One of India's greatest film artists of all time who acted, produced and directed popular titles for over 50 years. TIME magazine called his 1987 film, Nayagan, one of the best films in the history of cinema.
Beginning his career as a child actor, he played the lead role in the 1975 drama, Apoorva Raagangal.
He won a record 19 Filmfare and four National Film Awards for his acting. Afterwards he requested to be exempted from further honors.
He was married to Vani Ganapathy from 1978 to 1988 and Sarika Thakur from 1988 to 2004. He has two daughters named
The animated parts of his movie Aalavandhan were believed to have inspired Quentin Tarantino's animated sequences in Kill Bill.
