Bharath Srinivasan (born 21 July 1983), known professionally as Bharath, is an Indian actor, who works predominantly in
Tamil cinema
Tamil cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Tamil language, the main spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is nicknamed Kollywood, a portmanteau of the names Kodambakkam, a Ch ...
, along with few films in
Malayalam
Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...
,
Hindi
Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...
and Telugu.
He made his acting debut in 2003 with S. Shankar's '' Boys''. He made his Malayalam debut '' 4 the People'' (2004). Then, he played the antagonist character in '' Chellamae'' (2004).
He received his breakthrough as his first lead in the Tamil film '' Kaadhal'' (2004). Some of his other notable films include '' Pattiyal'' (2006), '' Em Magan'' (2006), ''
Veyil Veyil () may refer to:
* ''Veyil'' (2006 film), Indian Tamil-language drama film
* ''Veyil'' (2022 film), Indian Malayalam-language drama film
{{Disambiguation ...
Bharath Srinivasan was born into a Tamil family on 21 July 1983 in
Kumbakonam
Kumbakonam (formerly spelt as Coombaconum or Combaconum), or Kudanthai, is a city municipal corporation in the Thanjavur district in the States of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located from Thanjavur and from Chennai and is the hea ...
,
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...
, India. He is a trained dancer by profession and joined Swingers International Dance Club when he was 11 years old. He did his schooling at DAV Senior Secondary School, he's also a football fan. Bharath has a younger sister, Preethi. His mother tongue is Tamil.
He married childhood friend Jeshly, a
Malayali
The Malayali people (; also spelt Malayalee and sometimes known by the demonym Keralite) are a Dravidian ethnolinguistic group originating from the present-day state of Kerala and Union Territory of Lakshadweep in India, occupying its south ...
dentist based in Dubai, on 9 September 2013 in
Chennai
Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
. He has twin boys who were born in August 2018.
Career
Debut success (2003–2009)
Bharath made his acting debut in the 2003 Tamil film '' Boys'' directed by S. Shankar, in which he played the guitarist of a boy band. He was selected for the role, after Shankar had seen him performing at a dance programme "Inspirations" at the Music Academy by Swingers. In 2004, he first appeared in the Malayalam film, the Jayaraj-directed vigilante film '' 4 The People'', portraying one of the four protagonists. Later that year, he played the
antagonist
An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the main enemy or rival of the protagonist and is often depicted as a villain.Chellamae''. His portrayal of Vishwa, a possessive teenager who kidnaps his childhood friend whom he is obsessed with and although she has married someone else, was acclaimed by critics. He reprised his role from ''4 The People'' in the Telugu remake '' Yuvasena''. He played his first main lead role in Balaji Sakthivel's Tamil romantic-drama film '' Kaadhal'' that featured him as a poor
mechanic
A mechanic is a skilled tradesperson who uses tools to build, maintain, or repair machinery, especially engines. Formerly, the term meant any member of the handicraft trades, but by the early 20th century, it had come to mean one who works w ...
who falls in love and elopes with a wealthy twelfth-standard student. The film, produced by Shankar, received critical acclaim and commercial success. '' Pattiyal'', a gangster thriller, was his first release in 2006 and went to become a box office hit, with Bharath garnering accolades for his performance as a deaf and dumb
hitman
Contract killing (also known as murder-for-hire) is a form of murder or assassination in which one party hires another party to kill a targeted person or people. It involves an illegal agreement which includes some form of compensation, moneta ...
Veyil Veyil () may refer to:
* ''Veyil'' (2006 film), Indian Tamil-language drama film
* ''Veyil'' (2022 film), Indian Malayalam-language drama film
{{Disambiguation ...
''. While ''Chennai Kadhal'', a romance film by Vikraman, bombed at the box office, Thirumurugan's family drama ''Em Magan'' was declared a hit film. He has received great accolades for ''Veyil''.
Following ''Veyil'', Bharath experienced a setback in his career as his subsequent releases—with the exception of '' Pazhani''—proved to be commercially unsuccessful. He was facing an "image crisis" as he signed up for action and masala films and went on play repetitive roles as a "larger than life angry young man", playing "small town rowdy" or "guy seeking revenge" roles. '' Koodal Nagar'', was released in 2007 in which he portrayed a dual role, which was a box office disaster. In 2008, he appeared in
Perarasu
Perarasu (born 8 January 1967) is an Indian film director who works primarily in Tamil cinema and is best known for masala films with Vijay and Bharath. Perarasu has also been credited as an actor, music director, singer and lyricist in some ...
Khushbu
Khushbu Sundar (born Nakhat Khan; 29 September 1970) is an Indian politician, actress, film producer and television personality. She is known for her work predominantly in Tamil cinema, Tamil language films and in a few Telugu cinema, Telugu ...
which was an average success, and then '' Nepali'', directed by V. Z. Durai. That year he had two more releases, '' Muniyandi Vilangial Moonramandu'', which saw him collaborating with the ''Em Magan'' team again, and Hari's '' Seval''. In 2009 he acted in '' Arumugam'', directed by Suresh Krishna and '' Kanden Kadhalai'', the Tamil remake of the 2007 Bollywood film '' Jab We Met''. The latter featured him in a totally contrasting role as a rich businessman, and became his only commercial success in two years.
