Arun Kumar (born 21 September 1986), known professionally as Atlee, is an Indian filmmaker who primarily works in Tamil films. He made his directorial debut with the film Raja Rani (2013); for which he was awarded Best Debut Director by the Vijay Award and the Tamil Nadu State Award for best dialogue writer. Atlee wrote and directed Theri, Mersal, and Bigil, all featuring Vijay. He made his debut in Hindi cinema with Jawan (2023), which is among the highest grossing Indian films.
Atlee | |
|---|---|
 Atlee in 2024 | |
| Born | Arun Kumar 21 September 1986 Thiruparankundram, Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Occupations |
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| Years active | 2010-present |
| Spouse | Krishna Priya (m. 2014) |
| Children | 1 |
Career
Atlee did a degree in visual communications in Sathyabama University, Chennai and made the short film En Mel Vizhundha Mazhaithuli. He then appealed to Mani Rathnam, S. Shankar and Gautham Vasudev Menon in search of work and Shankar agreed for him to work under him. He worked as assistant director for the films Enthiran (2010) and Nanban (2012), a remake of the Hindi film 3 Idiots. He made short films including Mugaputhagam (2011).
In 2013, Atlee went on to make his directorial debut with Raja Rani, a rom com produced by A. R. Murugadoss. It starred Arya, Jai, Nayanthara, Nazriya Nazim, and Sathyaraj. It earned over ₹50 crores at the box office and won him the Best Debut Director award at the Vijay Awards. Atlee directed his next film, Theri (2016), action thriller, produced by Kalaipuli S. Thanu, starring Vijay, Samantha, and Amy Jackson in the lead roles. It received positive reviews from the critics who praised the performances of the cast, soundtrack, score, cinematography, production design, and action sequences. Grossing over ₹150 crores at the box office, it emerged a commercial success and became the second highest grossing Tamil of 2016.
In 2017, Atlee directed Mersal, an action thriller, produced by Thenandal Studio Limited. Again starring Vijay, it also had Nithya Menen, Kajal Aggarwal, Samantha Ruth Prabhu, S. J. Suryah and Sathyaraj. It became one of the highest-grossing films in Tamil cinema, grossing more than ₹260 crores worldwide. The film became the recipient of various accolades. Due to demand, the film was screened at the largest cinema theatre in Europe Grand Rex, France. The film was screened at the Hainan International Film Festival in Hainan, China and at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival in South Korea.
Atlee directed his next film, Bigil (2019), a sports action drama, produced by AGS Entertainment. He reunited for the third and second time with Vijay and Nayanthara, respectively. It also starred Jackie Shroff, Vivek and Kathir in other prominent roles. The music was composed by A. R. Rahman. Upon release, it received mix to positive reviews and emerged as the highest-grossing Tamil film of 2019 and one of the highest-grossing Tamil films of all-time.
In 2017, Atlee and his wife Priya started their own production house, A for Apple Productions. They jointly produced their first film with Fox Star Studios, Sangili Bungili Kadhava Thorae, a horror comedy, written and directed by Ike. It starred Jiiva, Sri Divya, and Soori in the lead roles. In 2020, He produced Andhaghaaram, a supernatural horror thriller film, written and directed by V. Vignarajan. It was released directly on Netflix for streaming, on 24 November 2020.
Atlee made his debut in Hindi cinema with Jawan, starring Shah Rukh Khan, Nayanthara, Vijay Sethupathi, Priyamani, Sanya Malhotra, Riddhi Dogra, along with others. It was produced by Red Chillies Entertainment. It released on 7 September 2023 to generally positive reviews. It made ₹1150 crores worldwide in its entire run and becoming one of the highest grossing Indian films.
Atlee and Priya produced their third film in Hindi named Baby John starring Varun Dhawan, Keerthy Suresh, and Wamiqa Gabbi; its a remake of his Tamil film, Theri (2016). The music was composed by Thaman S. He will be collaborating with Allu Arjun and Sai Abhyankkar in Raaka, which is being produced by Kalanithi Maran, under Sun Pictures.
