Madhumitha – Acclaimed Tamil movie director of ‘K. D’ fame

Madhumitha is a promising young film director who works in Tamil cinema. Her debut film Vallamai Tharayo released in 2008 won Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Family Film. Kola Kolaya Mundhirika (2010), Moone Moonu Varthai (2010), Moodu Mukkallo Cheppalante (2015) and K. D (2019) are other releases. Her most recent flick K. D starred newcomers and experienced actors, and got noticed for their stunning performances, alongside powerful script and movie direction. The movie won numerous awards at different international film festivals.

Madhumitha is born in Chennai. Later she moved with her family to Indonesia where she grew up. She also spent her academic years in Singapore and USA. She started off directing short films while she was studying at Singapore, and later directed full-fledged feature films. While at USA she has worked with the team and crew of the movie, Pirates of the Caribbean. Once she completed her studies, she returned back to her hometown Chennai, and started her career in Tamil film industry.

Vallamai Tharayo starring R. Parthipan and Chaya Singh was her debut flick. The movie received mixed reviews, but completed 100 days at theatre, and also bagged state award for Best Family Film. The movie was also screened at various international film festivals. Her second film Kola Kolaya Mundhirika was a comedy which received praise from critics. After 5 years of hiatus she directed two movies back-to-back. Both these comedy movies went unnoticed.

After 4 years she returned in a bang with a drama film with a comic touch – Karuppu Durai or simply K.D, which dealt with the sensitive subject of Thalaikoothal of Tamil Nadu. Though it is an offbeat film, it included entertaining elements too, and the lead roles played by Mu Ramaswamy and child artist Nagavishal received heap of praises along with many awards and nominations at different Film festivals. It simply teaches audience how to celebrate life even during the last innings of life. Madhumita won the Best Director Award at UK Asian Film Festival, and the movie also bagged Jury award at Singapore South Asian Film Festival, apart from many other honours.

Madhumitha – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. Her full name is Madhumitha Sundararaman.

2. As a student, one of her short films won the best of the world category in BBC and she was also honoured with Singapore Student Award.

3. Critics tagged her debut flick Vallamai Tharayo to be a rework of iconic movie, Mauna Raagam, and didn’t give it favourable reviews. However the movie was a commercial success.

4. Her movie Moone Moonu Vaarthai (2015) starred legendary playback singer SP Balasubramaniam in the lead.

5. After 2015 she got involved with Bigg Boss Tamil show on television as a creative director for some time, and took break from films for 4 years.

6. She received the child artist Nagavishal for the movie K. D in an audition held at Madhurai, and the budding young actor stole everyone’s hearts. He also bagged Best Actor Award at Jagran Film Festival.

7. Her husband Vijay Venkataraman is a freelance editor.