Arun Kumar, known professionally as Atlee, is a distinguished Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer, renowned for his contributions to Tamil cinema. Born on September 21, 1986, in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, Atlee embarked on his cinematic journey as an assistant director under the mentorship of S. Shankar for blockbuster films such as ‘Enthiran’ (2010) and ‘Nanban’ (2012).

His directorial debut came with the romantic comedy ‘Raja Rani’ in 2013, which was a commercial success and earned him the Best Debut Director at the Vijay Awards. Atlee’s collaboration with leading actor Vijay has resulted in several box office hits, including ‘Theri’ (2016), ‘Mersal’ (2017), and ‘Bigil’ (2019), with ‘Mersal’ becoming one of the highest-grossing Tamil films worldwide. His foray into Bollywood with ‘Jawan’ (2023), starring Shah Rukh Khan, marked his highest-grossing release and further solidified his status as one of the most successful directors in Indian cinema.