Seeman

Senthamizhan Seeman (born 8 November 1966) is an Indian politician, filmmaker and the chief-coordinator of the political party Naam Tamilar Katchi in Tamil Nadu.

He is an advocate of the creation of vote bank for Tamils.

Seeman began his career as a filmmaker in the mid-1990s, working on films such as Panchalankurichi (1996) and Veeranadai (2000).

The failure of his early films made it difficult for him to attract offers as a director and several of his proposed projects were stalled in the late 1990s.

During the late 1990s and early 2000s, he worked on four other projects, Vaigai Karai Oram with Vijayakanth, Anandham with Karthik, Karma Veerar with Sarathkumar, and Sethupathi Cheemaiyile with Rajkiran, but all failed to develop beyond production.

Seeman started his career by directing Panchalankurichi (1996), a village action film starring Prabhu and Madhubala.

He collaborated with Prabhu again in Iniyavale (1998), a romantic film which also featured actresses Suvalakshmi, Gouthami and Keerthi Reddy.

Seeman's third film was Veeranadai (2000) with Sathyaraj and Khushbu, which garnered mixed review from critics and underperformed commercially.

The failure of his initial films made it difficult for Seeman to attract producers to work on his next films.

In the late 2000s, Seeman attempted to make a film titled Pagalavan with either Ajith Kumar or Madhavan starring, but was unsuccessful.

Seeman then hoped to make the film with Vikram for director Bala's production studio, but the venture did not materialise.

Since the mid-2000s, Seeman has mostly worked as an actor.

He later made a comeback through the successful vigilante film Thambi (2006), though the commercial failure of his next film, prompted Seeman to prioritise commitments as a supporting actor in the late 2000s.

Seeman then made the village-based vigilante film, Thambi (2006), starring Madhavan in the titular role.

The film's production was briefly halted following a disagreement between the actor and director, after Seeman raised an objection to Madhavan returning to be with his family for the birth of his son.

The film opened to mixed reviews but performed well commercially.

In the 2006 assembly elections, he campaigned for the DMK alliance, and notably sided with Pattali Makkal Katchi's S. Ramadoss and delivered speeches against the candidature of Vijayakanth.

His notable roles including supporting characters in Pallikoodam (2007) and Evano Oruvan (2007).

Seeman has received threat letters for supporting Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Seeman addressed Periyar's ideology and caste abolition in the film industry.

His most recent directorial release, Vaazhthugal (2008), received negative reviews and performed poorly at the box office.

A reviewer from Sify noted the "execution is tacky and the final outcome is a dreary and boring message film that leaves you exhausted."

The failure of Vaazhthugal made it difficult for Seeman to find producers and actors to work on his other proposed projects, despite his interest in continuing work as a film director.

He met with Velupillai Prabhakaran in 2008 when the war between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE was looming.

In the early 2010s, Seeman started a Tamil nationalist political party, and has since often been in the news for his controversial statements on Indian social issues.

Seeman was born in Aranaiyur, Tamil Nadu to Senthamizhan, member of Congress and Annammal in Aranaiyur, Tamil Nadu.

He studied in Government Primary School in Aranayur up to class 5th.

He attended K.K. Ibrahim Ali High School from Class 6th to Class 10th and finished his class 11 and 12 in Ilayankudi.

He completed his degree undergraduate economics at Dr. Zakir Hussain College in Ilayankudi.

Seeman has a brother named James Peter.

During his high school and college years, Seeman was enthralled with the ideals of the Dravidian movement.

He moved to Chennai to pursue his dream of working in the film industry.

Seeman took up film direction as a career after being inspired by the films of Bharathiraja and Manivannan.

He worked as an assistant director with Bharathiraja and Manivannan.

In mid-2010, producer Kalaipuli S. Dhanu agreed to finance the project, and Seeman held talks with Vijay to be a part of the film.

The actor later refused to work on the project, which prompted Seeman to speak out against Vijay.

In 2013, Seeman approached Jiiva, Jayam Ravi, Arya and Vishal to work on the project, but none of the actors agreed to be a part of the film.

In 2017, Seeman was in talks with Vijay Antony to feature in the lead role, and then with Silambarasan in 2018, but both actors later opted to prioritise other projects.

In 2017, Seeman announced another project titled Kobam with G. V. Prakash Kumar in the lead role.

However, despite an announcement, the film failed to find producers and was stalled.