Goundamani


Subramani Karuppaiya, known by his stage name Goundamani, is an Indian actor and comedian. He is known for his comic duo partnership in Tamil films with fellow actor Senthil. He was called Goundamani after acting as a Gounder in one of his early day dramas and the pseudonym stuck with him forever. He has the ability to give counter dialogues on the spot and off the script on stage and during shooting but it has nothing to do with his screen name, contrary to popular belief. So far, he has acted in over 310 films.

Early life and career

Goundamani was born as Subramaniyan in Vallakundapuram, a village near Udumalaipettai in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. His father is Karuppaiya and mother Annammal. He is married to Shanthi in 1963 and has 2 daughters.
On having interest in acting, he went to Chennai and initially started acting in theatre dramas and then entered into the Tamil film industry due to his strong theatrical background. Goundamani has played lead roles in a few films during his career, but is predominantly a supporting actor playing comedy roles. While performing roles of a solo comedian in films, he often co-starred with Senthil to form a comedy duo. The pair was described as "Tamil cinema's Laurel and Hardy" and have performed slapstick humour in several Tamil films from the mid-1980s until the early 2000s. After recuperating from diabetes and respiratory illnesses during the late 2000s, he featured in Vaaimai and also played the lead role in 49-O, which began productions in 2013. It was directed by debutant Arokiadoss, a former assistant of Gautham Vasudev Menon.

Filmography

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s