Hari (director)

**Hari** (born 26 December 1968) is an Indian movie director, best known for his action-masala in Tamil cinema. He made his directional debut in the movie _Thamizh_ (2002).After this breakthrough, he gave many commercial success movies such as _Saamy_ (2003), _Kovil_ (2004), _Ayya_ (2005), _Thaamirabharani_ (2007), _Vel_ (2007) and _Singam_ (2010) movie. He has directed 15 movies.

## Background

Hari was born in the Thoothukudi District of Tamil Nadu, India. His father, Gopal, is a vessels merchant. Later, his family moved to Chennai, where Hari graduated with a degree in Commerce.

## Career

Hari first joined as an assistant, gaining experience by working with various directors; K. Natraj in _ Valli_, Nassar in _Avatharam_ and Alex Pandian. Later, he assisted K. Balachander in his film _Kalki_ and worked as an associate director with Saran in the films _Amarkalam_, _Parthen Rasithen_ and _Alli Arjuna_.

His first film, in 2002, was _Thamizh_, with Prashanth and Simran. Film critic Balaji commented that it was "one of the few movies in recent times where a lot of importance seems to have been attached to the script. In spite of the flimsy story and routine screenplay where a youth grows to be a "dada", the dialogs elevate the quality of the movie and make it very enjoyable". His second film _Saamy_, under the Kavithaalaya banner, starred Vikram. It was named the year's biggest hit, grossing 160 million. Its success led to remakes; in Telugu (_Lakshmi Narasimha_), Kannada (_Ayya_) and Hindi languages (_Policegiri_). His next two films _Kovil_, with Silambarasan and _Arul_ also starred Vikram. In 2005, he made _Ayya_, starring Sarathkumar, which introduced Nayantara to Tamil cinema. His next film was _Aaru_, with Suriya in 2005. In 2007, he directed two films, _Thaamirabharani_ with Vishal and _Vel_, with Suriya. In 2008, he directed _Seval_, with Bharath. Ayyappa Prasad from Nowrunning.com stated that Hari "panders to the taste of his rural audience all the way, but the movie is bound to disappoint city-dwellers, since neither the story nor its treatment appeal to anyone with high IQ .

In 2010 Hari directed his tenth film _Singam_, with Suriya, marking their third collaboration. although reviewers identified it as a standard masala entertainer.

## Filmography

|Year|Film|Cast|Notes|
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
|2002|_Thamizh_|Prashanth, Simran||
|2003|_Saamy_|Vikram, Trisha||
|2004|_Kovil_|Silambarasan, Sonia Agarwal||
|2004|_Arul_|Vikram, Jyothika||
|2005|_Ayya_|R. Sarathkumar, Napoleon, Nayanthara||
|2005|_Aaru_|Suriya, Trisha||
|2007|_Thaamirabharani_|Vishal, Bhanu||
|2007|_Vel_|Suriya, Asin||
|2008|_Seval_|Bharath, Simran, Poonam Bajwa||
|2010|_Singam_|Suriya, Anushka Shetty, Prakash Raj||
|2011|_Venghai_|Dhanush, Rajkiran, Tamannaah||
|2013|_Singam II_|Suriya, Anushka Shetty, Hansika Motwani||
|2014|_Poojai_|Vishal, Shruthi Haasan, Sathyaraj||
|2017|_Singam III_|Suriya, Anushka Shetty, Shruthi Haasan||
|2018|_Saamy 2_|Vikram, Keerthy Suresh, Bobby Simha||
|2019|Arun Vijay|Arun Vijay,   Priya Anand, Sameera Reddy|Pre-Production|

### Lyricist

- 2004 _ Kovil_
- 2005 _Aaru_
- 2007 _Thaamirabharani_
- 2007 _Vel_
- 2008 _Seval_
- 2010 _Singam_
- 2011 _Venghai_
- 2017 _Singam III_
- 2018 _Saamy 2_
- 2024 _Radan_

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Harikrishnan
- **image**: Director Hari 62nd Filmfare Awards South.jpg
- **caption**: Hari at the 62nd Filmfare South Awards
- **birth name**: Harikrishnan
- **birth place**: Thoothukudi, Tamil Nadu, India
- **occupation**: Movie director
- **spouse**: Preetha Vijayakumar (Indian actress), Preetha Vijayakumar
- **yearsactive**: 2002–present
- **children**: 3