C. V. Kumar | |
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Born |
C. Vijayakumar 14 April 1979 Tirumangalam, Madurai, Tamil Nadu |
Occupation | Film Producer , Distributor |
Years active | 2012–present |
C. V. Kumar (born as C. Vijayakumar) is an Indian Tamil film producer and distributor who heads the production studio Thirukumaran Entertainment. Known for producing innovative and critically acclaimed films, Kumar has also primarily introduced new talent into the film industry in terms of actors and technicians. His first three films, Attakathi, Pizza and Soodhu Kavvum won critical acclaim as well as bringing in revenue of over ₹50 crore (US$7.4 million). After producing successful films, Kumar began work on his first directorial venture in 2014.
Kumar, originally hailing from Tirumangalam, Madurai, first came to Chennai for his MSc Psychology classes that he was pursuing through distance education at Madras University in the early 2000s. During the period, he had also started going for classes at Arena Multimedia in Madurai before taking a transfer to Chennai. In three years between 2002 and 2005, he learnt animation, sound design, and branding, and took scriptwriting classes. While on a trip in 2010 to Los Angeles as a part of his family business, he was inspired to start a production house and hoped to produce higher quality films in India and returned to form Thirukumaran Entertainment in 2010.
In August 2011, he started pre-production for Attakathi featuring an all new cast and directed by newcomer Ranjith, an assistant of director Venkat Prabhu. Kumar was insistent about meeting deadlines so the film began shooting on 26 September, finished shooting by 8 December and had the audio release on 9 January 2012. He decided to spend Rs. 2.5 million on a relatively grand audio launch and another production house Studio Green bought the film immediately to distribute. After a six-month delay, the film released in August and received mostly positive reviews, with a critic noting "this charming little treat of a film, has an inherent sweetness and honesty that will stay with you". The next venture, Pizza, a thriller film written and directed by debutant Karthik Subbaraj featured Vijay Sethupathi and Remya Nambeesan in the lead roles,. The story is about how around a pizza delivery boy lands in a mysterious circumstance and how it works a dramatic change in his life. For Pizza, Kumar opted to make promos and strategies on how to employ viral promotion through social media. He had spent Rs. 16 million producing the film, while Sangam Cinemas and Red Giant Movies agreed to spend an equal amount in publicity. Kumar then spent another Rs. 8 million on print and publicity by himself.Pizza released on 19 October 2012 and went on to become a major critical and commercial success. A critic from Sify termed the film as "delicious" and described it as "entertaining and at the same time different in its approach", while Malini Mannath from The New Indian Express described Pizza as "offbeat, intriguing and gripping, and nothing like what you've seen on Tamil screen before". The success of the film launched actor Vijay Sethupathi's career, while also winning several awards for the team at the 7th Vijay Awards and the 2nd South Indian International Movie Awards.