Arjun Sarja is an Indian actor, producer and director who works predominantly in Tamil cinema and Kannada. He also established his career in Telugu cinema apart from a few Hindi and Malayalam films. He debuted as an actor in the film Simhada Mari Sainya in Kannada in the year 1981. Sarja had acted in more than 165 movies. He has directed 12 films and also produced and distributed a number of films. After starring in numerous Kannada films with minor roles, he starred in his first movie as an independent actor in Male Bantu Male. In 1984, Sarja made his Tamil debut in Rama Narayanan's film Nandri. During the subsequent years he acted in many Telugu and Kannada films portraying lead and supporting roles in Trimurtulu (1987), Premagni (1989), Prathap (1990) and Shivanaga (1992).

Sarja made his directorial debut with the film Sevagan in 1992. In 1993, he starred in his first breakthrough film as a contemporary actor in S. Shankar's Gentleman, which opened to positive reviews, while Sarja went on to win the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor. He then starred in commercially successful films such as Jai Hind (1994), Karnaa (1995), and the crime drama film Kurudhipunal (1995). In 1999, he starred in the political thriller Mudhalvan (1999). Sarja won critical acclaim for portraying an ambitious television reporter who became the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu for a day. The film ran for over 100 days in theaters and won awards on a regional scale.

In 2000, he starred in Vasanth's film Rhythm. He appeared in several action films in which he directed and featured in lead roles are Ezhumalai (2002) and Parasuram (2003), while also starred in Arasatchi (2004). The films, Giri (2004) and Marudhamalai (2007) were box office hits, while several were average grossers including Madrasi (2006), Vathiyar (2006) and Durai (2008). He portrayed the role of the Hindu deity Hanuman in Krishna Vamsi's devotional film Sri Anjaneyam (2004).

Since 2010, Sarja has attempted to change his "action king" image and played negative roles. In 2011, he starred alongside Ajith Kumar in Venkat Prabhu's crime thriller Mankatha, which became a box office success. The following year he appeared in Kannada film Prasad, for which he won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actor. He then starred in Mani Ratnam's Kadal (2013), in which he portrayed in the role of a smuggler, which went on to become a box office failure. In a directorial venture, Jai Hind 2 became a box office success in Kannada, while the Tamil and Telugu versions failed at the box office. In 2017, he starred in his 150th film Nibunan which was simultaneously made in Kannada as Vismaya. He then acted in the Telugu film Naa Peru Surya, followed by the Tamil action movie Irumbu Thirai (2018), which later became a blockbuster at the box office.

