Manivannan

Manivannan (31 July 1954 – 15 June 2013) was an Indian actor, film director, screenwriter, voice artist, playback singer and social activist who worked in Tamil cinema. In a career spanning three decades, he went from being a story and dialogue writer for director Bharathiraja from 1980–82 to a successful director who thrived in experimenting with different genres, before becoming an actor. With over 400 films to his name, Manivannan was one of the most experienced actors in the field and directed exactly 50 films. Manivannan was mainly a supporting actor in films and often played the comedian, supporting character and villainous roles. While completing his pre-university course in Kovai, he became acquainted with Sathyaraj and became friends. According to Sathyaraj, he provided poor guidance to Manivannan and made him pursue a degree in history in advanced English, which made him struggle with topics such as Shakespeare, forcing him to drop out later. While still at college, Manivannan was bitten by the stage-bug and consequently he staged a few performances. Inspired by the impact the film Kizhake Pogum Rail made on him, he wrote a fan mail to the film-maker Bharathiraja and the letter ran to more than a hundred pages. Bharathiraja took him under his fold as an apprentice. Manivannan joined Bharathiraja's camp around 1979, when the director was acting in and was directing by P S Nivas, Kallukkul Eeram.

He penned the story and dialogues for some of his mentor's films between 1980 and 1982 like Nizhalgal, Tick Tick Tick, Alaigal Oivathillai and Kaadhal Oviyam. He had also penned the story and dialogues for a bunch of other films like Lottery Ticket acted by Mohan and Prabhu, Agaya Gangai acted by Karthik, Nesam acted by Ajith Kumar. In Rajinikanth's Kodi Parakuthu, directed by Bharathiraja, Manivannan did the villain's role.

He was most known for his acting skills among public. He was considered unique in the industry for his wisdom and his character roles. He had acted alongside many stars including Sivaji Ganeshan, Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth, Sathyaraj, Vijayakanth, Mohan, Karthik, Sarathkumar, Murali, Vijay, Ajith Kumar, Madhavan and among others.

Manivannan directed 50 films including a few ventures in Telugu and Hindi. The Hindu wrote that his film (1994) "has set the standards for political satire in Tamil cinema". Certain directorial ventures which he had started including Aaruvathu Sinam featuring Sathyaraj and Prabhu, were delayed and then dropped. He directed his 50th and last film Nagaraja Cholan MA, MLA (2013), a sequel to . Manivannan directed his best friend Sathyaraj in a good 25 films He later joined Naam Tamilar Katchi and has been as supporter of Tamil Eelam.

Death

Manivannan died shortly after the release of his 50th directorial venture Nagaraja Cholan MA, MLA due to a cardiac arrest on 15 June 2013 at the age of 59 in his Nesapakkam residence at Chennai. His body was wrapped in the flag of Tamil Eelam as he wished. Two months after his death, his wife died on 15 August 2013.