Arvind Swami

Arvind Swamy
Arvind Swamy at the 63rd Filmfare Awards South
Born	18 June 1970 (age 48) Trichy, Tamil Nadu, India
Nationality	Indian
Alma mater	Wake Forest University Loyola College, Chennai
Occupation	Film actor, television presenter, entrepreneur, singer, producer
Years active	1991–2000, 2013–present
Spouse(s)	Gayathri Ramamurthy (m.1994-2010) Aparna Mukherjee (m.2012-present)
Children	Adhira .(b.1996) Rudra.(b.2000)

Arvind Swamy is an Indian film actor, model, entrepreneur and television presenter known for his work in Tamil cinema.^[1][2] He was introduced as an actor by Mani Ratnam with the film Thalapathi (1991) and subsequently starred in successful films such as Roja (1992), Bombay (1995), Minsaara Kanavu (1997), Alaipayuthey (2000), ^[3] and Chekka Chivantha Vaanam(2018).

Swamy also starred in other regional film industries, including Telugu and Malayalam films where he has done films such as Mounam (1995), Daddy (1992) and Devaraagam (1996). He has also appeared in Bollywood, making his appearance in Saat Rang Ke Sapne (1998).^[4] Swamy spent a decade in businesses ranging from software engineering, construction, international trade to global outsourcing, before returning to act with works such as Kadal (2013), Thani Oruvan (2015), Dear Dad (2016), Dhruva (2016), Bogan (2016) and Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (2018). He briefly worked as a television presenter as the host of the third season of Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi on Star Vijay.

Early life

Arvind Swamy was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu to industrialist V. D. Swami and Bharatanatyam dancer C.V.S.Vasantha.^[5][6] Swamy studied at the Sishya School and later in Don Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School and completed his schooling in 1987. He then graduated from Loyola College, Chennai in 1990 with a Bachelor of Commerce (B.Com) degree. He then went to the United States to do his Masters in International Business from Wake Forest University in North Carolina.

Arvind Swamy wished to be a doctor. In college, he used to be a model for pocket money.^[7] In his Loyola Theatre Society, he wasn't well received and was asked to get off stage. Later on Mani Ratnam saw him in an advertisement and called for a meeting. Then he and Santhosh Sivan introduced him into the basics of film-making.^[7]

Career

Swamy made his debut in Mani Ratnam's action drama film, Thalapathi, where he played a young district collector pitted against a don and his own biological brother. Subsequently, Mani Ratnam signed him on to play the lead role in the 1992 political drama film Roja. Roja and Bombay won awards at the State and National Film Award functions. His performance in Bombay was called "soulful" by Time Magazine.^[8] Swamy has won several awards, popular and critical, for his films.^[8] He has been described as one of the first few actors in India who is able to achieve pan-Indian appeal. In 1995, Swamy provided the Tamil dubbing voice for the adult Simba of Disney's The Lion King (1994).^[9] He starred in Rajiv Menon's Minsaara Kanavu, which won four National Film Awards besides high box office reviews.^[10]

Swamy semi-retired from acting in 2000 after playing a guest role in Mani Ratnam's Alaipayuthey and concentrated on his business interests. Swamy was director of V D Swamy and Company and engaged in international trade and construction. He was the president of InterPro Global and the chairman and managing director of Prolease India, engaged in transaction processing.^[8] He then founded Talent Maximus a company engaged in payroll processing and temporary staffing in India. He was the only actor in India who opposed fans associations.

He initially wanted to come back to films after 4–5 years, but was physically injured. The treatment took another 4–5 years.^[7] After his successful treatment, Mani Ratnam called him once more to play a role in one of his films, Kadal (2013)^[9] for which Swamy dropped 15 kilograms.^[7]

In 2013, he provided the voice-over for Santhosh Sivan's film Ceylon.^[11] In 2015, he acted in a now iconic negative role of Sidharth Abhimanyu in Thani Oruvan, for which he was highly praised and received positive reviews for his acting.

In 2016, he reprised the same role in Telugu in the film Dhruva with Ram Charan, a remake of Thani Oruvan for which he got a lot of appreciation from the Telugu audience.

The popular game show Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi recruited Swamy for its third season, which started airing on 30 May 2016.

In 2017, he did the title role of Bogan, co starring Jayam Ravi, for which he again got an outstanding response from the critics and the audience.

Personal life

Swamy married Gayathri Ramamurthy in 1994 and has one daughter Adhira Swamy, born in 1996 and a son Rudra Swamy, born in 2000. The couple lived separately for seven years until 2010, when they filed for divorce.^[12] He is married to Aparna Mukerjee, a lawyer, since 2012. Arvind Swamy was granted custody of his children.^[13]

Filmography

References

Tamil Cinema News - Arvindswami Films on Maalaimalar.com Retrieved 11 September 2018. ^[1]

External links

• Arvind Swamy on IMDb