As actor

+List of films and rolesYearFilmRole(s)Language(s)Notes1981 Simhada Mari SainyaArjunKannada1983 AashaInterview on the movie Abhimanyu Filmbeat Prema Yuddha Raja1984 Pooja Phala Kumar Prema Jyothi Anand Male Bantu Male Subbu Pralayanthaka ArjunGuest appearance NandriMurugan TamilTamil debut KadamaiJeeva1985 NaagamCID officer Maa Pallelo GopaluduGopalamTeluguTelugu debut IlamaiArjun Tamil Terror KaaliTelugu Bangaru Chilaka Raja Engal KuralRaja Tamil Yaar?Major Jagan VeshamAshok AvanJohnny Sivappu Kili1986 Naga DevathaSchool masterTelugu Na Ninna PreetisuvePruthviKannada KutraArjunTelugu PrathidwaniRavi KotigaduKoti Kulirkaala MegangalPremTamil En SabadhamVijay Mannemlo MonagaduArjunTelugu Cowboy No. 1Vijay Konaseema KurraduRambabu VettaiTamilDelayed release; Filmed in 19841987 ManavadostunnaduBabuTelegu Kalyana KacheriVadiveluTamil Sankar GuruInspector Shankar GuruBilingual film Chinnari DevathaInspector BabuTelugu Thayaramma Thandava KrishnaThandava Krishna TrimurtuluSiva MonagaduVijay Garjinchina GangaGopi Prathispandhana Nyayaniki SankelluNethaji Rakshasa SamharamBabu / Arjun1988 Doctor Gari AbbaiKranthiTelugu Thaimel AanaiRajaTamil Chattamtho ChadarangamMadhuTelugu Veguchukka PagatichukkaBhargava Dhaayam OnnuArun (Raja / Ilaiyaraja / Arjun / Ignatius Immanuel Inbaraj)Tamil Siripuram ChinnoduRaviTelugu CoolieGopi Thaai PaasamRajaTamil August 15 RaatriAbhimanyuTelugu Pattikkattu ThambiChinna ThambiTamil1989 Vettaiyaadu VilaiyaaduRajaTamil Padicha PullaKasi En ThangaiPandiyan SonthakkaranRajadurai Annanukku JaiKaali Enga Annan VarattumManikkam PremagniVikramKannada1990 Paattali MaganGopiTamil Manaivi Oru ManickamVijay Periya Idathu PillaiVijay PrathapSP PrathapKannada Aatha Naan Pass AyittaenChinnasamyTamil Thangaikku Oru ThalattuGopi / Prakash1991 Thanga ThamaraigalRamu Enga Ooru SippaiRasaiyya1992 SevaganDSP SanjayAlso director Mudhal KuralKaran Annan Ennada Thambi EnnadaShankar Police LockupArjunKannada Snehada KadalalliKrishna ShivanagaShiva1993 PratapPratapTamil GokulamKannanGuest appearance AlimayyaAnanthaKannada GentlemanKrishnamoorthy (Kicha)TamilTamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor Dhuruva NatchathiramSuriyadevanDelayed release; Filmed in 1990 Karpagam VanthachuSakthivelDelayed release; Filmed in 1992 Rojavai KillatheAlexander (Duraipandi)1994 JaihindACP Bharath Mettupatti MirasuChinnaduraiDelayed release; Filmed in 1991 SadhuSathyamoorthy (Sakthi) Maa Voori MaarajuSuribabuTelugu1995 Mudhal UdhayamSeenuTamilDelayed release; Filmed in 1993 KarnaaVijay / Karnaa KuruthipunalAbbas IPSTamilBilingual film Ayudha PoojaiKrishnasamyTamil1996 SengottaiSP Sekhar IPS DrohiAbbas IPSTeluguBilingual film SubashColonel SubashTamil1997 Adimai ChangiliKarthikeyan (Kannan)1998 KondattamRaja (Ramu) Thayin ManikodiArjun Zulm-O-SitamArjunHindiHindi Debut SubhavarthaRajendra Prasad (Raja)TeluguPartially re-shot in Tamil as Mannavaru Chinnavaru1999 Nanbaa UnknownTamil Shelved Movie Suriya PaarvaiVijayPartially re-shot in Telugu as Hello Friend Mannavaru Chinnavaru Rajendra Prasad (Raja)100th FilmPartially reshot version of Telugu film Subhavartha SuyamvaramACP Sanjay Kannodu KanbathellamSeetharam MudhalvanPughazhendi2000 SudhandhiramVishwa RhythmKarthikeyan VaanavilSurya2001 VedhamVijay Sri Manjunatha ManjunathaKannada Hanuman JunctionKrishnaTelugu2002 EzhumalaiEzhumalaiTamil2003 ParasuramACP Parasuram OttranKarthik2004 Puttintiki Ra ChelliSivannaTeluguPartially re-shot in Tamil as Anbu Sagotharan Sri AnjaneyamLord AnjaneyaTelugu ArasatchiSiddharthTamil GiriGiri (Shiva)Tamil Jai SooryaJai Anand IAS / Surya2005 ChinnaChinna AanaiVijay IPS 2006 MadrasiKasiPartially re-shot in Telugu as Sivakasi VathiyarAnnadurai2007 ManikandaManikanda / RajaDelayed release; Filmed between 2002 and 2005 MarudhamalaiInspector Marudhamalai125th Film ThavamMarudhamalai Guest appearance2008 SwagatamSrikanthTelugu DuraiDurai (Raja)Tamil ThiruvannamalaiEaswaran / Guruji BommalattamVivek Varma IPSPartially version of Hindi as Final Cut of Director2009 VayuputraHimselfKannadaGuest appearance2010 Rama Rama Krishna KrishnaAshok DevaTelugu Vandae MaatharamAnwar Hussain IPSTamil-MalayalamTamil-Malayalam bilingual film; Malayalam Debut VallakottaiMuthuvel (Vayuputhran)Tamil2011 MankathaACP Prithviraj2012 This WeekendDr. SanjayHindiPartially re-shot in Tamil and Telugu as Kaattupuli and Aranyam, respectively MaasiInspector MasilamaniTamil PrasadShankarKannadaKarnataka State Film Award for Best Actor2013 KadalBergmansTamilVijay Award for Best Villain AttahasaD.G.P. K. Vijay KumarKannadaPartially re-shot in Tamil as Vana Yuddham Moondru Per Moondru KadalPaul Harris RosarioTamil2014 Jaihind 2AbhimanyuTamil-Telugu-KannadaMultilingual film Abhimanyu2016 GameDCP Sharat ChandraKannada Kannada–Tamil bilingual film Oru Melliya KoduDCP ShakthivelTamil Final Cut of DirectorVivek Varma IPSHindiPartially re-shot in Tamil as Bommalattam2017 NibunanDSP Ranjith KalidossTamil-Kannada150th Film Vismaya LiePadmanabhamTelugu2018 Prema Baraha Hanuman devotee/Flight captainKannada-Tamil Special appearance:Kannada–Tamil bilingual film Solli Vidava Naa Peru SuryaDr. Rama Krishna RajuTelugu Irumbu ThiraiSathyamoorthy (White Devil)Tamil2019 KolaigaranDCP KarthikeyanTamil KurukshetraKarnaKannadaJack & DanielDaniel Alexander IPSMalayalam HeroSathyamoorthy "Moorthy" (Mask)TamilNorway Tamil Film Festival Award for Best Supporting Actor 2021Friendship SylenderTamil Marakkar: Lion of the Arabian SeaAnandanMalayalam 2022KhiladiArjun Bharadwaj Telugu Oppanda Sanjay Rangaswamy Kannada 2023LeoHarold DasTamilSIIMA Award for Best Actor in a Negative Role2024 Virunnu Deva NarayananMalayalamPartially re-shot in Tamil with Arjun Sarja portions VirundhuTamil2025 Vidaamuyarchi Rakshith Aghathiyaa Dr. Siddharthan Theeyavar Kulai NadungaInspector Magudapathy2026 Seetha PayanamGiri TeluguGuest appearance BlastRajaramanTamil2027 Polimera 3 ViraaviTeluguFilming