Setbacks and success (2010–2013)
In 2010, he had a single release with Badri's '' Thambikku Indha Ooru'' which became a critical and commercial failure. In 2011, he appeared in the multi-starrer '' Vaanam'' as Bharath Chakravarthy, a guitarist. Post-release, Bharath clashed with the producer and another actor in the film, Silambarasan, claiming he did not receive as much promotion and publicity as Silambarasan's character. His next film, the romantic comedy '' Yuvan Yuvathi'' co-starring Rima Kallingal, was followed by Perarasu's action- masala film '' Thiruthani'' co-starring Sunaina. He also made a guest appearance in Vasanthabalan's '' Aravaan''. In 2013, his romantic thriller film '' Ainthu Ainthu Ainthu'' released in August. The film, which was directed by Sasi, opened to positive reviews with a critic noting he "has put a lot of effort and hardwork to the role" and "is one single reason to watch the film". ''Ainthu Ainthu Ainthu'' is Bharath's only highest-grossing film in his career. Bharath made his
Bollywood
Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...
debut with '' Jackpot'' (2013). The film was about four people who try to con one another for money and Bharath played one of them, a Goan named Anthony D'Souza from Puducherry.
Career slump, struggle and resurgence (2014–present)
He returned to Malayalam cinema in 2014 with '' Koothara''. Thereafter, he played his 25th movie in '' Aindhaam Thalaimurai Sidha Vaidhiya Sigamani'' (2014).The next was action film '' Killadi'' (2015). The film was released to negative reviews. Bharath subsequently appeared as autistic youngster in a Malayalam project titled '' 1000 – Oru Note Paranja Katha'' (2015), which garnered poor reviews on release. Later in 2015 he appeared in another Malayalam movie '' Lord Livingstone 7000 Kandi'' (2015), which was an experimental movie.
In 2017, he appeared in '' Ennodu Vilayadu'' and '' Kadugu'' directed by
Vijay Milton
S. D. Vijay Milton is an Indian cinematographer and film director working in Tamil films. He directed the romantic comedy film ''Azhagai Irukkirai Bayamai Irukkirathu'' (2006) starring Bharath (actor), Bharath and Mallika Kapoor. He received cr ...
was a solid comeback, but the film was an average hit. He has playing in the bilingual film '' Spyder'' starring Mahesh Babu directed by
AR Murugadoss
Murugadas Arunachalam (born 25 September 1974), known professionally as AR Murugadoss, () is an Indian film director, screenwriter and film producer who predominantly works in the Tamil cinema, Tamil film industry. He is best known for directin ...
. '' Kadaisi Bench Karthi'' was released on 27 October and received negative reviews. It was a colossal flop. In 2019, '' Simba'' and '' Pottu'' was released. '' Kaalidas'', which is directed by Sri Senthil, released in December 2019, featured Bharath as a cop for the first time in his career. The movie was a success for Bharath after a long time. The next is a
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...
web series '' Time Enna Boss'' (2020). In 2021, Bharath plays as a cop in Hindi action movie '' Radhe'' with Salman Khan directed by
Prabhu Deva
Prabhu Deva (born 3 April 1973) is an Indian dance choreographer, film director, producer and actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil language, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu language, Telugu language films also appeared in few Kannada and Malayal ...
. Bharath, who tasted success with a psychological thriller ''Kaalidas'', also acted in another thriller '' Naduvan''. He later starred in two Malayalam thriller movies: one with
Dulquer Salmaan
Dulquer Salmaan (; born 28 July 1983) is an Indian actor, singer and producer who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam films. One of the highest paid Malayalam actors, Salmaan is a recipient of several awards including five Film ...
in '' Kurup'' and then another with the actors Lal and
Ajmal Ameer
Ajmal Ameer is an Indian actor known for his works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam, Tamil cinema, Tamil, and Telugu cinema, Telugu language films. He has won two Filmfare Awards South for his roles in ''Anjathe'' (2008) and ''Ko (film), Ko'' (20 ...
in '' Kshanam''.
In 2022, Bharath was seen in the thriller '' Last 6 Hours'' was bilingual thriller which is made in Malayalam and Tamil simultaneously followed by '' Miral''. In 2023, the streaming series '' Story of Things'' was released at
SonyLIV
Sony LIV is an Indian subscription video-on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Culver Max Entertainment. Sony LIV was introduced in 2013 as the first OTT service in India. As a streaming service, it provides live sports, origina ...
. He next acts in the Telugu action thriller '' Hunt'' in pivotal role. The romantic thriller ''
Love
Love is a feeling of strong attraction and emotional attachment (psychology), attachment to a person, animal, or thing. It is expressed in many forms, encompassing a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most su ...
'', marks Bharath's 50th film. It a remake of the 2020 Malayalam film of the same name. This was followed by the Malayalam investigation thriller ''
Samara
Samara, formerly known as Kuybyshev (1935–1991), is the largest city and administrative centre of Samara Oblast in Russia. The city is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Samara (Volga), Samara rivers, with a population of over 1.14 ...