Aadhavan Kesavamurthi (born 1 October 1980), know professionally as Aadhavan, is an Indian artist. As a mimicry artist, he is well known in comedy circuit for more than a decade. He has been working as RJ (Radio Jockey) and VJ (Video Jockey), in popular Radio and TV channels in
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil languag ...
for a long time. He has made contributions in number of television comedy shows including "Konjam Nadinga Boss", "
Super Challenge", "
Comedy Junction
SUN TV is an Indian Tamil-language General entertainment pay television channel owned by Sun TV Network. It was launched on 14 April 1993. It is the flagship channel of the Chennai-based media conglomerate Sun Group's Sun TV Network. It was fo ...
", "
Savaale samaali", "Galatta rani", "Lollu pa", and "Maanga Idiots". Aadhavan has also acted in movies predominantly in Tamil, and often performs in live orchestras.
Early life
Aadhavan was born in
Thanjavur
Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the ...
,
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil languag ...
. He did his schooling in
Thanjavur
Thanjavur (), also Tanjore, Pletcher 2010, p. 195 is a city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is the 11th biggest city in Tamil Nadu. Thanjavur is an important center of South Indian religion, art, and architecture. Most of the ...
,
Madurai
Madurai ( , also , ) is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District. As of the 2011 census, it was the third largest Urban agglomeration in ...
,
Udumalaipettai
Udumalai, also known as Udumalaipettai and Udumalpet (), is a town in Tiruppur district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Udumalaipettai is located 535 km (332 mi) south west from the state capital, Chennai and 72 km (45 mi) away from Coimbato ...
and
Chennai
Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of ...
as his father, S Kesavamurthi, who was working as an officer in a bank, was being posted in these places. In 2001, he completed his BE (Electrical and Electronics) in SRM Institute of Science and Technology,
Kattankulathur. He was part of a cultural team during his college days. In mimicry, he was inspired by his mother, Dr P Umavathy, who was working as a doctor, used to narrate the way in which her colleagues were spoken at work place.
Radio jockey
After completing his higher studies in Electrical and Electronics, Aadhavan was, for few years, working in companies related to Banking, and Information Technologies (IT) sectors. A turning point in his professional career came, when Sujith Kumar, HR Head of Infosys and, Founder of Maatram Foundation, invited Aadhavan to perform mimicry during a cultural program at Infosys, Chennai.
Shiva
Shiva (; sa, शिव, lit=The Auspicious One, Śiva ), also known as Mahadeva (; ɐɦaːd̪eːʋɐ, or Hara, is one of the principal deities of Hinduism. He is the Supreme Being in Shaivism, one of the major traditions within Hin ...
, who was working in
Radio Mirchi
Radio Mirchi (also known as 98.3 Mirchi) is a nationwide network of private FM radio stations in India. It is owned by the EntertainmentNetwork India Ltd (ENIL), which is one of the subsidiaries of The Times Group. ''Mirchi'' is Hindi for re ...
, was the chief guest of that cultural function, where Aadhavan performed mimicry with variety of voices. Impressed by his performance, Shiva invited Aadhavan to join Radio Mirchi as RJ (Radio Jockey). In 2007, Aadhavan, then, started a new career at Radio Mirchi as RJ, and also hosted a show “Kollyudans”, where instant updates, interviews, special shows, and information about newly released movies were given to listeners.
For Radio Mirchi, Aadhavan interviewed number of celebrities including
Amitabh Bachchan
Amitabh Bachchan (; born as Amitabh Shrivastav; 11 October 1942) is an Indian actor, film producer, television host, occasional playback singer and former politician known for his work in Hindi cinema. He is regarded as one of the most succe ...
,
Ilaiyaraaja
Ilaiyaraaja (born R. Gnanathesikan, 3 June 1943) is an Indian musician, composer, arranger, conductor, orchestrator, instrumentalist, lyricist and singer, popular for his works in Indian Cinema, prominently in Tamil films. Reputed to be one o ...
,
A. R. Rahman
Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967) is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and songwriter, popular for his works in Indian cinema; predominantly in Tamil and Hindi films, with occasional forays in in ...
,
Kamal Haasan
Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali f ...
