Thiagarajan Kumararaja
| Thiagarajan Kumararaja | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1976 Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Nationality | Indian |
| Occupation | Film director, screenplay writer, ad director |
| Years active | 2008–present |
Thiagarajan Kumararaja (தியாகராஜன் குமாரராஜா) is an Indian film director and screenwriter. He made his feature film debut with the critically acclaimed gangster film Aaranya Kaandam (2011), which earned him the Indira Gandhi Award for Best First Film of a Director at the 59th National Film Awards.
Thiagarajan Kumararaja was born and raised in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. His parents thought he’d pick up bad habits if he stepped out, so he stayed mostly at home. He like books of Sujatha, Rajesh Kumar, Kovi Manisekaran & Sandilyan. But the real entertainment was the bus ride from his home in Porur to Santhome Higher Secondary School. He used to stand next to the driver, observing the driver. “I wanted to be a PTC bus driver,” he says. At the Class XII failed in Mathematics subject. On his words “If I didn’t like the teacher, I wouldn’t study.”[1]
He enrolled for a Visual Communications course at the Loyola College, Chennai, but dropped out shortly after to make films. Kumararaja cited that it was composer Ilaiyaraaja's music that animated him to come to films and to study Visual Communications in the first place. However, he discontinued his studies in 1998 and started to work as a freelance copywriter and photographer for a while. He went on to shoot advertisement films and also directed a five-part documentary on South Indian Temples, Sthala Puranam for Vijay TV. In 2005, he participated at the one-minute film competition 60 Seconds to Fame by Ability Foundation, aiming for the prize money. His short film Becky was awarded the first prize at the AbilityFest2005. Kumararaja then collaborated with Pushkar-Gayathri, writing the dialogue of their directorial debut Oram Po (2007). He would later write all songs for their second project Va (2010) as well. Through Pushkar-Gayathri, Kumararaja met S. P. B. Charan, who agreed to produce his first feature film Aaranya Kaandam.
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