Agathiyan
Agathiyan at the "Kennedy Club" film Audio Launch
Born	(1952-08-18) 18 August 1952 (age 72) Peravurani, Madras State (now Tamil Nadu), India
Occupations	Director screenwriter producer lyricist actor
Years active	1991 – present
Spouse	Radha ​ ​ (m. 1978; died 2016)​ [1]
Children	Kani Thiru Vijayalakshmi Agathiyan Niranjani Ahathian
Relatives	Thiru (son-in-law) Desingh Periyasamy (son-in-law)

Agathiyan (born 18 August 1952; pronunciation^ⓘ) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, lyricist, and actor.^[2] He was the first director in Tamil cinema to win the National Film Award for Best Direction for Kadhal Kottai (1996).^[3] For the film, he also won National Film Award for Best Screenplay and Filmfare Award for Best Director – Tamil.

Agathiyan, a director in his late forties entered films a decade back and struggled as an assistant to various directors. Hailing from a agriculturist family, he spent a happy-go-lucky time in college, and when he decided to pack his bags and come to Chennai to try his luck in films as a director, he lost his family's support. Struggling with no money, he did odd jobs in film companies and became an assistant to anyone who offered him food and shelter.^[4]

He wrote story for Ramarajan starrer Manasukketha Maharasa under the name Karunanidhi Santharam and initially directed a film called Mangalyam Thanthunanena in 1991 and was credited as Ravi Thasan but it was unsuccessful.^[5] Anbalaya Prabhakaran, who acted in that movie and also produces small budgeted films with new directors, gave Ahahtian his second break as a director with Madhumathi, a teenage love story with new faces. The film was a big hit. He was back to where he started, but again fate had bigger things in store for him. Sivasakthi Pandian, a film distributor turned producer, produced Vaanmathi with Ajith and Swathi. The film was a hit. Next came Kadhal Kottai from the same banner and Ahahtian became the toast of the industry. Offers poured in for films.^[6]

In late 2014, he began work on an untitled project produced by Bharathiraja starring Santhosh Prathap, Oviya, Vijayalakshmi and Manoj Bharathiraja, but the film was later shelved.^[7] He has served as jury member at 57th National Film Awards.^[8]

He married Radha in 1978.^[1] His elder daughter Kani (Karthika), host of Makkal TV, is married to film director Thiru.^[9] Kani Thiru is a winner of Vijay TV's Cook With Comali (Season 2). His second daughter Vijayalakshmi Agathiyan is an actress and is married to film director Feroz. His younger daughter Niranjani Ahathian is a costume designer and actress who is married to director Desingh Periyasamy.^{[citation needed]}

Films

Year	Film	Credited as				Role	Notes
		Director	Writer	Producer	Actor
1989	Manasukketha Maharasa	N	Y	N	N		Credited as Karunanidhi Santharam in the film
1991	Mangalyam Thanthunane	Y	Y	N	N		Credited as Ravi Thasan in the film
1992	Pondatti Rajyam	N	Y	N	N
1993	Madhumathi	Y	Y	N	N
1996	Vaanmathi	Y	Y	N	N
1996	Kadhal Kottai	Y	Y	N	Y	Cameo
1996	Gokulathil Seethai	Y	Y	N	Y	Cameo
1997	Vidukathai	Y	Y
1998	Santhosham		Y	N	N
1998	Kaadhal Kavithai	Y	Y	N	N
1999	Sirf Tum	Y	Y	N	N		Hindi film
2001	Hum Ho Gaye Aapke	Y	Y	N	N		Hindi film
1999	Poovellam Kettuppar	N	N	N	Y	Himself
2001	Vinnukkum Mannukkum	N	N	N	Y	Cameo
2002	Kadhal Samrajyam	Y	Y	N	N		Unreleased film
2004	Ramakrishna	Y	Y	N	N
2004	Ee Abbai Chala Manchodu	Y	Y	N	N		Telugu film; credited as Agastyan
2005	Selvam	Y	Y	Y	N
2007	Agaram	N	N	N	Y	Thiru's father
2008	Nenjathai Killadhe	Y	Y	N	N
2011	Avargalum Ivargalum	N	N	N	Y
2011	Maithanam	N	N	N	Y
2018	Mr. Chandramouli	N	N	N	Y

As lyricist

National Film Awards

• 1997 – Best Direction – Kadhal Kottai
• 1997 – Best Screenplay – Kadhal Kottai
• 1997 – National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil – Kadhal Kottai

Filmfare Awards South

• 1997 – Best Director – Kadhal Kottai

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards

• 1996 – Best Director – Kadhal Kottai

• Agathiyan at IMDb