Sundarrajan, Ameerjan, R. V. Udayakumar, Priyadarshan, Fazil, Vikraman, Agathiyan, Sundar C.., K. S. Ravikumar, P. Vasu and K. V. Anand.

During the earlier stages of his career, Karthik worked three times with R. V. Udaya Kumar.

Later, he formed a partnership with Goundamani in many comedy films.

He was also well received by the Tamil audience for his performance in Nallavanukku Nallavan (1984) in a role against Rajinikanth.

Karthik during the early to mid 80s did many films, but many of the films until 1986 like Bhagavathipuram Railway Gate (1983), Pei Veedu (1984) and Raja Thanthiram (1984) were typical low budget masala films and failed to make a mark.

His onscreen pair with Radha was appreciated in the early 80s.

He garnered acclaim for his role in the Telugu thriller Anveshana by Vamsy.

His cameo in Mouna Ragam (1986) was very well received by the audience.

The film made Karthik an instant heartthrob.

Sylvian Patrick from medium.com writes "Mani Ratnam arguably wrote the best cameo ever in Tamil movie history with Manohar’s character. The total time on the screen for Karthik is around 25 min, but the impact he creates is humungous".

This film not only catapulted Karthik to fame but, even he would admit, it made him re-think his choice of films and also instilled confidence and belief that he had what is required as an actor to succeed.

This was a golden period in the career of Karthik, where he acted in numerous performance-oriented films.

Vanna Kanavugal (1987) was a super hit.

Karthik collaborated with several leading directors and gave several successful films.

He acted in the Telugu film Abhinandana (1988) for which he won the Nandi Special Jury Award.

He followed with commercial successes like Agni Natchathiram (1988), Varusham Padhinaaru (1989), Idhaya Thamarai (1990), Kizhakku Vaasal (1990) and culminated with the black comedy Gopura Vasalile (1991).

This was period when Karthik took considerable risks in choosing scripts.

Amaran (1992) was an action film where Karthik plays an orphan who eventually becomes a don.

When it released, it performed below expectations; however, the song sung by Karthik became a huge rage: 'Vethala Potta Sokkula', one of the super hit songs that Adithyan tuned was sung by Karthik himself in his signature style very similar to his dialogue delivery.

The song is a 'love at first sight' kind and its simplicity and very hummable lyrics is what endeared it to many when it was first released.

Nadodi Thendral (1992) was a period film helmed by Bharathiraja.

Ponnumani (1993) was a village-based melodrama, which was a super hit at the box office and fetched Karthik his fourth Filmfare award.

Karthik also spent a considerable amount of time shooting for a Telugu film co-starring Vijayashanti in Maga Rayudu (1994).

This period also witnessed films like Marumagan (1995), Chakravarthy (1995), Nandhavana Theru (1995) and an average success Thotta Chinungi (1995).

In 1996 Karthik acted in Kizhakku Mugam.

In the same year, he acted in his biggest commercial success: the full-length comedy Sundar C.'s Ullathai Allitha, alongside Rambha and Goundamani.

Due to the success, he collaborated with the director again in another profitable venture, Mettukudi. He went on to win critical acclaim for his role in Gokulathil Seethai.