Nammalvar Lingusamy, (born 14 November 1967), is an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who works predominantly in Tamil cinema. He made his directorial debut with Aanandham (2001). He went on to direct Run (2002), Sandakozhi (2005), Paiyaa (2010) and Vettai (2012). He and his brother N. Subash Chandrabose have also produced films through his production company, Thirupathi Brothers.[1][2][3]
N. Lingusamy | |
|---|---|
.JPG) | |
| Born | 14 November 1967 |
| Occupations | |
| Years active | 2001 –present |
Early life
editLingusamy born on 14 November 1967 and hails from a town Kumbakonam, Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu. He worked as an assistant director to A. Venkatesh and Vikraman.[4]
Career
edit2001-2005: Debut and success
editLingusamy made his directorial debut with the Tamil family drama Aanandham, starring Mammootty. About the film, Linguswamy said: "The film actually is based on real life. Born in a large family I was impressed with the incidents my mother narrated to me. They were deeply etched in my memory and I thought I would use them when I got a chance to direct a film. Thus when Mr. Choudary gave me an opportunity I narrated the stories and he found them highly appealing".[5] Linguswamy originally wanted to title the project, Thirupathi Brothers, which he later went on to name his production house.[6] Aanandham opened to positive reviews in May 2001, with a critic noting that "it is a promising work from the debutant director".[7] The film won several awards including the Filmfare Award for Best Film – Tamil,[8] Cinema Express Award for Best Film – Tamil,[9] and two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards,[10] while, The Hindu listed the film amongst the best of 2001.[11]
His second film was Run with Madhavan. The film, too, was a commercially successful and also received good reviews. After the success of Run, Linguswamy announced his plans of re-collaborating with Madhavan in Sathyam, a film about student politics.[12] Owing to Madhavan's unavailability, the role went to Ajith Kumar, with the film being newly re-titled Ji.[12] Upon release the film received positive reviews especially a critic from Indiaglitz praising the film citing that "Lingusamy should be appreciated for giving a movie with pulsating sequences. He has infused the script with all the right ingredients and keeps the tempo of the narration on an even keel."[13] Critics from The Hindu claimed that the film "could have been better".[14] Similarly the film received a negative review from Rediff.com's critics citing that "Ji is for Ajith fans only!".[15] The film took a large opening all over Tamil Nadu,[16] but later turned out to be a box office failure and sustained a considerable loss for the producer.[17]
His next project was Sandakozhi with Vishal in his second film. The film was a commercial success grossing $3.5 million at the box office.[18] A critic from Sify in his review wrote: "Lingusamy lives up to his reputation as a director who makes racy action packed family entertainers with his new release Sandakozhi."[19] In 2005, Vikram signed his next project Bheemaa, which faced severe delays and only released in January 2008.[20][21][22] Upon release, the film gained mixed reviews though reviewers praised Vikram's performance with a critic claiming to see the film "only for him".[23] Similarly the review from The Hindu was critical of the excessive violence and mentioned that "as narration gives way after a point, Vikram can only appear helpless".[24] Noted director Gautham Vasudev Menon criticized the film in a leading newspaper.[25]
2008-2012: Continued success
editIn 2008, Lingusamy began filming his sixth project, Paiyaa featuring Karthi and Tamannaah in the lead roles.[26] Upon release the film and its soundtrack by Yuvan Shankar Raja were successful and received generally positive reviews, with most critics calling the film "summer entertainer" and lauding its technical aspects. Sify described the film as a "road movie laced with mass elements and extraordinary songs", adding that it is a "jolly good ride" and naming it "technically [...] Linguswamy's his best".[27] A reviewer from the Times of India, Bhama Devi Ravi, gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, writing that "the story is not earth-shatteringly new, but what pulls you into the movie is the different spin that Lingusamy gives to the familiar story".[28]
Lingusamy's next made the action masala film Vettai with Arya and Madhavan in lead roles. Vettai released on the Pongal weekend on 14 January 2012, and received overall mixed to positive reviews as well.[29][30][31][32][33]
Although Lingusamy has mainly worked in Tamil, his films have been dubbed or been remade in other languages. Dubbed Telugu versions of Run, Sandakozhi and Paiyaa, titled Run, Pandem Kodi and Awara, respectively, were released in Andhra Pradesh and also became commercially successful.[34][35] Aanandham was remade in 2005 as Sankranti by Muppalaneni Shiva in Telugu, while Jeeva remade Run in Hindi under the same title in 2004.
2014-present: Career decline
editIn 2014, Lingusamy's Anjaan was released, starring Suriya and Samantha. The film turned out to be a disaster. Critics lashed at the lack of content with some labelling it as a "Kaatu Kuppa". Part of the reason for the film's box office result was due to the hype generated by the film crew pre release which it subsequently could not satisfy and also became the basis of memes generated on social media.[36][37]
Lingusamy later directed Sandakozhi 2 (2018), a sequel to Sandakozhi, having Vishal reprising his role. The film could not repeat the success of the original.
In 2022, he directed the bilingual Telugu-Tamil film The Warriorr (2022), which marked his Telugu debut.[38][39] It received negative reviews from critics and was a box office bomb.
