Atharvaa Murali (born 7 May 1989) is an Indian actor who works in Tamil cinema. The son of actor Murali and grandson of director S. Siddalingaiah, Atharvaa began his acting career with Baana Kaathadi (2010).[1] He then garnered critical acclaim for his performance as a youngster suffering from delusion in the romantic thriller Muppozhudhum Un Karpanaigal (2012), before signing on to feature in Bala's period filmParadesi (2013). His role as a rural villager held as a slave in a tea plantation became his breakthrough performance, earning Atharvaa a Filmfare Award for Best Actor in Tamil.
Early life
Atharvaa was born as the second child to late actor Murali and his wife, Shobha. He also has an elder sister, Kavya, and a younger brother, Akash. He did his schooling in St. Michael's Academy. He attended Sathyabama Institute of Science and Technology, majoring in engineering.
Career
2010–2017
In 2009, his father found him an offer to play the lead role in a film to be produced by Sathya Jyothi Films and directed by Badri Venkatesh. Titled Baana Kaathadi, the film launched in March 2009 and had Atharvaa pair up with fellow rookie actress Samantha. Portraying a youngster from the Royapuram slum area, he stayed in the locality for forty-five days to learn about the lifestyle, while he also learned to fly a kite for the film, canning scenes at the Gujarat Kite Festival.[2] The film, which also had Murali making a special appearance, released in August 2010 with critics mostly praising his debut performance with Sify.com writing he "makes a promising debut and he dances and emotes well".[3] Similarly a critic from Rediff.com added "romance is a cake-walk" for the actor, drawing comparison with his father's performances in romantic roles, though noted "his dialogue delivery is a little too melodramatic".[4] He subsequently gained recognition at the Edison Awards for Best Debut Actor, while also receiving a nomination from the Vijay Awards in the same category. The success of the film prompted Murali to begin pre-production on a Tamil and Kannada bilingual film which would feature Atharvaa.[5] However, a month after Baana Kaathadi's release, his father Murali died after suffering cardiac arrest. Atharvaa consequently took a break to spend time with his family, before beginning work on a different venture.[6]
Gautham Vasudev Menon had previously shown interest in directing Atharvaa for a film.[7] A year later, his next release was Muppozhudhum Un Karpanaigal where he played a youngster suffering from hallucinations, film had an average collection and his performance was stated by Sify.com as “good but has miles to go in the histrionics department and voice modulation”.[8] His biggest movie was Paradesi under the direction of Bala, for which he won multiple awards including the Filmfare Award for Best Actor – Tamil. His next film was Sargunam's Chandi Veeran alongside actress Anandhi, which was a flop the box office.[9]
After several delays, Atharvaa's debut production Semma Botha Aagathey (2018), directed by Badri Venkatesh released and was an average success.[12] He later appeared in 2018’s Imaikkaa Nodigal in which he acted as Nayanthara's brother (Arjun), a role that received major recognition.[13] In March 2019, Boomerang, featuring alongside Megha Akash, was released to average reviews.[14] In September 2019, Atharvaa made his Telugu debut in the film Gaddalakonda Ganesh.[15]
Atharvaa was initially considered to play the young Aditha Karikalan in Mani Ratnam’s 2022 film Ponniyin Selvan, however, the part ultimately went to Aswin Rao.
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