Senthil

Some Lesser Known Facts About Senthil

• After completing his 5th standard, he left his village after an argument with his father as he wanted to make a name for himself in the big city.

• He came to Madras when he was 13 years old, and at that time, he knew about the names of a few films.

• Before joining a drama theatre, he worked in an oil mart and a wine shop as a waiter.

• Once, in a media conversation, he shared that at the beginning of his acting career, he was interested in watching theatre plays and dramas. He said,
  

  I also watched a lot of dramas. I had several friends associated with the tinsel world — like A Veerapan, Bhagyaraj, R Sunder Rajan. Thanks to them, I got a few roles in films.”

  

• In 1965, he returned to his hometown and met his parents who became happy after reuniting with him after fourteen years.

• Senthil made his acting debut with Oru Koyil Iru Dheepangal in 1979, but his first official film release was Ithikkara Pakki in 1980.

• During the 80s and 90s, he and his fellow actor Goundamani were a popular comedy pair in the Tamil film industry, often compared to Laurel and Hardy.

  

• Senthil then appeared in the film Indru Poi Naalai Vaa as a thug in 1981. In the same year, he appeared in eight films including Thooral Ninnu Pochchu as Karuppannai.

  

• He then went on to appear in several Tamil films such as Malaiyoor Mambattiyan (1983) as Bullet, 24 Mani Neram (1984) as Sidekick, Nalla Thambi (1985) as Naidhu, Rajakumaran (1994) as a Postman, Asuran (1995) as Srinivasan, Kannaal Pesavaa (2000) as Nelson Mandela, Azhagana Naatkal (2001) as Mahali, I Love You Da (2002) as Raju’s Grandfather, Satyam (2008) as Paneerselvam, Kallappadam (2015) as Sundharamoorthi, and Dinosaurs (2023) as Bus Conductor.

  

• In 1993, he worked in the Hindi film Insaniyat Ke Devta as Muthuswamy. The same year, he appeared in the Telugu film Tholi Muddhu as Swamiji.

• He is inspired by the South Indian actors Chandrababu and Nagesh. He attributes his success to Tamil dialogue writer Veerappan.

• During his leisure time, he enjoys travelling to distant places and watching videos of various stand-up comedians on the internet.

• In 2008, Senthil played the role of Paneerselvam in the Telugu film Salute.

• In the 2011 Telugu film Money Money, More Money he appeared as Dr Sabhapathi.

  

• In 2013, he lent his voice to the song ‘Adiye’ from the film Kadal.

• In 2016, he began supporting the AIADMK party. Senthil was appointed as the organizing secretary of AIADMK by Dhinakaran in 2017 and replaced Gokula Indira.

• Later, he joined T. T. V. Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) political party.

• In 2019, Senthil was announced as one of the organization secretaries of the AMMK party along with Kathirkamu, Raja Manickam, Devadas, and Henry Thomas.

• Before the 2021 Tamil Nadu Assembly elections, he joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

• In the same year, he appeared in the television serial Rasaathi as Alagar Swamy on Sun TV.

• In 2022, he, along with his son, Hemachandra Prabhu, appeared in the film Tadai Vodi.

  

• In an interview with a media outlet, he once mentioned that comedy comes naturally to him. He said,
  

  I’d say that comedy is my God-given gift. I still don’t know how I became famous. It all happened so fast.”

• In 2024, Senthil appeared in the Tamil film Lal Salaam.