Arvind Swamy

Aravind Swamy was born in Kumbakonam in a Tamil Brahmin family to Industrialist V. D. Swamy and Bharatanatyam Dancer Vasantha.^[7] Swamy studied at the Sishya School and later in Don Bosco Matriculation Higher Secondary School, P. S. Senior Secondary School and completed his schooling in 1987.^[8] He then graduated from Loyola College, Madras in 1990 with a Bachelor of Commerce degree. He then went to the United States to do his master's degree in international business^[9] from Wake Forest University in North Carolina.^[10]

Arvind Swamy wished to be a doctor. In college, he used to be a model for pocket money.^[11] In his Loyola Theatre Society, he wasn't well received and was asked to get off stage. Later on Mani Ratnam saw him in an advertisement and called for a meeting. Then Santosh Sivan introduced him to the basics of film-making.^[11]

Swamy made his debut in Mani Ratnam's action drama film, Thalapathi (1991), where he played a young district collector pitted against a don and his own biological brother. Subsequently, Mani Ratnam signed him on to play the lead role in his 1992 political drama film Roja (1992). Roja and Bombay (1995) won awards at the State and National Film Awards. His performance in Bombay was called "soulful" by Time Magazine.^[12] Swamy has won several awards, popular and critical, for his films.^[12] He has been described as one of the first few actors in India who is able to achieve pan-Indian appeal. He lent his voice for the Tamil dubbed version of the adult Simba in Disney's The Lion King (1994).^[13] His next project was Indira (1995), followed by the Telugu film Mounam (1995) and Malayalam movie Devaraagam (1996).

He starred in Rajiv Menon's Minsaara Kanavu alongside Kajol and Prabhu Deva, which won four National Film Awards besides high box office reviews.^[14] During the making of the film, Arvind Swami was critical of Menon changing the script to prioritise Prabhu Deva's role. The film eventually performed well at the box office after a slow start, with Arvind Swami eventually stating he was happy to be a part of the film.^[15] His next film, Pudhayal (1997), again saw him portray a role with a cast headlined by another actor, Mammootty. In the film, Arvind wore uncharacteristically loud clothes and portrayed a comedy-oriented role for the first time in his career.^[15] Working on the two films meant that he missed out on the opportunity of acting in Mani Ratnam's Iruvar (1997).^[15] He appeared in his first Hindi film through Priyadarshan's Saat Rang Ke Sapne (1998) produced by Amitabh Bachchan. Co-starring Juhi Chawla, Arvind portrayed the role of a village do-gooder.^[15]

In the late 1990s, several of Arvind Swami's films ran into production troubles. Three of his Tamil films, Gandhi Krishna's Engineer, Azhagam Perumal's Mudhal Mudhalaaga and Mahendran's Sasanam were all stalled after completing a few production schedules. The former two, which featured him opposite Hindi actresses Madhuri Dixit and Karisma Kapoor, respectively, eventually did not have a theatrical release. Sasanam, which he worked on without remuneration, had a delayed release in 2006. Two prominent Hindi films that he signed during the period, Mahesh Bhatt's venture with Aishwarya Rai, and Anupam Kher's directorial debut film co-starring Amitabh Bachchan, also eventually were dropped.^[15] His final two releases before his sabbatical, En Swasa Kaatre (1999) and Raja Ko Rani Se Pyar Ho Gaya (2000) also took several years to complete, with long delays during the production phase.^[16]

Swamy eventually stopped acting in films post-2000, after playing a guest role in Mani Ratnam's Alai Payuthey, and opted to concentrate on his business interests. As the director of V D Swamy and Company, he continued to engage in international trade and construction businesses. In 2000, he became the president of InterPro Global, and the chairman and managing director of Prolease India, engaged in transaction processing.^[12] He was in charge of operations and technology for the delivery of many processes across different verticals globally. He then founded Talent Maximus in 2005, a company engaged in payroll processing and temporary staffing in India. In 2005, he had an accident and injured his spine. He experienced partial paralysis of his leg and suffered in pain for many years. The treatment took another 4–5 years.^[11]

After his successful treatment, Mani Ratnam called him once more to play a role in one of his films, Kadal (2013)^[13] for which Swamy dropped 15 kilograms.^[17] In 2013, he provided the voice-over for Santhosh Sivan's film Ceylon.^[18]

In 2015, he played the iconic negative role of Sidharth Abhimanyu in Thani Oruvan, for which he was highly praised and received positive reviews and many awards.^[19][20]

In 2016, he reprised the same role in Telugu in the film Dhruva with Ram Charan, a remake of Thani Oruvan, for which he got appreciation from the Telugu audience.^[21][22] Later that year, he appeared in a Hindi film, Dear Dad.^[23] The game show Neengalum Vellalam Oru Kodi recruited Swamy for its third season, which started airing on 30 May 2016.^[24]

In 2017, he played the title role of Bogan, co-starring Jayam Ravi, for which he again got an outstanding response from critics and audience.^[25]

In 2018, he acted in Bhaskar Oru Rascal, playing the character Mammootty did in the original.^[26] The film was followed by Chekka Chivantha Vaanam (2018). The film was released to positive reviews which also got him the Filmfare Award.^[27]

In 2021, he acted in A. L. Vijay's directorial biographical-political drama Thalaivii opposite Kangana Ranaut. He portrayed the character of actor-politician M. G. Ramachandran in the film. He returned to Malayalam cinema after 25 years with Ottu (2022).^[28] Arvind Swami stays true to the character and delivers a natural performance.^[29][30] In 2023, he was seen in the bilingual film Custody with Naga Chaitanya and Krithi Shetty in lead roles.^[31] In 2024, the Tamil drama film, Meiyazhagan, where he co -starring with Karthi has opened to positive reviews and strong box office performance.^[32]

In the late 2010s, several of Arvind Swamy's films were delayed or shelved as a result of production troubles and the actor's insistence to have his salary settled. Production on Sathuranga Vettai 2 began in July 2016, but remains unreleased following a payment dispute with the film's producer Manobala.^[33] Vanangamudi was conceptualised by director Selva in 2014, with the shoot taking place in a slow manner over the course of nine years.^[34] Likewise, Engineer, Naragasooran, The Leader, and Kallapart began their shoot in mid-2017 through mid-2023, but these films never had a theatrical release.^[35][36] Other projects such as the Hindi-Tamil bilingual remake of Marathi film Kaksparsh and Santhosh Jayakumar's Pulanaivu were shelved despite entering production.^[37][38]

Swamy married Gayathri Ramamurthy^[39] in June 1994 and has one daughter Adhira, born in 1996, and a son Rudra, born in 2000.^[40][41] The couple lived separately for seven years until 2010, when they filed for divorce.^[39][42] He was granted the custody of his children.^[43] He married Aparna Mukerjee in 2012.^[44][40]

• "Udal Manukku" - Iruvar
• "Unnodu Naan Irundha" - Iruvar
• "Kooduvittu Koodu" - Bogan