Filmography
edit| Year | Film | Credited as | Notes | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Director | Producer | Writer | |||
| 2001 | Aanandham |  |
 |
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Cinema Express Award for Best Film – Tamil Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Film (Third Prize) |
| 2002 | Run | |
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| 2005 | Ji | |
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| 2005 | Sandakozhi | |
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|
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| 2008 | Bheemaa | |
|
|
|
| 2010 | Paiyaa | |
|
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State Award Best Music Director State Award Choreographer Vijay Award Favourite Song Nominated, Vijay Award for Favourite Director |
| 2012 | Vettai | |
|
|
Cameo appearance |
| 2014 | Anjaan | |
|
|
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| 2018 | Sandakozhi 2 | |
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| 2022 | The Warriorr | |
|
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Shot simultaneously in Telugu; Telugu film debut |
References
edit- ^ Rangarajan, Malathi (11 January 2008). "On the beam with 'Bheema'". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 12 May 2008. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Raghavan, Nikhil (28 November 2008). "Doing a Rajni". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 1 December 2008. Retrieved 1 February 2010.
- ^ "Entertainment News: Latest Bollywood & Hollywood News, Today's Entertainment News Headlines". Archived from the original on 18 January 2003.
- ^ "Kollywood Director N Lingusamy Biography, News, Photos, Videos".
- ^ "Tale of a joint family". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 11 May 2001. Archived from the original on 13 September 2012.
- ^ "Tamil movies : Lingusamy: What's next after Bheema?". www.behindwoods.com.
- ^ "Reviews". ganeshyamalalove.tripod.com.
- ^ "Nuvvu Nenu wins 4 Filmfare awards". The Times of India. 6 April 2002. Archived from the original on 21 September 2012.
- ^ "rediff.com, Movies: Meena wins award for best actress". www.rediff.com.
- ^ "IndiaGlitz - Tamil Nadu announces film awards for three years - Tamil Movie News". 24 October 2004. Archived from the original on 24 October 2004. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
- ^ "Memorable flicks that made it big". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 28 December 2001. Archived from the original on 15 September 2003.
- ^ a b "Ajith Linguswamy unite". ajithkumar.free.fr. 9 January 2003.
- ^ "IndiaGlitz - Ji Tamil Movie Review - cinema preview stills gallery trailer video clips showtimes". 2 November 2004. Archived from the original on 2 November 2004. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
- ^ "Ji". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 18 February 2005. Archived from the original on 5 March 2005.
- ^ "Ji is for Ajith fans only!". www.rediff.com.
- ^ "'Ji' limping!". Sify. 22 October 2012. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "'Ji' collapses, 'Constantine' rises!". Sify. 22 October 2012. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "IndiaGlitz - Sandai Kozhi Tamil Movie Review - cinema preview stills gallery trailer video clips showtimes". 31 December 2005. Archived from the original on 31 December 2005. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
- ^ "Movie Review : Sandakozhi". Sify. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2013.
- ^ "Vikram is Bheema!". Sify. 15 October 2005. Archived from the original on 22 October 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
- ^ "VIJAYAKANTH BHEEMA Kollywood Ameer Sivakumar Vijayakanth Nadigar Sangam A M Rathnam Dharmapuri Vikram Rama Narayanan tamil movie news hot stills picture image gallery". www.behindwoods.com.
- ^ "IndiaGlitz - 'Bheemaa' gets a reprieve - Tamil Movie News". 3 November 2007. Archived from the original on 3 November 2007. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
- ^ "Bheema". Sify. 15 January 2008. Archived from the original on 18 December 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
- ^ Rangarajan, Malathi (15 January 2008). "A bloodbath almost – Bheema". The Hindu. Chennai, India. Archived from the original on 20 January 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2011.
- ^ "Gautham rips Bheema!". Sify. 21 December 2012. Archived from the original on 21 December 2012. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Payya on the road". Behindwoods. Retrieved 24 December 2008.
- ^ "Movie Review:Paiyaa". Sify. Archived from the original on 6 April 2010. Retrieved 9 August 2011.
- ^ "Paiyaa". The Times Of India. timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 5 April 2010.
- ^ "Vettai Review — Vettai Movie Review". Behindwoods.com. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
- ^ "Movie Review:Vettai". Sify. Archived from the original on 25 June 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
- ^ "Review: Vettai is no classic, but it is good fun — Rediff.com Movies". Rediff.com. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
- ^ "Vettai: Moview Review". Times of India. timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 19 January 2012.
- ^ "Vettai Review — Tamil Movie Review by Rohit Ramachandran". Nowrunning.com. Retrieved 16 January 2012.
- ^ "Karthi's Awara to release in April". Sify. 9 October 2012. Archived from the original on 9 October 2012. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Dubbed film is a hit!". Sify. 20 April 2014. Archived from the original on 20 April 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "Samantha goes gaga over Tamil cinema". Times of India. Retrieved 18 February 2014.
- ^ "Samantha Ruth Prabhu's bikini act in 'Anjaan'". financialexpress.com. 18 August 2014.
- ^ second part of the blockbuster film Sandakozhi
- ^ "The Warriorr movie review: Try not to fall asleep in this Ram Pothineni film". 14 July 2022.
External links
edit- N. Lingusamy at Facebook