Engineers' Day: 21 celebrities who gained an engineering degree before making it to Tamil cinema
India celebrates September 15 as National Engineers’ Day to appreciate the contributions of Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya. A Bharat Ratna awardee, Visvesvaraya had designed and patented automatic water floodgates, and was a renowned precursor of economic planning in India.
There’s a whole crowd out there who finish engineering, before they find their unique passion. Here, we take a look at Tamil cinema celebrities, who have graduated with an engineering degree.
Karthi gained a bachelor's degree in Mech engineering from Crescent Eng College, Vandalur, Chennai. He then earned his Master of Science in Industrial Engineering at Binghamton University, New York.
Jamshad Cethirakath, known by his stage name Arya, also graduated with an engineering degree from Crescent Engineering College in Vandalur, Chennai.
Director Karthik Subbaraj studied mechatronics at Thiagarajar College of Engineering, Madurai, and was employed in the US, before he quit his job to pursue filmmaking.
Gautham Vasudev Menon studied Mechanical Engineering in Mookambigai College of Engineering, Trichy.
Sivakarthikeyan completed his mechanical engineering degree at JJ College of Engineering and Tech, Trichy. He later pursued MBA at Indian Institute of Planning and Management, Chennai.
Akkineni Nagarjuna completed his Bachelor degree of Engineering from Guindy, and got his master’s degree in automobile engineering, from Eastern Michigan University in the United States.
After completing her computer science eng. degree from the Guru Tegh Bahadur Institute of Tech, New Delhi, Taapsee worked as a software engineer. She developed an app “fontswap” for the Iphone then.
Kaniha, who debuted with the sleeper hit, 5 Star, got admitted on merit in BITS (Birla Institute of Technology and Science) in Pilani, Rajasthan, from where she graduated with a mechanical degree.
Vijayalakshmi, daughter of director Agathiyan, who debuted in Venkat Prabhu's Chennai 600028, is a Bachelor of Technology graduate from Easwari Engineering College, Chennai.
Prithviraj Sukumaran, who did films like Kana Kandaen, Parijatham and Raavanan in Tamil, studied for a bachelor's degree in Information Technology at the University of Tasmania in Australia.
Prasanna completed a B Tech degree in EEE at Saranathan College of Engineering, Trichy, before he got selected in an audition to play the lead in 5 Star.
Kathir, who is getting noticed as an offbeat actor, is an alumni of Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore.
Nivin Pauly, who did Tamil films like Neram and Richi, graduated with a B Tech degree in ECE from Federal Institute of Science and Technology (FISAT). Angamaly. He was employed at Infosys, Bangalore.
Ganesh Venkatraman, known for his supporting roles in films like Thani Oruvan, completed his engineering degree in Mumbai, before pursuing a modelling career.
Priya Bhavani Shankar, who is currently on a signing spree, completed her BE in Electronics and Instrumentation Engineering from B.S. Abdur Rahman Crescent Institute of Science and Tech, Chennai.
Karthik Kumar, popularly known as ‘Evam’ Karthik because of theatre work, studied chemical engineering in Sri Venkateswara College of Engineering, Chennai.
Sanjeev, who got popular as Chinnaiya in the TV soap, Raja Rani, studied at Sri Ramakrishna Engineering College in Coimbatore. He recently married his Raja Rani co-star, Alya Manasa.
Singer Shankar Mahadevan graduated with a degree in computer science from Ramrao Adik Institute of Technology in Navi Mumbai. He was a working as a software engineer for Oracle before coming to films.
Singer Harish Ragavendra has a bachelors degree in computer science engineering and a Masters Degree in Mass Communication. He is a software engineer-turned-playback singer.
Music director Simon K King, who has composed for films like Sathya and Kolaigaran, is also a graduate in electrical and electronics engineering.
Satish Chakravarthy, who has composed music for films like Leelai and Kanimozhi, is also an engineer by profession, having graduated from National Institute of Technology, Trichy.
