Sathyaraj

Biography

Rangaraj Subbiah (born 3 October 1954), professionally known as Sathyaraj, is an Indian actor, producer, director, and media personality who predominantly appears in Tamil films. His 240 films also include works in Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi.

He started his career in antagonistic roles and later played lead roles. He met with success through lead performances in Vedham Pudhithu (1987), Nadigan (1990), Amaidhi Padai (1994), Periyar (2007) and Onbadhu Roobai Nottu (2007). 

He also received acclaim for supporting roles in Nanban (2012), Raja Rani (2013), Baahubali (2015), Baahubali 2 (2017) and Kanaa (2018). He was also the director of the film Villadhi Villain (1995), starring himself in three different roles.

In 2011, he had a brief career as a television host for the game show Home Sweet Home on STAR Vijay.[2] He has also served as a brand ambassador for Pothys, Susi Emu farms,[3] and Kumaran Jewellery Shop.

In his early career between 1978 and 1982, the antagonistic roles he played were often henchman to the main villain M. N. Nambiar and other villains, and his role would be minor, while the main lead was Sivaji Ganesan, Jaishankar, Kamal Haasan, Rajinikanth and Vijayakanth. 

His college friend Manivannan directed Sathyaraj for the first time in the Tamil film January 1 in 1984, where Sathyaraj had a supporting role. Manivannan directed Sathyaraj in about 25 films from 1984 to 2013 and of them, 18 had Sathyaraj as the main lead. 

His screen space as a villain increased after 24 Mani Neram (1984), directed by Manivannan, in which Sathyaraj's role was on par with that of lead actor Mohan. His acting skills in the film were noticed by many and he became famous among the Tamil film audience. 

Sathyaraj also felt that his villainous roles in Nooravathu Naal and Anbin Mugavari, both again directed by Manivannan, had better footage than those of Vijayakanth's and Mohan's. In Needhiyin Nizhal (1985), which featured Prabhu in the lead role, Sathyaraj had a minuscule supporting role and played second fiddle to the main villain M. N. Nambiar. 

Sathyaraj started receiving offers to act as the hero in Tamil films in 1985. Directors were reluctant to cast him as the protagonist as his second film as a lead actor Iravu Pookkal (1985) was not a success. Most of the films he was part of were of the action genre in this period.

In 2021, he appeared in Tughlaq Durbar, inspired by Manivannan's political satire Amaidhi Padai. Then Ponram's, MGR Magan which has Sathyaraj and Sasikumar starring. In Theerpugal Virkapadum, he plays the role of a dad who seeks revenge for the injustice meted out to his daughter.

 In 2022, he had nine releases notably Etharkkum Thunindhavan, Veetla Vishesham, and Love Today which received positive reviews.

 He also starred in the Telugu anthology drama series Meet Cute streaming on SonyLIV.In December, the horror thriller Connect was released where Sathyaraj played the role of Nayanthara's father.