Samuthirakani is an Indian actor and film director who predominantly works in Tamil films and Telugu films besides appearing in a number of Malayalam films. He worked as an assistant to director K Balachander. He was born on 26 April 1973 in Seithur, Rajapalayam, Tamil Nadu. He did his B.Sc. in Mathematics from the Rajapalayam Rajus College and he also earned a Bachelor of Law from Ambedkar Law College. Though he aimed to become an actor, people around discouraged him by telling that he did not have the physical appearance or talent necessary to be an actor.
In 1997, he joined as an assistant director under Sundar K. Vijayan. He was then noticed by K. Balachander and was recruited as assistant director for Balachander's 100th film Paarthale Paravasam. He also assisted Balachander in the mega-serial Anni telecasted by Jaya TV. He gained experience while working with Balachander who helped him in many ways while shooting the mega tele series like Arasi and Selvi, that telecasted in Sun TV, which were massive hits among housewives. As an actor he worked as a junior artist in Jannal serial, telecasted in 1998, directed by K.Balachander.
In the early 2000s, Samuthirakani began his career as a director. He notably launched a shelved film titled Uyir Nanbanukku starring Cheran, before making Unnai Charanadaindhen in 2003 for S P B Charan. However, it was the success of Naadodigal (2009) that established Samuthirakani as a director. Since then he has directed films such as Poraali (2011), Nimirndhu Nil (2014) and Appa (2016). All these films have been remade in Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam.
He directed two Telugu films Shambo Shiva Shambo (2010) a multistarrer film with RaviTeja in lead and Janda Pai Kapiraju (2015) with actor Nani. These two movies were simultaneously shot in Tamil. Samuthirakani, who directed and starred in the original Appa (2016), has directed the Malayalam version Aakashamittayee in 2017 along with M. Padmakumar. He also played an important role in Rajinikanth's Tamil film Kaala in 2018 that was also released in Telugu.
Samuthirakani returned to directing with Naadodigal 2 (2020), a film that takes up the topic of equality. In 2020, he played an antagonist in the Trivikram directorial Ala Vaikunta Puramulo starring Allu Arjun. In 2021, he played the main role in the Telugu film, Aakashavani. He also directed and acted in the fantasy comedy drama Vinodhaya Sitham. In 2022, he played Sivakarthikeyan's father in the movie Don. He was recently seen as Rajendranath, the antagonist and Keerthy Suresh's father in Mahesh Babu's film, Sarkaru Vaari Paata. He won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2016 for Visaranai.
