Manoj Kumar is an Indian film director, producer and television actor who has directed Tamil, Telugu and Kannada language films and Tamil serials.^[2] He is the brother-in-law of Bharathiraja.^[3]

Manoj Kumar was born on September 23, 1955, in Allinagaram, Theni district to Mr. Veerana Thevar (Former) and Ms. Veeramal (Mother). He is married to Ms. Selvi. They have two children, daughter – Dr. Lakshmi Priya, MBBS (Angio Specialist) and son – Mr. Buvaneswaran, B.E. mech. He completed his DME in Nachimuthu Polytechnic (Pollaachi) after completing his Diploma he worked as Assistant Engineer in Everest Engineering works (Coimbatore) for 2 years.

Career

After assisting Bharathiraja in various films, he made his directorial debut with Mannukkul Vairam (1986).^[4] He directed several films in 1990s such as, Guru Paarvai (1998) starring Prakash Raj, won positive reviews.^[5] He then went on to make medium budget action films including Vaanavil (2000) and Jaisurya (2004) featuring Arjun, as well as Raajjiyam which had Vijayakanth and Dileep in the lead cast.

He ventured into production in the mid 2000s and made the Madhavan-starrer Arya, before launching a directorial project titled Utharavu with Seeman, which eventually did not progress.^[6] Manoj Kumar resurfaced in 2013, when it was revealed that he was working with producer Kovai Thambi on a venture titled Uyirukku Uyiraga. The script of the film was reported to be about the relationship between parents and their grown-up children, while the cast was composed of newcomers.^[7]

He is also into acting both in Tamil cinema and Tamil serials as character artist most notably in Thirumanam (TV series) from Colours (TV channel) tamil. He also appears in a negative role in Rasathi serial from Sun TV (India).

Filmography

As director

Television Serials

As producer

• I Love You Daa (2003)
• Arya (2007)

As actor

Films

• Kedi Billa Killadi Ranga (2013) as Aachivardham (Sivakarthikeyan’s Father)
• Annakodi (2013) as Sanguni (Hero Manoj’s Father)
• Paayum Puli (2015) as Albert’s father (Police Commissioner Kishore’s Father)
• Pasanga 2 (2015) as School Principal
• Enga Amma Rani (2017) as Hero’s Father
• Padaiveeran (2018) as Vijay Jesuthas’s Father
• Vanangamudi (2020) as Chief Secretary

Serials