,
Bharathiraja
Bharathiraja (born 17 July 1941) is an Indian film director and actor who works mainly in the Tamil film industry. Making his debut in 1977 with ''16 Vayathinile'', he is known for realistic and sensitive portrayals of rural life in his films. ...
,
Shyam Benegal
Shyam Benegal (born 14 December 1934) is an Indian film director, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker. Often regarded as the pioneer of parallel cinema, he is widely considered as one of the greatest filmmakers post 1970s. He has received s ...
,
Sathyaraj
Rangaraj Subbiah (born 3 October 1954), professionally known as Sathyaraj, is an Indian actor, producer, director and a media personality who has predominantly appeares in Tamil cinema and Telugu Cinema. His 240 films also include works in Mala ...
,
Prabhu
''Prabhu'' means master or the Prince in Sanskrit and many of the Indian languages; it is a name sometimes applied to God. The term is also used by devotees of the Hindu God Lord Krishna/Vishnu as a title and form of address. It is also appended ...
,
Asin
Asin Thottumkal (born 26 October 1985), known mononymously as Asin, is a former Indian actress who appeared predominantly in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu films. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. She has received three Filmfare Awards. She b ...
,
Dhanush
Venkatesh Prabhu Kasthuri Raja (born 28 July 1983), known professionally as Dhanush, is an Indian actor, producer, director, lyricist and playback singer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Starring in 46 films over his career, among hi ...
,
Manobala
Manobala (born 8 December 1953) is an Indian film director, producer, actor and comedian who predominantly plays supporting roles in Tamil-language films.
He started his career in Tamil cinema in the early 1970s and with Kamal Haasan's refere ...
and
Ravichandran Ashwin
Ravichandran Ashwin () (born 17 September 1986) is an Indian international cricketer who plays for the Indian cricket team as a bowling All-rounder who bats right-handed and bowls right-arm off-break, he plays for Tamil Nadu in domestic crick ...
. Popular playback singers including
K. J. Yesudas
Kattassery Joseph Yesudas (born 10 January 1940) is an Indian playback singer and musician who sings Indian classical, devotional and film songs. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of Indian Music and also as ...
,
Malaysia Vasudevan
Vasudevan (15 June 1944 – 20 February 2011), known as Malaysia Vasudevan, was a Malaysian-Indian playback singer and actor in Tamil cinema.
Early life
Malaysia Vasudevan's parents were from Palakkad. Chattu Nair of Ottappalam and Ammal ...
,
S. P. Balasubrahmanyam
Sripathi Panditaradhyula Balasubrahmanyam (4 June 1946 – 25 September 2020), also referred to as SPB or SP Balu or Balu, was an Indian playback singer, television presenter, actor, music composer, dubbing artist, and film producer. He is wid ...
,
Vijay Prakash
Vijay Prakash (born 21 February 1976) is an Indian Playback singer and also a Music Composer from Karnataka. He has given his voice for predominantly Kannada and Telugu language films. In addition, he has also sung in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam ...
,
Velmurugan
Velmurugan is a Tamil film playback singer. He is known for folk songs including Madura in '' Subramaniapuram'' and Aadungada in '' Naadodigal'' and Otha Sollala in ''Aadukalam''. He considers being called by James Vasanthan
James Vasanthan ...
,
Tippu,
Haricharan
Haricharan Seshadri, known mononymously as Haricharan (born 20 March 1987), is an Indian Carnatic vocalist, playback singer, and musician who predominantly works in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu music and cinema. He sung 2000 songs in films, al ...
and
Karthik were also his guests in Radio Mirchi programs.
Video jockey
While Aadhavan was working at Radio Mirchi, he participated as a contestant in "
Kalakka Povathu Yaaru
Kalakka Povathu Yaaru? is a 2005 Indian Tamil-language reality Stand-up comedy television show, that airs on Star Vijay and streamed on Disney+ Hotstar. Over eighteen years, Kalakka Povathu Yaaru? has rolled out nine seasons. The winners of th ...
