# TSR Srinivasan

TSR Dharmaraj, also popularly known as TSR Srinivasan, is an Indian actor who predominantly featured in comedy and supporting roles in Tamil cinema. He is known for his outspoken nature, strong vocal tone. He is also well known for his ability to convey the realistic mannerisms, realistic body language and the required intensity for the investigation officer roles in films. His stature and appearance also shows a uncanny resemblance similar to that of senior supporting actor T. P. Gajendran.

## Biography

He was born as Srinivasan and adopted the name TSR for movies similar to famous veteran actors and politicians such as MGR, NTR, SSR and YSR. He apparently faced tough challenges while growing up, especially since he was studying at school, as he was frequently body shamed by his schoolmates, and he was also mocked, humiliated and ridiculed by his pals for his short stature as well as for his appearance.

## Career

Srinivasan worked in the textile industry in Tiruppur. After some time in the textile industry, he lost the appetite due to workload, trade embargoes, financial constraints and persistent losses. He worked as a restaurant franchisee in the 1990s. He later pursued an interest in acting after gaining a source of inspiration from his reading habits. In an interview, he credited that reading books eventually paid rich dividends for him, which propelled him to embark on pursuing greener pastures by venturing into the cine field. In the beginning of his film acting career, he received a remuneration of INR 200-300 per film and he began to make inroads by accepting minor roles, uncredited roles in films. He also revealed that he waited in the queues for film casting in pursuit of potential opportunities to act in films. He revealed that he was present as a crowd artist among the crowd which was gathered at the shooting location of Idhayam (1991) and Aranmanai (2014). He also insisted that he faced oppression from his family members for his decision to ply his trade in cinema field.
He featured in Vindhai (2015), albeit in a minor role as one of the percussion instrument players in a police station sequence, where the particular sequence is overshadowed and elevated due to M. S. Bhaskar's mannerisms and screen presence, which inevitably created a laugh riot due to the incorporation of his pure Tamil dialects in dialogue delivery. He made rapid strides for his performances in Sethupathi (2016), where he plays the role of an investigation officer in an intimidating dominating manner asking tough questions to some police officers as part of criminal investigation proceedings. He was lauded for his strong tone, loud voice, angry reactions, and body language in the film Sethupathi, as such attributes are regarded as acceptable prerequisites for a person to handle the job of a strict investigation officer. Some of his dialogues in Sethupathi including "Yovv Sethupathi un vela confirm agiduchu Monday varumpothu shave pannitu vaaya" (யோவ் சேதுபதி …, வரும்போது சேவ் பண்ணிட்டு வாயா; transl. Yo Sethupathi your job has been confirmed, shave when you come on Monday) became popular and such dialogues from him also were very well related to the sentiments of Tamil audiences which are inevitably used in day-to-day life. In a court sequence as a court judge in Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru (2017), he gave a stern warning to Bose Venkat to behave appropriately and asks him to stop passing the blame to an elderly person for all the murders that had been committed by a different person and he warns that he will not extend the remand to Venkat if he again brings a false fabricated evidence instead of the actual evidence.
He nailed a full-fledged villainous character named Dharmaraj in ZEE5's family thriller television series Ayali and gained recognition for his versatility and it was also a new attempt from TSR Srinivasan in a negative role after having stuck mostly to comedy and supporting roles.

## Filmography
### Tamil films

* Idhayam (1991)
* Aranmanai (2014)
* Vindhai (2015)
* Sethupathi (2016)
* Rekka (2016)
* Si3 (2017)
* Theeran Adhigaaram Ondru (2017)
* Oru Kidayin Karunai Manu (2017)
* Sandakozhi 2 (2018)
* Monster (2019)
* Kalavani 2 (2019)
* Aadai (2019)
* Namma Veettu Pillai (2019)
* Petromax (2019)
* Puppy (2019)
* Bigil (2019)
* Walter (2020)
* Ponmagal Vandhal (2020)
* Soorarai Pottru (2020)
* Mookuthi Amman (2020)
* Kaadan (2021)
* Aranmanai 3 (2021)
* Enemy (2021)
* Bachelor (2021)
* Tamil Rockers (2021)
* Gulu Gulu (2022)
* Idiot (2022)
* The Legend (2022)
* Kaatteri (2022)
* Poikkal Kudhirai (2022)
* Kadamaiyai Sei (2022)
* Cobra (2022)
* Diary (2022)
* Kanam (2022)
* Sardar (2022)
* Gatta Kusthi (2022)
* Parole (2022)
* Bagheera (2023)
* Run Baby Run (2023)
* Kannai Nambathey (2023)
* Kondraal Paavam (2023)
* August 16 1947 (2023)
* Vaan Moondru (2023)
* Mark Antony (2023)
* Japan (2023)
* Annapoorani: The Goddess of Food (2023)
* Siren (2024)
* Ini Oru Kadhal Seivom (2024)
* Indian 2 (2024)
* 7/G (2024)
* Jolly O Gymkhana (2024)
* Kudumbasthan (2025)
* Otha Votu Muthaiya (2025)
* Sabdham (2025)

### Other language films

* Aranya / Hathi Mere Saathi (2021; Telugu / Hindi)
* Oke Oka Jeevitham (2022; Telugu)
* Varshangalkku Shesham (2024; Malayalam)
* Game Changer (2025; Telugu)

### Web series

* Karoline Kamakshi (2019)
* Ayali (2023)
* Office (2025)