Venkatesh Prabhu Kasthuri Raja
Dhanush
Actor|singer|Director
Venkatesh Prabhu Kasthuri Raja (born 28 July 1983),[2] known professionally as Dhanush, is an Indian actor, producer, director, lyricist and playback singer who primarily works in Tamil cinema.[3] Having starred in 46 films over his career, his accolades include four National Film Awards (two as actor and two as producer), fourteen SIIMA Awards, seven Filmfare Awards South and a Filmfare Award.[4] One of the highest paid actors in Indian cinema, he has been included in the Forbes India Celebrity 100 list six times.[5] Dhanush's first film was Thulluvadho Ilamai, a 2002 coming-of-age film directed by his father, Kasthuri Raja. He achieved further success in Polladhavan (2007) and Yaaradi Nee Mohini (2008), both of which were critically acclaimed and commercially successful.[6] His role as a rooster fight jockey in Aadukalam (2010) won him the National Film Award for Best Actor and the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil.[7] He continued success with films including Maryan (2013), Velaiilla Pattadhari (2014), Anegan (2015), Kodi (2016), Vadachennai (2018), Asuran (2019), Thiruchitrambalam (2022) and Vaathi (2023). Vadachennai emerged as the highest-grossing A-rated Tamil film of all time, while Thiruchitrambalam and Vaathi entered the 100 Crore Club within a month of their release.[8] During the 2010s, he also starred in the action films Maari (2015), Maari 2 (2018), and Velaiilla Pattadhari 2 (2017). In 2011, Dhanush's popular bilingual song "Why This Kolaveri Di" from the romantic psychological thriller film 3 (2012) became the first Indian music video to cross 100 million views on YouTube.[9] He made his Bollywood debut with Aanand L. Rai's Raanjhanaa (2013). His performance as an obsessive one-sided lover in the film won him the Filmfare Award for Best Male Debut in addition to a nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Actor.[10] Dhanush produces films through his production company, Wunderbar Films,[11] and he made his directorial debut with Pa Paandi (2017).[12][13] His song "Rowdy Baby" from Maari 2 became one of the most-viewed Indian songs of all time.[14] It is the first South Indian video song to reach 1.5 billion views on YouTube.[15] Dhanush won his second National Film Award for Best Actor for Asuran (2019).[16]