" (KPY), Season 4, a Tamil language comedy reality TV show on Vijay TV in 2008. With his ability to mimic voices of celebrities and sense of humor, Aadhavan was adjudged as the title winner of "
Kalakka Povathu Yaaru
Kalakka Povathu Yaaru? is a 2005 Indian Tamil-language reality Stand-up comedy television show, that airs on Star Vijay and streamed on Disney+ Hotstar. Over eighteen years, Kalakka Povathu Yaaru? has rolled out nine seasons. The winners of th ...
" Season 4. Participation in "Kalakka Povathu Yaaru" gave him an opportunity to show his skills. Aadhavan's talent was noticed by a leading Tamil channel Adithya TV. When Adithya TV, a 24-hour Tamil comedy channel of
Sun TV Network
Sun TV Network is an Indian mass media company headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is a part of Sun Group and is one of Asia's largest TV networks. Established on 14 April 1992 by Kalanithi Maran, it owns a variety of television ...
was launched on February 8, 2009, Aadhavan was invited to join and host comedy program. He, then, joined Aditya TV on February 15, 2009, and remained in the Sun TV Network for more than a decade. Aadhavan hosted a comedy show called "Konjam Nadinga Boss" in Adithya TV. This show is the first one of its kind in which random strangers were asked to repeat famous movie dialogues with similar tone as the actor in the movie, and turns it into a comedy. This show made Aadhavan popular.
Aadhavan was chosen to be one of the Judges sharing the space with Madurai Muthu for
Comedy Junction
SUN TV is an Indian Tamil-language General entertainment pay television channel owned by Sun TV Network. It was launched on 14 April 1993. It is the flagship channel of the Chennai-based media conglomerate Sun Group's Sun TV Network. It was fo ...
, which is a Tamil-language comedy talk show broadcast on Sun TV. He presented a number of live shows including “Vaanga sirikalaam” and “Idhudhaanda Sirippu”. Aadhavan has also anchored some of the super hit shows namely “Natchathiram”, “
Super Challenge” and “
Savaale samaali” (Sun TV), "Galatta Rani" (Kalaignar TV) and “Sun Kudumba Virudhugal 2019.”
Aadhavan was one of the Judges of "Kalakka Povadhu Yaaru" Season 9 on Vijay TV, which marked his return to Vijay TV after a gap of 11 years.
Film career
His association with celebrities, along with his mimicry skills, have helped Aadhavan to make an entry into Tamil film industry as an Actor and an assistant director. Aadhavan lent his voice to
Raghuvaran
Raghuvaran Velayutham (11 December 1958 – 19 March 2008) was an Indian actor who predominantly acted in films made in South India. He has acted in more than 200 Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films. According to the ''Hindustan ...
, after his demise, for the 2008 Tamil film ''
Ellam Avan Seyal
''Ellam Avan Seyal'' () is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language legal thriller film directed by Shaji Kailas. The film features an ensemble cast, including RK, Bhama, Vadivelu, Raghuvaran, Manivannan, Ashish Vidhyarthi, Manoj K. Jayan, and Nassar. It ...
''. He also lent voice for a
golden retriever
The Golden Retriever is a Scottish breed of retriever dog of medium size. It is characterised by a gentle and affectionate nature and a striking golden coat. It is commonly kept as a pet and is among the most frequently registered breed ...
in the movie ''
Enga Kattula Mazhai
''Enga Kattula Mazhai'' is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by Sri Balaji and starring Mithun Maheswaran and Shruthi Ramakrishnan.
Cast
*Mithun Maheswaran as Murugan
* Shruthi Ramakrishnan as Mageshwari
* Aadhavan ...
'' (2018).
In the beginning, Aadhavan started his career as an assistant director with
Dharani
Dharanis ( IAST: ), also known as ''Parittas'', are Buddhist chants, mnemonic codes, incantations, or recitations, usually the mantras consisting of Sanskrit or Pali phrases. Believed to be protective and with powers to generate merit for the ...
, one of the directors in Tamil movies.
Filmography
Actor
Assistant director
References
External links
Interaction with Aadhavan
{{DEFAULTSORT:Aadhavan (artist)
Living people
1980 births
Indian radio personalities
Indian VJs (media personalities)
Indian male film actors
Tamil male actors
Male actors in Tamil cinema
Male actors from Tamil Nadu
20th-century Indian male actors
21st-century Indian male actors
Indian impressionists (entertainers)