Kathir is an

Indian film The cinema of India, consisting of motion pictures made by the Indian film industry, has had a large effect on world cinema since the second half of the 20th century. Indian cinema is made up of various film industries, each focused on pr ...

director, producer, and screenwriter 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 ...

Early life

Kathir was born in kalkarai, a small village in the Radhapuram Taluk of Tirunelveli District, state of

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. Kathir grew up in a middle-class family as the only son along with his three sisters. His father Subhash was a farmer and mother Isakiammal assisted him in his farming. Kathir had his elementary schooling in kalkarai elementary school. He finished his 5th standard there and joined St. Teresa's school in Vadakangulam. He completed his school studies here. Kathir got into the College of Fine arts and Crafts, Chennai. He did a five-year course in Fine arts and graduated with a Diploma in Fine Arts.

Career

Kathir started out as a poster designer in the film industry, and designed posters for films including '' Moondram Pirai'' (1981), '' Andha 7 Naatkal'' (1981), ''

Darling, Darling, Darling ''Darling, Darling, Darling'' is a 1982 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film, written and directed by K. Bhagyaraj. The film stars him, Poornima Jayaram and Suman. It was released on 14 November 1982. The film was remade in Kannada as ''P ...

'' (1982) and

Mani Ratnam Gopalaratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and a few Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. H ...

's '' Pagal Nilavu'' (1985) to make pocket money while he was in college. He worked as an assistant director for Pandiarajan and GM Kumar. In 1996, ''

Kadhal Desam ''Kadhal Desam'' ( ) is a 1996 Indian Tamil-language romance film written and directed by Kathir and produced by K. T. Kunjumon. The film stars Vineeth, Abbas and Tabu. This marked Abbas's feature debut and Tabu's Tamil debut. The supporting ...

'' emerged as the biggest hit of his career grossing 10 crore at the box office. Kathir scripted and was ready to make a film titled ''I Love You'' by 1997. After being unable to produce the film himself, he shelved the venture. In 2001, he founded his own production studio Sound Light Studio through which he produced ''

Kadhal Virus ''Kadhal Virus'' () is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language romance film written, directed and produced by Kathir. The film stars Richard Rishi and Sridevi Vijaykumar, making their Tamil debut in lead roles, with Abbas in a supporting role. A. R. Rah ...

''. He also distributed the film all over Tamil Nadu. He moved on to briefly begin pre-production work on a project titled ''Bangalore'' in late 1999, before opting not to continue. Kathir announced a comeback in 2008 and began work on a film titled ''Manavar Dhinam'' with Vinay in the lead role. Following a delay, the actor was replaced by Srikanth and a launch was held in 2009 by the production house

Ayngaran International Ayngaran International is a film distribution and production company, based in the United Kingdom. The chairman of the company is K. Karunamoorthy. It also operates a chain of retail video stores located in the United Kingdom, France, Canada, ...

. However, the film was later shelved and the pair decided to collaborate for the new venture titled ''Kodai Vidumurai''. The film underwent a change in cast and work on the film, featuring

Shaam Syria, ( or ''Shaam'') also known as Greater Syria or Syria-Palestine, is a historical region located east of the Mediterranean Sea in West Asia, broadly synonymous with the Levant. The region boundaries have changed throughout history. Howe ...

, began again in July 2012. The film has since failed to make progress.

Personal life

He is married to Shanthinidevi in 2013.

Filmography

*''Note: all films are in Tamil, unless otherwise noted.''

References

External links

* {{authority control Tamil film directors Tamil-language film directors Tamil screenwriters Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Film producers from Tamil Nadu People from Tirunelveli 20th-century Indian dramatists and playwrights Kannada screenwriters Kannada film producers 21st-century Indian people Film directors from Tamil Nadu Screenwriters from Tamil Nadu