Directing

Karthik Subbaraj

Born March 19, 1983 · Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India (age 43)

Karthik Subbaraj is an Indian director, writer and producer working in the Tamil film industry. Known for quirky, visually flamboyant genre films, he is considered a prominent director in modern Tamil cinema. He debuted with the film Pizza (2012), which is considered one of the best modern horror films from India, and has gone on to direct several successful films which have garnered critical accl…

Known For

Retro

MovieRomanceAction

A man with a violent past seeks a fresh start, but the life he left behind resurfaces, forcing him to face old conflicts and redefine his future.

Bench Talkies

Bench Talkies · 2015

MovieActionComedy

Bench Talkies is a compilation of six films from six filmmakers. The one recognizable name is, of course, Karthik Subbaraj, while the others are all aspiring directors. The films deal with various subjects and are in different genres and are of varying quality.

Petta

A hostel warden becomes the target of a dreaded politician and his gangster son, but little do they realise that it is they who should fear him.

Game Changer

Game Changer · 2025

MovieActionDrama

Ram, a newly appointed district collector, takes charge in a city in Andhra Pradesh and immediately confronts the deeply entrenched corruption and inefficiency plaguing the government. Determined to bring reforms, he initiates sweeping changes, sparking a fierce conflict with a powerful state Minister.

Neelira

Neelira · 2026

MovieThrillerWar

A wedding eve in 1988 Sri Lanka turns into a hostage standoff when Indian Army soldiers occupy a family's home overnight.

Soodhu Kavvum

Soodhu Kavvum · 2013

MovieComedyThriller

Dass specialises in small time kidnapping and has his own set of rules. The primary and most important among them is not to get involved with influential people. Three jobless youngsters meet Dass and the four take up an assignment for a hefty sum that throws away this primary rule and end up being chased by a dreaded policeman.

Jagame Thandhiram

Jagame Thandhiram · 2021

Jagame Thandhiram

MovieCrimeDrama

When a clever, carefree gangster is recruited to help an overseas crime lord take down a rival, he is caught off guard by the moral dilemmas that follow.

Dorothy

Dorothy · 2026

MovieActionAdventure

Set in a world shaped by caste, violence, and toxic masculinity, two childhood friends grow up inseparable in rural Tamil Nadu. Their lives are transformed by the arrival of Dorothy, a woman whose compassion quietly challenges the world around them.

Filmography

Sort

Retro

MovieRomanceAction

A man with a violent past seeks a fresh start, but the life he left behind resurfaces, forcing him to face old conflicts and redefine his future.

Director

Bench Talkies

Bench Talkies · 2015

MovieActionComedy

Bench Talkies is a compilation of six films from six filmmakers. The one recognizable name is, of course, Karthik Subbaraj, while the others are all aspiring directors. The films deal with various subjects and are in different genres and are of varying quality.

Director

Petta

A hostel warden becomes the target of a dreaded politician and his gangster son, but little do they realise that it is they who should fear him.

Writer

Game Changer

Game Changer · 2025

MovieActionDrama

Ram, a newly appointed district collector, takes charge in a city in Andhra Pradesh and immediately confronts the deeply entrenched corruption and inefficiency plaguing the government. Determined to bring reforms, he initiates sweeping changes, sparking a fierce conflict with a powerful state Minister.

Story

Neelira

Neelira · 2026

MovieThrillerWar

A wedding eve in 1988 Sri Lanka turns into a hostage standoff when Indian Army soldiers occupy a family's home overnight.

Producer

Soodhu Kavvum

Soodhu Kavvum · 2013

MovieComedyThriller

Dass specialises in small time kidnapping and has his own set of rules. The primary and most important among them is not to get involved with influential people. Three jobless youngsters meet Dass and the four take up an assignment for a hefty sum that throws away this primary rule and end up being chased by a dreaded policeman.

Jaguar Car Owner (Uncredited Role)

Jagame Thandhiram

Jagame Thandhiram · 2021

Jagame Thandhiram

MovieCrimeDrama

When a clever, carefree gangster is recruited to help an overseas crime lord take down a rival, he is caught off guard by the moral dilemmas that follow.

Writer

Dorothy

Dorothy · 2026

MovieActionAdventure

Set in a world shaped by caste, violence, and toxic masculinity, two childhood friends grow up inseparable in rural Tamil Nadu. Their lives are transformed by the arrival of Dorothy, a woman whose compassion quietly challenges the world around them.

Director

Gaddalakonda Ganesh

Gaddalakonda Ganesh · 2019

Gaddalakonda Ganesh

MovieActionThriller

Abhi wants to make a feature film with an antagonist as his lead and finds the perfect muse in the ruthless Gaddalakonda Ganesh. How he finally manages to make his debut forms the crux of the tale.

