# Mirchi Senthil

Senthil Kumar (born 18 October 1978), popularly known as Mirchi Senthil, is an Indian film and television actor, television presenter, radio jockey and voice actor. His career began as a radio jockey with the radio station Radio Mirchi. He performed in the lead character Saravanan in STAR Vijay's sensational serial Saravannan Meenatchi and made his debut as a film actor in Thavamai Thavamirundhu. He continued acting in lead roles in Sengathu Bhoomiyilae, Kan Pesum Vaarthaigal, Vennila Veedu and more.

## Personal life

Senthil was born in Chennai on 18 October 1978 to S. Govindan and Premavathy. He studied at Don Bosco Higher Secondary School, Chennai and completed his Bachelor of Commerce degree at Pachaiyappa's College, Chennai, as well as his Master of Finance and Control degree at Madurai Kamaraj University. He had a brief career stint in the banking industry before he moved on to the media.
He married his co-star of Madurai & Saravanan Meenatchi Tamil serials fame Malayalam-Tamil actress Sreeja Chandran on 2 July 2014 in a private function in Tirupathi. Senthil confirmed his marriage with Sreeja on his radio show Neenga Naan Raja Sir on 8 July 2014. His sudden marriage announcement created a buzz amongst their thousands of worldwide fans celebrating their marriage. Their son, Sree Vallabh Dev, was born on 4 January 2023.

## Career
### Radio

Senthil joined Radio Mirchi, Chennai as a Radio Jockey in 2003 and performed various roles such as Radio producer, EP and Programming Head. Later, he moved to Coimbatore to head Coimbatore Radio Mirchi for 4 years. He has hosted many shows like Mirchi Gold, Mirchi Bazaar, Pettai Raap and Love Talkies. He presented the program Neenga Naan Raja Sir, which is a special on Ilaiyaraaja's music that was aired between 9 PM and 11 PM from Monday to Saturday. This was a very popular program and was acknowledged and endorsed by Ilaiyaraaja himself. In 2016 May, he finished that show and started a new show called "Sentilin Sutta Kadhai" (Senthil's stolen stories), which tells interesting short moral stories from around the world. He currently completed 20 years on radio jockey journey on Radio Mirchi.

### Television

Senthil played the lead character in the successful television serial titled Madurai in STAR Vijay telecasted from 2007 to 2009. Following the success of this serial, Senthil played the lead character by the name Saravanan again in another sensational serial Saravanan Meenatchi in STAR Vijay. Senthil rose to fame following his performances in these two serials and is very well known for his character named Saravanan.
Senthil has performed in a micro-serial 777 for Polimer TV, which was directed by the movie director Manobala.
Apart from the serials, Senthil has hosted a number of shows for STAR Vijay. He hosted a weekly movie review show Tamil Cinema Indha Vaaram in which he discussed the movies along with the cast and crew of the movie. Senthil has conducted a game show for women by the name Boxing for Polimer TV.

### Film

Senthil made his Tamil film debut in the 2005 film Thavamai Thavamirundhu, in which he played the elder brother of director Cheran. He was nominated for the Filmfare Awards for Best Supporting Actor. He got his first lead role in the movie Sengathu Bhoomiyilae. He continued to act in lead roles in films like Kan Pesum Vaarthaigal, Pappali, Vennila Veedu, Rombha Nallavan Da Nee, etc. These films, however, did not fare well at the box office.

