Shaam (actor)

Shaam began his career as a model in Bengaluru, modelling for various ads. Keen on pursuing an acting career, he was vainly searching for acting offers for four years.[6] He auditioned for the lead role in Kadhalar Dhinam (1999), but did not receive the role.[7] He then, following the recommendation of his model coordinator Biju Jayadevan, got to meet cinematographer Jeeva, who was planning to make his directorial debut and was on the lookout for a new face for the film's lead role.[2] He was given the role for the film 12B.[8] He recollects that during his first meeting with Jeeva, he handed over his portfolio and introduced himself in English, when Jeeva heard him out, and then said, "Repeat what you just said, in Tamil" and Shaam did, and was subsequently signed on the next day after a meeting with producer Vikram Singh.[9][6] The promos of the film were critically praised with Shaam signing on to appear on several projects before 12B even released.[10]

His second feature film, however, the S J Suryah-directed Kushi, in which he appeared in a cameo role, released first, since 12B got stuck in production and released in 2001 only.[11] The film which was a blatant rip-off of Sliding Doors, which itself had numerous comparisons with director Krzysztof Kieślowski's 1982 Polish film Blind Chance, fetched rave reviews and was seen as a "dream entry" for Shaam,[6] whose performance was praised as "apt".[12] Shaam was set to work with K. Balachander after Paarthale Paravasam (2001), but the project never materialised.[13] His subsequent releases including Vasanth's Yai! Nee Romba Azhaga Irukey! (2002), Anbe Anbe (2003) and Priyadarshan's Lesa Lesa (2003), garnered only average or poor box office returns.[14] He took a break from his romantic hero films with Bala (2002) but the failure of the film caused him to stick to romantic films.[15] He was approached to play the third male lead role in Aaytha Ezhuthu, but was unable to sign the film because of date issues with Iyarkai.[16] Iyarkai by debutant S P Jananathan was his final release of 2003 and also failed at the box office due to a delayed release, but opened to high critical acclaim, even winning the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil.[17]

Ullam Ketkumae, directed by Jeeva, finally was a commercial success.[14] It is Shaam's first successful film and a critic noted that "he is able to bring out the sensibilities of the character".[18][19] ABCD, a romance film released in August 2005.[20]

In 2006, he acted in love story, Manathodu Mazhaikalam, which released to negative reviews.[21] He made his Kannada debut in the film Tananam Tananam playing the role of a blind man.[22]

In 2007, post the death of Jeeva, Shaam struggled to succeed in the Tamil film industry.[23]

In 2008, he appeared in the film, Thoondil directed by K. S. Adhiyaman.[24] The next is Inba alongside Sneha in which he played a macho man.[25] These films had no impact at the box office.

Following several more unsuccessful films, he got a major break in Surender Reddy's Telugu action film Kick (2009) as a police officer. He was cast in the film after Surender Reddy saw his stills from Agam Puram (2010). The success of Kick caused his previous films to release in Telugu: Inba was released in Telugu as Neelo Naalo (2009) with a comedy track featuring Sunil and Agam Puram was dubbed in Telugu as Gang War in 2011.[26][27] He reprised his role from Kick in the Tamil remake, titled Thillalangadi (2010).[28] He went on to play similar roles in Veera (2011)[29] and Race Gurram (2014).[30] Shaam signed his second Telugu film, a biopic Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy. However, due to the crisis in Andhra Pradesh at the time, the film failed to materialize.[31] Then he tried his luck in Hindi with director Faisal Saif in the Hindi-Tamil bilingual titled Mujhe Maaf Karo.[32] The film, however, got stuck in production.[33] Regarding his role in Veera, a critic noted that "Shaam fits into his character perfectly, but he has hardly any screen time to shine".[34] Post the release of Kick, Shaam further collaborated with Reddy in Oosaravelli (2011),[35] Race Gurram (2014),[32] and Kick 2 (2015).[36] He was cast in negative roles in several other Telugu-language films including Kalyanram Kathi (2011)[37] and Oxygen (2017).[38] He also signed several Tamil and Telugu bilingual venture including Sariya Thavara, but the film did not enter production.[1]

In late 2011, he appeared in the film 6, which released to positive reviews.[39] For his role in the film, he spent more than a dozen sleepless nights, which resulted in a big swelling below his eyes and for another look, hereduced his weight and grew his hair long and a beard.[40] Although the film released to positive reviews, the film failed to do well at the box office.[41] After the positive response of the film, Kannada actor, Sudeep, announced that he was going to do a multilingual film with Shaam.[42]

In mid 2014, Shaam appear as Allu Arjun's brother in the film Race Gurram (2014). In a review of the film, a critic stated that "Shaam as the arrogant elder brother Ram delivers a good performance".[43] He was signed to portray one of the lead roles in Kaala Koothu in 2015 and grew his beard for the role. However, he left the role due to differences with the director.[44] In 2015, he won critical acclaim for his portrayal of an honest police officer in Jananathan's political drama Purampokku Engira Podhuvudamai (2015), which had an ensemble cast featuring Arya and Vijay Sethupathi.[4] In an IBT review of the film, the reviewer stated that "Shaam as a police officer stands out among all the leading characters, with the intensity he portrays in his role".[45] Shaam's next release was the Kannada suspense thriller Game, which was also shot in Tamil as Oru Melliya Kodu alongside Arjun and Manisha Koirala.[46] The Kannada version released in February 2016 to positive reviews and the Tamil version released in July 2016 to mixed reviews.[47][48] That same year, he played a negative role in the Kannada-language film Santhu Straight Forward.[49] He made his Malayalam debut with The Great Father (2017).[50] In August 2017, he was cast in Venkat Prabhu's multi-starrer Party in a negative role; however, the film remains unreleased since 2018.

After a brief sabbatical in Tamil films, Shaam returned with the long delayed Tamil film Kaaviyyan in 2019.[51] The film released to negative reviews. A critic from The Times of India wrote that "The film, however, is sure to disappoint those who even go without any expectation".[52] He played a negative role in Naanga Romba Busy (2020) starring Prasanna and Ashwin Kakumanu.[53] Shaam has played the role of Vijay’s brother in Varisu (2023).[54]