Mysskin

Mysskin was working in a bookshop when director Kathir invited him into films. A keen reader, he took his screen name from Prince Myshkin, the central figure of Dostoevsky's novel The Idiot; he was born Shanmugha Raja on 20 September 1971 in Madras. His first real film experience came under director Vincent Selva, on Youth and Jithan. A Tamil filmmaker, he also writes, acts and composes music. His first film as director, the low-budget Chithiram Pesuthadi (2006), became one of that year's major hits. Anjathe (2008) was a large commercial success, noted for its storytelling and visual style. For Nandalala (2010), loosely based on Takeshi Kitano's Kikujiro, he cast himself as a mentally challenged man, his first significant acting role, and the film became his most critically admired work. Yuddham Sei, Onaayum Aattukkuttiyum, Pisaasu, Thupparivaalan and Psycho came after it. Other directors have cast him as the antagonist, in Savarakathi, Maaveeran and Leo, and he became a music director with Devil (2024). He appeared in the Malayalam film I'm Game in 2026, and he plays Markandeyan in the upcoming Tamil film Sathyavan Savithiri.