Sathyaraj (born Rangaraj Subbiah; 3 October 1954) is an Indian actor who has appeared in more than two hundred and fifty films, mainly in Tamil. He began as a villain known for mocking, drawling dialogue delivery, became a leading man in the mid-1980s and has had a third career as a character actor. Audiences across India know him as Kattappa, the loyal slave-warrior of the Baahubali films.
Quick Facts
| Birth name | Rangaraj Subbiah |
| Born | 3 October 1954, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu |
| Age | 72 |
| Occupation | Actor, producer |
| Years active | 1978–present |
| Known for | Nooravathu Naal, Kadalora Kavithaigal, Vedham Pudhithu, Walter Vetrivel, Amaidhi Padai, Periyar, Nanban, Baahubali |
| Education | Government Arts College, Coimbatore (B.Sc. Botany) |
| Spouse | Maheswari |
| Children | 2, including Sibi Sathyaraj |
Early Life
Sathyaraj was born in Coimbatore, the son of a doctor. He studied botany at the Government Arts College there. A devoted fan of M. G. Ramachandran, he left for Madras in the mid-1970s against his family’s wishes to try for a place in films, and worked for a time as a production manager.
Career
Villain
He made his debut in Sattam En Kaiyil (1978) and for several years played henchmen. The director Manivannan, a college friend from Coimbatore, gave him the part of a psychopathic killer in Nooravathu Naal (1984). In that film and in 24 Mani Neram and Kaakki Sattai his sarcastic one-liners made the villain more popular than the hero.
Hero
Bharathiraja cast him as the lead in Kadalora Kavithaigal (1986), as a village tough who falls in love with a schoolteacher. He followed it with Mr. Bharath, opposite Rajinikanth, Vedham Pudhithu (1987), a drama about caste in which he played an atheist village head, and the thriller Poovizhi Vasalile. Through the late 1980s and 1990s he starred in a long run of action films and comedies, among them Walter Vetrivel (1993), as an honest police officer.
Amaidhi Padai (1994), directed by Manivannan, gave him his most celebrated role, or roles: a coconut thief who rises by flattery and murder to become a legislator, and the policeman son who brings him down. Its portrait of a politician remains a reference point in Tamil satire. He directed one film himself, Villadhi Villain.
Character actor
In Periyar (2007) he played the rationalist leader Periyar E. V. Ramasamy from youth to old age. He was the miserly father in Nanban, appeared in the Hindi hit Chennai Express (2013) and in Raja Rani, and in 2015 and 2017 played Kattappa in S. S. Rajamouli‘s two Baahubali films with Prabhas. The question of why Kattappa killed Baahubali, left hanging at the end of the first film, became a national catchphrase. Later work includes Kanaa, Love Today, the Hindi films Munjya and Sikandar and Coolie (2025).
Views
He is an atheist and a follower of Periyar’s thought, and speaks frequently on Tamil causes. Before the release of the second Baahubali film in 2017, groups in Karnataka threatened to block it over remarks he had made years earlier during a dispute about the waters of the Cauvery; he expressed regret, and the film was released.
Personal Life
He is married to Maheswari. Their son, Sibi Sathyaraj, is an actor, and their daughter, Divya, is a nutritionist who has also entered public life.
Featured image: Sathyaraj at a press meet, October 2007. Photo by Gavaskar T. K., licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