As director, producer, writer and distributor +List of films and rolesTitleYearCredited asLanguageNotesDirectorProducerWriterDistributor Sevagan 1992 Tamil Prathap 1993 Tamil Jai Hind1994 Tamil Karna1995 Tamil Thayin Manikodi1998 Tamil Thutta Mutta1998 Kannada Suyamvaram1999 Tamil Vedham2001 Tamil Ezhumalai2002 Tamil Parasuram2003 Tamil Madrasi2006 Tamil Vathiyar2006 Tamil Thavam2007 Tamil Durai2008 Tamil Vayuputra2009 Kannada Jai Hind 2Abhimanyu 2014 TamilKannadaTelugu Multilingual; Sequel to Jai Hind; also lyricist Prema BarahaSolli Vidava2018 KannadaTamil Bilingual film Semma Thimiru2021TamilTamil dubbed version of Kannada film Pogaru; Distributor only Martin2024KannadaStory only Seetha Payanam2026 Telugu

As singer +List of films and songsFilmYearSongMusic directorNotesJai Hind1994"Ootathuma"VidyasagarSang the beginning lyrics "Thanni Vechu" Mudhal Udhayam1995 "Raasi Nalla Raasi"Shankar–Ganesh Karnaa1995 "Hello Miss Chellama"VidyasagarSpoke dialogues in the beginning,Sang alongside Chetan, SwarnalathaSubash1995"Hero Honda"Vidyasagar Parasuram2003 "Chittukuruvi"A. R. RahmanSang alongside Swarnalatha, Sriram Parthasarathy Jai Soorya2004 "Kattuna Avala Kattuvenda"DevaSang alongside Vadivelu

Television +List of series and rolesSeries NameYearRole(s)Language(s)ChannelNotesSurvivor Tamil2021HostTamilZee TamilDebut in Television

References