Peter Hein

With Pulimurugan (2016), Peter Hein became the first person to receive the National Film Award for Best Stunt Choreographer. He designs action and coordinates stunts for films in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi and Kannada. Raised in Chennai, he is the son of a man who was an assistant fight master in Tamil cinema, and he started as an extra in fight scenes, then as an assistant fight master under action directors Kanal Kannan and Vijayan, doubling for heroes and heroines alike along the way. Minnale (2001), the debut of Gautham Vasudev Menon, gave him his first credit as fight master, after which Krishna Vamsi handed him the action for the Telugu film Murari. Anji, Run and Kaakha Kaakha got him noticed, and critics praised his work in Varsham, Anniyan (2005), Athadu (2005) and Chatrapathi (2005). Later credits as action designer include Sivaji (2007), Ghajini (2008), Magadheera (2009), Enthiran (2010), 7 Aum Arivu (2011), both Baahubali films, Pulimurugan and Kalki 2898 AD (2024). Ram Gopal Varma brought him into Hindi films with James, while on Mani Ratnam's Raavan his involvement was limited because his dates clashed with Magadheera. Ghajini won him the Filmfare Award for Best Action, and he has a Taurus World Stunt Award nomination. As a director, he made the Indo-Vietnamese film Sám Hối: The Living Sandbag in 2021.