## Filmography
### As actor

| Year | Film | Role | Notes |
| 2005 | Thavamai Thavamirundhu | Ramanathan | Nominated, Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Tamil |
| 2007 | Evano Oruvan | Sridhar's Friend | |
| 2007 | Chennai 600028 | Radio Mirchi RJ Senthil Kumar | Cameo Appearance |
| 2012 | Sengathu Bhoomiyilae | Chinna Samy | |
| 2013 | Kan Pesum Vaarthaigal | Mahesh | |
| 2014 | Vallavanukku Pullum Aayudham | Raja | |
| 2014 | Pappali | Karthik | |
| 2014 | Vennila Veedu | Karthik | |
| 2015 | Rombha Nallavan Da Nee | Bhaskar | |
| 2020 | Soorarai Pottru | Radio Mirchi RJ Senthil Kumar | Cameo Appearance |
| 2022 | Munnarivaan | Hero's Friend | Filming |

### As Radio Jockey

| Show | Year | Timings | Notes |
| Mirchi Gold | 2003 to 2007 | 9PM to 11PM | This show played the songs from old Tamil movies. |
| Mirchi Bazaar | 2005 to 2007 | 11AM to 2PM | This was a ladies special program. Senthil co-hosted this with RJ Deva. |
| Pettai Raap | 2003 to 2006 | 4PM | This program was aired on Sundays. |
| Neenga Naan Raja Sir | 2010 to 2015 | 9PM to 11PM | This show plays the best of Ilaiyaraaja's songs from 80s |
| Mirchi Sutta Kadhai | 2015 Onwards | 9PM to 11PM | |
* Love Talkies is a unique concept in radio in which stories and characters are created and played along with the Tamil movie songs. Senthil has been a part of many radio movies.

### Appearance in Television

| Year | Serial | Role | Notes |
| 2007–2009 | Madura | Seigai Saravanan | Star Vijay |
| 2010 | Kallikattu Pallikoodam | Bala Murugan | Star Vijay |
| 2011–2013 | Saravannan Meenatchi Season 1 | RJ Saravanan | Star Vijay |
| 2012 | Micro-serial 777 | | Polimer TV |
| 2016 | Achcham Thavir | Contestant | Game Show; Star Vijay |
| 2016–2017 | Mappillai | Senthil Kumar | Star Vijay |
| 2017 | Kalyanam Conditions Apply | Senthil | Web series |
| 2018–2020 | Naam Iruvar Namakku Iruvar | Mayan / Aravind (Dual Role) | Star Vijay |
| 2020 | Kalyanam Conditions Apply 2.0 | Senthil | Web series |
| 2020–2022 | Naam Iruvar Namakku Iruvar | Mayan / Maaran (Dual Role) | Star Vijay |
| 2020 | Heart 2 Heart | Senthil | Web Series |
| 2020 | Kalyanam Conditions Apply 3.0 | Senthil | Web Series |
| 2021–2022 | Junior Super Star Season 4 | Judge | Reality Show; Zee Tamil |
| 2021–2022 | Jagamae Thandiram Kadhaigal | Presenter / Host | Reality Show; Colors Tamil |
| 2023 – Present | Anna | Shanmugam / Saravanan (Dual role) | Zee Tamil |
| 2023 | Seetha Raman | Shanmugam (Cameo) | Zee Tamil |

### As Television presenter

* A song review show Gaanamum Kaatchiyum for the TV channel Puthuyugam
* Tamil Cinema Indha Vaaram for Star Vijay
* Kadal Movie Special for Star Vijay
* Paradesi Movie Special for Star Vijay
* Ajith special for Star Vijay
* Dhanush special for Star Vijay
* Sembaruthi Vetri Vizha for Zee Tamil

## Awards and honours

| Year | Award | Category | Work | Result |
| 2005 | Filmfare Awards South | Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Tamil | Thavamai Thavamirundhu | Nominated |
| 2012 | Mylapore Academy Awards | Best Actor | Saravanan Meenatchi | Won |
| 2014 | Vijay Television Awards | Vijay Television Awards for Favourite Actor | Saravanan Meenatchi | Won |
| 2014 | Vijay Television Awards | Vijay Television Awards for Favourite Screen Pair | Saravanan Meenatchi | Won |
| 2017 | Vijay Television Awards | Vijay Television Awards for Favourite Screen Pair | Mappillai | Won |
| 2017 | Vijay Television Awards | Vijay Television Awards for Favourite Actor | Mappillai | Won |