Guru Somasundaram

Guru Somasundaram is an Indian actor who works in the Tamil and Malayalam film industries. He made his debut in Aaranya Kaandam (2011) winning critical acclaim for his role, before also appearing in the Tamil action film Pandiya Naadu (2013), Jigarthanda (2014) and Joker (2016). He rose to fame for playing the role of Shibu, a super villain in the 2021 Netflix Malayalam film, Minnal Murali.

Guru Somasundaram
Somasundaram during a photoshoot
Born	(1975-09-03) September 3, 1975 (age 49) Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
Alma mater	Government Polytechnic College, Tamil Nadu
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2011–present

Early life

Guru Somasundaram was born on 3 September 1975. He joined the prominent Tamil theatre group in Koothu-P-Pattarai, where he acted in plays from 2002 till 2011. In 2003, director Thiagarajan Kumararaja saw him, while he was playing the role of Chandrahari in Koothu-P-Pattarai's play. Thiagarajan offered him an opportunity to feature in his future film.

Career

In 2008, Thiagrajan offered Somasundram a role in his neo-noir film Aaranya Kaandam, as the drunkard Kaalaiyan. Somasundaram lost seven kilograms and underwent training for the movie. Upon release in 2011, the film went on to win two National Film Awards, while Somasundaram's performance was well received by critics.^[1] Rediff.com's critic praised the ensemble cast but added "the honours undoubtedly go to Guru Somasundaram. His gleeful cackles at the rooster fight, pathetic rumblings to his son and wide-eyed act in the Lodge are wonderful to behold."^[2] Similarly Behindwoods.com noted that the actor had delivered a "superior" performance.^[3] After seeing his performance, director Mani Ratnam signed him on to play a small role in Kadal (2013).

After leaving Koothu-P-Pattarai, he toured as a freelance theatre actor, before venturing into Malayalam cinema by portraying a photographer in 5 Sundarikal (2013), after being impressed by Shyju Khaled's narration.^[4] Later that year, he was seen in a character role in Suseenthiran's critically acclaimed Pandiya Naadu, portraying the slain brother of Vishal's character. In between feature films, he appeared in the short silent film The Lost Paradise, portraying a prisoner heading home after fifteen years. He also won acclaim for his performance as an acting coach in Karthik Subbaraj's gangster film Jigarthanda (2014), where he was seen giving acting training to the character portrayed by Bobby Simha. Somasundaram had previously trained Simha as an actor in real life during the pair's theatre performances.^[5] He is also known for his role as a district collector in the 2019 Tamil film Petta which starred Rajinikanth in the lead role.^[6]

Filmography

Films

Year	Title	Role	Language	Notes
2011	Aaranya Kaandam	Kaalaiyan	Tamil
2013	Kadal	Kovil Kutty	Tamil
	5 Sundarikal	Photographer	Malayalam
	Pandiya Naadu	Nagaraj	Tamil
2014	Jigarthanda	Muthu	Tamil
2015	49-O	Aarumugam	Tamil
	Bench Talkies - The First Bench	David	Tamil
	Thoongaa Vanam	Duraipandiyan	Tamil	Bilingual movie
	Cheekati Rajyam		Telugu
	Kohinoor	Naayakkar	Malayalam
2016	Joker	Mannar Mannan	Tamil
	Kuttrame Thandanai	Balan	Tamil
2017	Yaakkai	Sriram	Tamil
	Paambhu Sattai	Rajendran	Tamil
2018	Odu Raja Odu	Manohar	Tamil
	Vanjagar Ulagam	Sampath	Tamil
2019	Petta	District collector	Tamil
2021	Maara	Chokku	Tamil
	Manja Satta Pacha Satta		Tamil
	Jai Bhim	Public Prosecutor (PP) Chellapandiyan	Tamil
	Ikk	Gnana Prakasam	Tamil
	Minnal Murali	Shibu	Malayalam
2022	Maamanithan	Vappa Bhai	Tamil
	Agent Kannayiram	Kannayiram's father	Tamil
	Haya	Nandagopan	Malayalam	[7]
	Naalam Mura	Jayesh	Malayalam
2023	Pakalum Paathiravum	Janakiraman	Malayalam	[8]
	Yaathisai	Poosari	Tamil	[9]
	Charles Enterprises	Gomathi's husband	Malayalam	[10]
	Neeraja	Psychologist	Malayalam	[11]
	Chera		Malayalam
	Bell	Brahma	Tamil
	Rani: The Real Story	Dharmajan	Malayalam
2024	Bayamariya Brammai	Jagadish	Tamil
	Indian 2	Common Man (Animated character) [In body suit]	Tamil	[12]
	Cup		Malayalam	[13]
	Barroz 3D – Guardian of D'Gama's Treasure	S. P. Subramanyam	Malayalam	[14]
	Her	Auto driver	Malayalam	Anthology film[15]
2025	Kudumbasthan	Rajendran	Tamil	[16]
	Bottle Radha	Radha	Tamil	[17]

Short films

• (2016) - Oru Poi^[18]

• (2017) - Irudhi Aram

Web series

Year	Title	Role	Language	Platform	Notes
2020	Topless	Kalki (Politician)	Tamil	ZEE5	[19]
2022	Meme Boys	College Deen		SonyLIV	[20]
	Victim	Guna

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Film	Language	Result	Ref
2017	Behindwoods Gold Medal	Best Actor Male	Joker	Tamil	Won	[21]
2022	10th South Indian International Movie Awards	Best Actor in a Negative Role	Minnal Murali	Malayalam	Won
	Mazhavil Entertainment Awards	Best Actor in a Villain Role			Won
	OTT Play Awards	Breakthrough Performance of the Year			Won