Azhagam Perumal is an Indian movie actor and director working in the Tamil film industry. He is best known for his roles in Tamil films "Pudhupettai" (2006), "Aayarathil Oruvan" (2010) and "7aum Arivu" (2011).

Early Life of Azhagam Perumal
Born on May 25, 1965 in the remote village of Kulasekharapuram, in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, Azhagam Perumal hails from a family of government service employees. He applied to the Adyar Film Institute, an Indian film and television training institute in Tharamani, Chennai, after his graduation despite stiff opposition from his parents who wanted him to be an engineer. He later passed out of the institute in 1991, securing a Gold Medal.

Film Career of Azhagam Perumal
Before beginning to making his independent film projects, Azhagam Perumal worked as an assistant director to Mani Ratnam, from 1991 to 1997, working on films ranging from "Thalapathi" to "Iruvar". When Mani Ratnam was filming the 2000 film "Alaipayuthey", he was looking for someone like Jagathy Sreekumar to play the quirky house owner of newly wedded characters played by R. Madhavan and Shalini. Azhagam Perumal ended up eventually playing the role, thus making his on-screen acting debut.

He had earlier announced his directorial debut in 1998 with "Mudhal Mudhalaaga", a romantic film that was to feature Arvind Swamy and Karisma Kapoor in the leads. The music by A. R. Rahman was also finalised but the project failed to take off. He then begun shooting the film "Udhaya" in 1999, with Vijay and Simran in the lead roles but the film faced massive delays and meanwhile, he had begun another project, the romantic comedy "Dumm Dumm Dumm", with R. Madhavan and Jyothika in the lead, in which his mentor Mani Ratnam worked as the screenwriter and producer. The film released in the year 2001, marking his debut as a director, to positive reviews and performed well commercially. He next directed the action film "Joot", featuring Srikanth and Meera Jasmine. The film was unable to repeat the previous film"s success. He later completed "Udhaya", which released in 2004 to average reviews but was a failure at the box office. "Udhaya" was his last directed film.

Post "Alaipayuthey", Azhagam Perumal got offered acting roles but he declined as he wanted to revive and complete "Udhaya". After "Udhaya", he concentrated solely on acting and has since played diverse supporting roles in a wide range of films. His roles and performances are character-oriented. After "Alaipayuthey", he was seen in the 2006 gangster film "Pudhupettai", in which his performance got noticed. He later appeared in films "Kattradhu Thamizh", "Ali Baba", "Kanden Kadhalai", "Thottu Paar", "Aayirathil Oruvan", "Oru Kal Oru Kannadi", "Samar", "Jilla", "Naanum Rowdy Dhaan", and several others. He was last seen in Atlee"s 2016 action drama "Theri", alongside an ensemble cast featuring Vijay, Samantha, Amy Jackson, Mahendran, Prabhu, Raadhika Sarathkumar and others. His cameo performance of Museum Curator in A. R. Murugadoss" 2011 science fiction-martial arts film "7aum Arivu" was noticed. His upcoming films include romantic comedy "Kadhal 2 Kalyanam" and drama film "Taramani".

Filmography of Azhagam Perumal
Azhagam Perumal has appeared in the following Tamil films thus far, highlighted along with their years of release.