Personal life
Atlee married actress Krishna Priya on 9 November 2014. They have one son.
Filmography
| Year | Title | Director | Screenwriter | Producer | Language | Notes | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | Enthiran | Assistant | No | No | Tamil | ||
| 2011 | Mugaputhagam | Yes | Story | No | Short film | ||
| 2012 | Nanban | Assistant | No | No | Special appearance as himself in the song "Asku Laksa" | ||
| 2013 | Raja Rani | Yes | Yes | No | |||
| 2016 | Theri | Yes | Yes | No | |||
| 2017 | Sangili Bungili Kadhava Thorae | No | No | Yes | |||
| Mersal | Yes | Yes | No | ||||
| 2019 | Bigil | Yes | Yes | No | Special appearance as himself in the song "Singappenney" | ||
| 2020 | Andhaghaaram | No | No | Yes | |||
| 2023 | Jawan | Yes | Yes | No | Hindi Tamil | Special appearance as himself in the song "Zinda Banda"/"Vandha Edam" of the Tamil version | |
| 2024 | Baby John | No | No | Yes | Hindi | ||
| 2027 | Raaka † | Yes | Yes | No | Telugu | Filming |
Recurring collaborations
Only people with 3+ collaborations are listed. Editor Ruben, art director T. Muthuraj and actor Sai Dheena have worked on five of Atlee's films. Shobi and Yogi Babu have worked on four of his films. This list only concerns Atlee's directorial films.
| Films | Ruben | T. Muthuraj | Sai Dheena | Shobi | Yogi Babu | Vijay | Nayanthara | G. K. Vishnu | Vivek (lyricist) | Manobala | Rajendran |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raja Rani (2013) |  | | | | | | |||||
| Theri (2016) | | | | | deleted scene | | | | |||
| Mersal (2017) | | | | | | | | | | ||
| Bigil (2019) | | | | | | | | | | | |
| Jawan (2023) | | | | | Tamil version | | | Tamil version | |||
| Raaka † | | | | | |||||||
Plagiarism allegations
Atlee's films, though commercially successful, have been criticized for having overly-familiar stories that have been done-to-death, starting from the 1980s of Tamil cinema. Raja Rani was described as an upgraded version of Mouna Ragam (1986), while Theri was described as having been highly inspired by Chatriyan (1990). Chatriyan was produced by veteran filmmaker Mani Ratnam, while Mouna Ragam was the latter's own directional film.Mersal was described as an upgraded version of Apoorva Sagodharargal (1989), and Bigil was described as "Chak De India on steroids". Atlee has countered that, despite having been sued for plagiarism numerous times, he has won all the cases filed against him.
Accolades
| Film | Award | Category | Result | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raja Rani | Tamil Nadu State Film Awards 2013 | Best Dialogue Writer | Won | |
| Edison Awards | Best Debut Director | Won | ||
| 8th Vijay Awards | Best Debut Director | Won | ||
| Best Story, Screenplay Writer | Nominated | |||
| Best Dialogue | Nominated | |||
| 3rd SIIMA Awards | Best Debut Director | Nominated | ||
| Theri | 2nd IIFA Utsavam | Best Director – Tamil | Won | |
| 6th SIIMA Awards | Best Director – Tamil | Won | ||
| 64th Filmfare Awards South | Best Director – Tamil | Nominated | ||
| Mersal | Edison Awards 2018 | Best Director | Won | |
| 65th Filmfare Awards South | Best Director – Tamil | Nominated | ||
| 7th SIIMA Awards | Best Director | Won | ||
| 10th Vijay Awards | Favourite Director | Won | ||
| Best Dialogue | Nominated | |||
| Jawan | NDTV Indian Of The Year Awards 2024 | Best director of the year | Won |