Ameer Sultan (born 5 December 1967) is an Indian film director, film producer, screenwriter and actor, working in the
Tamil film industry.
Early life and career
Ameer Sultan was born in
Madurai
Madurai ( , , ), formerly known as Madura, is a major city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District, which is ...
, Tamil Nadu
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
. He initially studied economics and worked as an entrepreneur before starting to work as an assistant director to Tamil filmmaker
Bala on his award-winning film ''
Sethu'' in 1999 and ''
Nandhaa'' in 2001. Shortly after, he directed his first film, the romantic comedy ''
Mounam Pesiyadhe'' (2002). The film starred
Suriya in the lead and became
Trisha Krishnan
Trisha Krishnan (born 4 May 1983) is an Indian actress known for her work primarily in Tamil language, Tamil and Telugu language, Telugu cinema. One of the highest-paid actresses in India, she has sustained a successful career as a leading ...
's first release featuring her in a leading role. The same year, he began his own production company, Teamwork Production House.
His second directorial was the mystery thriller ''
Raam'', which he produced himself. It was released three years later, in 2005. The film, which revolves around an
autistic teenager, portrayed by
Jiiva, who is highly attached to his mother, but becomes suspected of having murdered her, received critical acclaim, with Jeeva and the film's composer
Yuvan Shankar Raja winning awards at the 2005
Cyprus International Film Festival. It also became Jeeva's first successful film in the film industry, who till then, had appeared in two unsuccessful home productions only.
In 2007, he directed the drama ''
Paruthiveeran'' set in a village in
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 ...
, which marked the debut of
Karthi, younger son of
Sivakumar and brother of
Suriya. Karthi as well as
Priyamani, who performed the female lead, won several notable prizes for their performances. ''Paruthiveeran'' remains Ameer's most acclaimed work, having received six
Filmfare Awards South
The Filmfare Awards South are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Telugu cinema, Tamil cinema, Malayalam cinema and Kannada cinema. They are presented by ''Filmfare'' magazine of The Times Group. When it was intr ...
including the
Best Film and
Best Director trophies, two
National Film Awards
The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...
, two
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and four
Vijay Awards
The Vijay Awards are presented by the Tamil television channel STAR Vijay to honour excellence in Tamil cinema. It has been given annually since 2006, with the latest—the 10th edition—of the award-giving ceremony having been held i ...
. The film further fetched accolades at international platform, winning the Best Film Award at the
Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema and
Netpac Special Mention award at the
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...
. His fourth directorial, ''
Aadhi Bhagavan'', starring
Jayam Ravi and
Neetu Chandra, released in 2013, to mixed reviews. Later, he win
Ananda Vikatan Cinema Award Best Supporting Actor for ''
Vada Chennai'' (2018). He starred as lead actor in the political drama ''
Uyir Thamizhukku'' (2024).
Filmography
As a film director, producer and writer
As an actor
Discography
Controversy
On 24 October 2008, Ameer was arrested. Being a Tamil activist, he took part in a film rally condemning
state atrocities against Tamils in Sri Lanka, organised by director
Bharathiraja, also a Tamil activist, and other prominent Tamil directors, actors, and producers. The rally was part of statewide protests across
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 ...
in 2008 condemning Sri Lanka. During the rally, Ameer and fellow director
Seeman made speeches criticising the Indian government and expressing support to the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a Tamil separatist group on the island and condemning the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka.
The two were later released on bail with the help of their assistant directors, Bharathiraja, and actor
R. Sarath Kumar. Other Film directors such as
Balu Mahendra,
Bhagyaraj,
Cheran,
R K Selvamani, V Sekar,
Bala, Rajkapoor, lyricists Arivumathi, Snehan and others waited from 8 am for the two directors' release.
Awards
* 2007 –
Filmfare Award for Best Film – Tamil – ''
Paruthiveeran''
* 2007 –
Filmfare Award for Best Director – Tamil – ''
Paruthiveeran''
* 2007 –
Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema – ''
Paruthiveeran''
* 2007 –
Berlin International Film Festival
The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...
– Special Mention – ''
Paruthiveeran''
* 2018 –
Ananda Vikatan Cinema Award for Best Supporting Actor – ''
Vada Chennai''
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ameer Sultan
Writers from Madurai
Tamil Muslims
Tamil film directors
21st-century Indian dramatists and playwrights
Tamil male actors
Tamil activists
Tamil-language film directors
Tamil screenwriters
Living people
1966 births
Filmfare Awards South winners
Male actors from Madurai
Screenwriters from Tamil Nadu
21st-century Indian screenwriters