Original Story

Bachchhan Paandey

Bachchhan Paandey · 2022

Bachchhan Paandey

MovieComedyAction

A budding director tries to research a merciless gangster for making a film on gangsterism. But her secret attempts to conduct the research fail when she gets caught for snooping.

Original Story

Jigarthanda

Jigarthanda · 2014

MovieMusicCrime

A budding director endeavors to research a merciless gangster for making a film on gangsterism. But his secret attempts to conduct the research fail when he gets caught for snooping.

Director

Jigarthanda DoubleX

Jigarthanda DoubleX · 2023

Jigarthanda DoubleX

MovieActionDrama

A notorious gangster is incited to transform into a film hero and opts for a filmmaker and their project descends into a scenario they had never anticipated.

Director

Mahaan

MovieCrimeAction

A man's family leaves him when he strays from the path of ideological living in his search for personal freedom. However, as he realizes his ambitions, he also misses the presence of his son in his life. Having fulfilled his dream of becoming a billionaire, does life give him a second chance to be a father?

Director

Pocket Novel

MovieCrimeThriller

DSP

MovieActionDrama

A flower seller's son ends up in a tussle with a ruthless rowdy in Dindigul, forcing him to become a policeman and fight the odds.

Presenter

Mercury

Mercury · 2018

MovieThrillerHorror

Five friends, all affected in some way by a mercury poisoning incident are partying when a freak accident put them on a collision course with an entity that is in no mood to forgive their misgivings.

Director

Rathnam

Rathnam · 2024

MovieActionRomance

Rathnam, a henchmen working for MLA Panneer Selvam in Vellore, protects Malliga, a medical student who bears a resemblance to Rathnam's late mother, from the relentless pursuit of land grabbers Rayudu brothers and becomes her guardian angel.

Producer

Ammu

Ammu's thought marriage was a fairy tale – full of love and magic, ends when her cop-husband Ravi hit her for the very first time. What Ammu thought was a one-off incident soon turned into a never-ending cycle of abuse, trapping her and breaking her soul and spirit. Pushed to her limits, Ammu teams up with an unlikely ally to break free.

Creative Producer

Putham Pudhu Kaalai

Putham Pudhu Kaalai · 2020

Putham Pudhu Kaalai

MovieDramaFamily

Putham Pudhu Kaalai brings together 5 of the most celebrated directors in Tamil cinema - Sudha Kongara, Gautham Menon, Suhasini Mani Ratman, Rajiv Menon, and Karthik Subbaraj to create Amazon Prime Video's first Indian anthology film.

Writer

Boomika

Boomika · 2021

MovieMysteryThriller

Samyuktha's husband Gautham acquires a contract to build a township villa in an abandoned forest area. Gautham takes the help of his close friend Gayathri, an architect, to plan the construction. Gautham, Samyuktha, Gayathri, Aditi visit the guest house in the forest area to plan the construction. However, they start to experience several paranormal activities in the guest house which leaves them shocked and terrified.

Presenter

Iraivi

MovieCrimeDrama

Three men try to overcome the problems in their lives not realising the impact their efforts are having on the women in their lives.

Director

Parallax

Parallax · 2009

Director

Pizza

MovieThrillerComedy

Michael, a pizza delivery boy, lives with Anu, an aspiring horror fiction writer. One day, on a delivery run, he goes to a bungalow, where mysterious events begin to unfold.

Director

Pizza

MovieThrillerHorror

Terror strikes when a pizza deliveryman becomes trapped in a haunted house.

Story

Navarasa

Navarasa · 2021

From amusement to awe, the nine human emotions of Indian aesthetic theory are explored in this anthology series.

Director

Snakes & Ladders

Snakes & Ladders · 2024

Snakes & Ladders

SeriesDramaMystery

Four reckless kids, while trying to cover up an accident, find themselves caught in dangerous situations - chased by cops, dim-witted thugs and their own bad choices.

Creative Producer

Kaiyum Kalavum

Kaiyum Kalavum · 2022

SeriesCrimeComedy

Serendipity plays matchmaker when it brings together a compulsive thief and an unlucky pickpocket who find themselves being drawn closer to each other with every theft they pull off.

Producer

Triples

Triples · 2020

SeriesComedyDrama

Three friends set out to Goa to deal with a major problem that threatens to ruin their business, and lives. A loan shark, a politician who is on the lookout for his daughter, an ex-wife and a current girlfriend make their journey adventurous.

Creative Producer

Legacy

SeriesCrimeDrama

Producer

Kallachirippu

Kallachirippu · 2018

SeriesCrimeDrama

The series follows 24 year old Mahati (Amrutha Srinivasan) through a series of misadventures that begin after being forced into an arranged marriage. Then the newly married Mahati accidentally stabs her husband to death in self-defense after a heated argument. She then promptly wipes her blood-spattered face and calls her boyfriend to clean up the mess. This sets off a chain of events that the true nature of every character involved in this marriage

Producer