Subramani Karuppaiya (born 25 May 1939), known by his stage name Goundamani, is an Indian film actor and comedian. He is better known for his comic duo partnership in Tamil films with fellow actor Senthil. Eventually he was called as Goundamani for his ability to give counter dialogues on the spot and off the script (as a warning to his co artiste to be prepared) on stage and during shooting as per Bhagyaraj who was writing scripts and title credits for Bharathiraja in his early days during the movie 16 Vayathinile. Till date he has acted over 310 films approximately.
Goundamani was born as Subramani in Vallakundapuram, a village near Udumalaipettai Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. His father is Karuppaiya and mother is Annam (Kaliamma).He is married to Shanthi and has 2 children.[1][2]
He entered into the Tamil film industry due to his strong theatrical background. He is popular of giving counter to the co-actors during stage performance which garnered him the name «Counter Mani». This in Tamil polyglot became as stage name «Goundamani». Goundamani has played lead roles in a few films during his career, but is predominantly a supporting actor playing comedy roles. While performing roles of a solo comedian in films, he often co-starred with Senthil to form a comedy duo. The pair was described as «Tamil cinema’s Laurel and Hardy» and have performed slapstick humour in several Tamil films since the mid-1980s until the early 2000s. After recuperating from diabetes and respiratory illnesses during the late 2000s, he is about to feature in Vaaimai and also play the lead role in 49-O, which began productions in 2013. It is being directed by debutant Arokiadoss, a former assistant of Gautham Vasudev Menon.[3][4] [5][6]
Rangaraj Subbaiah (born 3 October 1954), known by his stage name Sathyaraj, is an Indian film actor and media personality who has predominantly appeared in Tamil films. He is popularly known for his works in Baahubali (franchise) and Chennai Express. He started his career in villainous roles and later played lead roles. He has acted in over 200 films, including Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada films. He met with success with his lead performances Vedham Pudhithu (1987), Nadigan (1990), Amaidhi Padai (1994) and the Tamil Nadu government-sponsored film Periyar (2007). He also received acclaim for supporting roles in Nanban (2012), Raja Rani (2013) and his role as Karikala Kattappa Nada in the two-part epic Baahubali.[2] He was also the director of the film Villadhi Villain (1995), starring himself in three different roles.[3][4][5]
In 2011, he had a brief career as a television host for the game show Home Sweet Home on STAR Vijay.[6] He has also served as a brand ambassador for Pothys and Kumaran Jewelry Shop.[7]
Sathyaraj was born as Rangaraj on 3 October 1954 to Subbaiyan and Nathambal, with two younger sisters, namely Kalpana Mandradiar and Roopa Senapathy (wife of Dr. Periannan Senapathy). He is an ardent fan of M. G. Ramachandran.[3][8] Sathyaraj completed his primary school education in St Mary’s Convent school, Coimbatore and later studied for tenth standard from Suburban High School, Ramnagar, Coimbatore. He went to Government Arts College, Coimbatore for a Bachelor of Science degree in Botany.[9][10][11]
Sathyaraj’s dream was to become a film actor, but his mother was against it and forbid him to join cinema. In 1976, in spite of his mother’s opposition, he left Coimbatore to enter the Tamil film industry based in Kodambakkam, Chennai.[12]
Sathyaraj entered the film industry after witnessing the shooting of the film Annakili, where he met actor Sivakumar and producer Thiruppur Manian.[10] He joined the drama troupe of Komal Swamynathan. Sathyaraj’s first film in a credited role as an actor was Sattam En Kaiyil,[13] in 1978, where he played a henchman to the main villain played by Thengai Srinivasan in the film. Later, he worked as production manager for the film Kannan Oru Kaikkuzhanthai.[14][15] In addition to his managerial role, he also had a small acting part in the film. His first film as the leading hero in Tamil was Saavi in 1985, which was a box office success, but his character was negative one. He acted in about 75 films from 1978 to 1985 till films such as Kaakki Sattai and Vikram (1986) starring Kamal Hassan, most of which featured Sathyaraj in antagonist roles.[3][16]
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