K. E. Gnanavel Raja

K. E. Gnanavel Raja is an Indian film producer from Tamil Nadu, India. He began his career by producing and distributing films starring Suriya and Karthi, before branching out to own two studios — Studio Green and Aadnah Arts.

Personal life Gnanavel Raja is married to Neha Gnanavel.

Career

Gnanavel Raja nurtured an interest in becoming a film producer since his childhood, and revealed that he would regularly skip classes from his school days at St. Bede's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School, Chennai to watch film screenings at the nearby Devi or Sathyam cinema halls. Gnanavel Raja is also distantly related to actor Sivakumar's family, though has often been labelled by the media as the cousin of Sivakumar's sons Suriya and Karthi.

After founding Studio Green, he entered the production business by producing Sillunu Oru Kaadhal (2006) starring Suriya in the lead role, and then solely collaborated with the actor and his brother Karthi as a producer or distributor for several of their films until 2012. Several of the studio's films including Paruthiveeran (2007), Singam (2010) and Naan Mahaan Alla (2010) were profitable, while dubbed releases of the films in Andhra Pradesh also helped the market of the two actors amongst Telugu-speaking audiences. His first success as a distributor for another actor's films was through Attakathi (2012), and he subsequently enjoyed further success from the distribution of Kumki (2012) and Soodhu Kavvum (2013).

Despite minor setbacks through the commercial failures of Alex Pandian (2013) and All in All Azhagu Raja (2013), Gnanavel Raja experienced success with small-budget productions such as Pa. Ranjith's Madras (2014), Indru Netru Naalai (2015) and Kadhalum Kadandhu Pogum (2016). Likewise distribution deals secured for O Kadhal Kanmani (2015), 36 Vayathinile (2015) and Trisha Illana Nayanthara (2015) also proved to be profitable. Other setbacks came in the form of the release deal for Uttama Villain (2015) and during the release of Komban (2015), where protesters claimed that the story revolved around animosity between different caste groups and that it therefore had the potential to incite violence in southern districts of Tamil Nadu.

During 2016, Gnanavel Raja became involved in a series of clashes with other filmmakers, effectively raising his profile as an individual in the film industry. In May 2016, he was briefly on a hunger strike protesting against the effects of piracy on his latest release, 24 (2016). The following month he called for a ban on future films by Karthik Subbaraj citing that the director had overshot the budget for Iraivi (2016) and that the film had shown producers in negative light. He later called out actor Sivakarthikeyan for failing to honour an acting commitment he had to Studio Green.

In early 2017, Gnanavel Raja criticised the existing Tamil Film Producers Council for failing to adequately tackle piracy, before successfully getting himself elected to the board as the Secretary. He resigned seven months later, hoping to become the President of Chennai Kanchipuram Thiruvallur District Film Distributors Association, but was eventually unsuccessful. In a press conference in late 2017, he indirectly criticised actors Silambarasan, Trisha and Vadivelu for giving film producers a difficult time.

Alongside Studio Green, he later set up Aadnah Arts and Blue Ghost Pictures.

Companies Studio Green (2006—present) Aadnah Arts / Blue Ghost Pictures (2017— 23/07/2021)

Filmography Production Year Title Cast Director Notes 2006 Sillunu Oru Kaadhal Suriya, Jyothika, Bhoomika Chawla N. Krishna 2010 Singam Suriya, Anushka Shetty Hari Vijay Award for Entertainer of the Year Naan Mahaan Alla Karthi, Kajal Aggarwal Suseenthiran Nominated – Vijay Award for Favourite Film 2011 Siruthai Karthi, Tamannaah Siva Nominated – Vijay Award for Favourite Film 2013 Alex Pandian Karthi, Anushka Shetty Suraj All in All Azhagu Raja Karthi, Kajal Aggarwal M. Rajesh Biriyani Karthi, Hansika Motwani Venkat Prabhu 2014 Madras Karthi, Catherine Tresa Pa. Ranjith 2015 Darling G. V. Prakash Kumar, Nikki Galrani Sam Anton Komban Karthi, Lakshmi Menon M. Muthaiah Massu Engira Masilamani Suriya, Nayantara, Pranitha Subhash Venkat Prabhu Indru Netru Naalai Vishnu Vishal, Miya, Karunakaran R. Ravikumar 2016 Kadhalum Kadandhu Pogum Vijay Sethupathi, Madonna Sebastian Nalan Kumarasamy Iraivi S. J. Surya, Vijay Sethupathi, Bobby Simha, Anjali Karthik Subbaraj Darling 2 Kalaiyarasan, Rameez Raja, Kaali Venkat, Ramdoss Sathish Chandrasekaran 2017 Si3 Suriya, Shruti Haasan, Anushka Shetty Hari 2018 Thaanaa Serndha Koottam Suriya, Keerthy Suresh, Ramya Krishnan Vignesh Shivan Iruttu Araiyil Murattu Kuththu Gautham Karthik Santhosh P. Jayakumar Ghajinikanth Arya, Sayyeshaa Santhosh P. Jayakumar NOTA Vijay Devarakonda, Mehreen Pirzada, Sathyaraj, Nassar Anand Shankar 2019 Mehandi Circus Madhampatty Rangaraj, Shweta Tripathi, Vela Ramamoorthy Raju Saravanan Devarattam Gautham Karthik, Manjima Mohan, Soori M. Muthaiah Mr. Local Sivakarthikeyan, Nayanthara M. Rajesh Magamuni Arya, Indhuja Ravichandran, Mahima Nambiar Santhakumar 2021 Teddy Arya, Sayyeshaa Shakti Soundar Rajan 2022 Theal Prabhu Deva, Samyuktha Hegde Harikumar Kaatteri Vaibhav Reddy, Sonam Bajwa, Aathmika, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar Deekay 2023 Pathu Thala Silambarasan, Gautham Karthik, Gautham Vasudev Menon Obeli N. Krishna 80s Buildup Santhanam, Radhika Preethi, R. Sundarrajan, K. S. Ravikumar Kalyaan 2024 Rebel G. V. Prakash Kumar, Mamitha Baiju Nikesh RS Buddy Allu Sirish, Gayatri Bhardwaj Sam Anton Thangalaan Chiyaan Vikram, Parvathy, Malavika Mohanan, Pasupathy Pa. Ranjith Kanguva Suriya, Disha Patani Siva 2025 Vaa Vaathiyaar Karthi, Krithi Shetty Nalan Kumaraswamy