V. I. S. Jayapalan

V. I. S. Jayapalan
Born	(1944-12-13) 13 December 1944 Uduvil, Jaffna, Sri Lanka
Occupation(s)	Writer, political commentator, actor
Years active	1978–present

V. I. S. Jayapalan is a Sri Lankan-Norwegian writer, political commentator and actor who has appeared in Indian films, mainly in Tamil cinema. He made his acting debut in Vetrimaaran's Aadukalam (2011) and won a National Film Award for his portrayal.

Career

Jayapalan was born in Uduvil, Jaffna, Sri Lanka. He began writing in the 1970s while studying at the University of Jaffna and published his first anthology in 1986. He studied a degree in Economics during his time at the university, while also leading the student union. Since then he has published at least 12 anthologies of poetry and short fiction. As the Sri Lankan Civil War escalated, he fled to Oslo, Norway in 1988 and since then he has been living in Norway as a Norwegian citizen and was moving back and forth to South Indian state of Tamil Nadu to continue his art and literary work. In 1995, he was awarded as the best immigrant writer by the Norwegian Writers’ Association, with poetry being translated into English, Norwegian as well as in to Sinhala. In 2009, some of his poems were translated into English and published as a book in Canada - named 'Wilting Laughter’ - along with selected poems of R. Cheran and Puthuvai Raththinathurai.

Through his friendship with film maker Balu Mahendra, he was introduced to Vetrimaaran who was keen to cast Jayapalan in his film Aadukalam (2011). After accepting the offer, he worked alongside an ensemble cast including actor Dhanush, with the film releasing to a positive response at the box office in January 2011. Critics lauded his performance as the cock fighting clan's patriarch, Pettaikaran, with Sify.com labelling him as a "revelation" and Behindwoods writing that with the "right kind of expressions and body language, he demonstrates a new type of villainy". He subsequently went on to win a special jury award at the National Film Awards in 2011, as well as garnering nominations at the Filmfare and Vijay Awards.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
2011	Aadukalam	Pettaikaran	National Film Award – Special Jury Award Nominated, Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actor – Tamil Nominated, Vijay Award for Best Villain
2011	Vellore Maavattam
2013	Pandiya Naadu	Ravi's advisor
2013	Attahasa	Periyavar	Kannada film
2014	Jilla	Periyavar
2014	Naan Sigappu Manithan
2014	Madras	Krishnappan
2015	Touring Talkies	President
2015	Indru Netru Naalai	Marthandam
2015	49-O	MLA Boominathan
2016	Peigal Jaakkirathai
2016	Aranmanai 2	Namboothiri
2016	Thirunaal	Durai
2017	Valla Desam
2019	Kuthoosi
2020	Dhowalath
2022	Veeramae Vaagai Soodum	Nedunchezhiyan's father
2022	Yaanai	Samuthiram
2022	Buffoon	Chief Minister
2022	Adithattu	Dinkan	Malayalam film
2023	Meippada Sei	Gaja
2024	Sir	TBA

See also

• Cinema of India