Nithilan Saminathan – Tamil film director of ‘Maharaja’ and ‘Kurangu Bommai’ fame – Tamil film director of ‘Maharaja’ and ‘Kurangu Bommai’ fame

Nithilan Saminathan is a talented film director belonging to Tamil cinema. Known for his unique film making, playing with timeline, both his released films till 2024 – ‘Maharaja’ (2024) and ‘Kurangu Bommai’ (2017) met with critics’ appreciation and box office success.

His real name is Santhamurthy Swaminathan

Nithilan was born on June 2, 1982 in Vellore, Tamil Nadu. His real name is Santhamurthy Swaminathan. There is a story behind his new name. When he was in class 12, he read an article written by lyricist Vairamuthu. The story is about keeping a word ‘Nithilan’ for the song “Andhimzhai Pozhigiradhu” which Kamal Hassan wanted to change. Vairamuthu insisted on keeping the word as Kannadasan had already used it. Hence Santhamurthy Swaminathan decided to keep new name, Nithilan.

As he belonged to an army family with many relatives serving the nation, he initially aspired to join the military. But later, because of his passion for films and poetry, he pursed film industry. He graduated in Visual Communication before joining the industry.

Naalaya Iyakunar Season 3 gave him the first break to film industry

He entered a reality show searching for directorial opportunities. Pudhir was the first short film he made for competition, followed by 6 more and won first prize for the third season. Punnagai Vaanginaal Kanneer Elavasam was the short film he made for final round.

Nithilan made his directorial debut with the film Kurangu Bommai in 2017

Nithilan Saminathan’s debut work Kurangu Bommai was a masterpiece. Its non-linear storytelling and direction gave it a fresh treat and received rave reviews. The movie starred a bunch of actors with Vidharth, Delna Davis, and Bharathiraja playing lead roles, while Elango Kumaravel and P. L. Thenappan played supporting roles.

A seven-year hiatus after his debut work

Though he was widely appreciated for his debut work, it took a long time for his second project. But he returned in a bang with one of the biggest blockbusters of 2024, Maharaja starring Vijay Sethupathy and Anurag Kashyap in lead roles. The movie released in mid-June brought some kind of relief to Tamil box office, which was suffering from drought in the first half of the year. The movie made on a budget of 20 crore, collected more than 100 crores in domestic market and had a magical run in Chinese box office too.

Nithilan Saminathan – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. Both his films released till 2024 had non-linear narration and a surprising twist in the climax. Both the films are crime thrillers too.

2. After a seven-year hiatus, Nithilan’s sophomore film, Maharaja released in 2024 was a blockbuster.

3. His directorial Maharaja became the highest grosser Tamil film in China, and stands out as a testament to the global appeal of well-crafted story telling. It was the first Indian film to be screened in China since the diplomatic tensions between the nations began to ease.