Blue Sattai Maran is an Indian film director, social commentator, and film critic, who is known for his unique style of film reviews in the Tamil cinema. He is also known for wearing his trademark blue shirt during his film review sessions.
Wiki/Biography
C. Elamaran , also known as Ilamaran, was born in 1969 (age 54 years; as of 2023) in Pudupettai, Chennai. He was thrown out of school when he was in class 8. In an interview, while talking about it, Maran said,
I was brought up in Pudupettai in Chennai and was studying at a school there. But they couldn’t handle how incorrigible I was and threw me out when I was in the eighth grade.”
Subsequently, his father gave him two choices- to join a different school or to join his uncles who were in a film distribution business in Madurai. Since he adored films from a young age, he chose to join his uncles.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 8″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Parents & Siblings
Not much is known about his parents. He has three brothers.
Wife & Children
He is married.
Career
Blue Sattai Maran entered the Tamil film industry at the age of 15, working for his uncles’ film distribution company. Soon, Sattai and his three brothers also ventured into the film distribution business and started their own company. However, they could not sustain themselves in the market. Maran then tried his hands at several businesses, but they all failed. Later, he worked in the production teams of various Tamil films like Vel (2007), Seval (2008), and Lingaa (2014). He also joined Ram Babu Productions and worked in their team for 23 Kannada films. He has also briefly worked as an assistant to the personal manager of a popular Tamil star. On 27 January 2012, he created a YouTube Channel named Tamil Talkies on which he uploads his film reviews. The channel has 1.63 million subscribers on it.
Blue Sattai Maran’s YouTube Channel
In 2021, Blue Sattai Maran directed and acted in the Tamil-language political satire film Anti Indian. He played the role of Basha, a painter, in the film. Maran also worked as a writer for the film. The film performed average at the box office.
Anti Indian film poster
Controversies
Accused of Blackmailing
In 2019, after Blue Sattai Maran slammed the makers of the Tamil-language film Charlie Chaplin 2 for treating the audience like “fools,” a police complaint was lodged against him by Shakthi Chidambaram, the director of the film. The filmmaker accused Sattai of trying to extort money from him and blackmailing him. In his complaint, he said that Maran approached him to advertise his film in exchange for money and when he (Chidambaram) refused the offer, Maran provided a negative review of the film in a derogatory manner.
Criticised for his comment on Iravin Nizhal
In 2022, R Parthiban’s Tamil-language film ‘Iravin Nizhal’ was acclaimed as the world’s first single-shot non-linear film and received positive feedback from the audience. However, Blue Sattai Maran refuted that the film was the world’s first single-shot non-linear film and also gave critical reviews about the film. Maran’s comments did not go well with Parthiban’s fans who burned Blue Sattai Maran’s effigy, to express their disagreement.
Received Death Threats
In 2023, before the release of Rajinikanth’s Jailer, Blue Sattai Maran gave negative reviews to the film, which did not go well with some of Rajinikanth’s fans who gave death threats to Maran. Maran took to X to reveal the same and wrote,
Tamil Nadu Police, please take action against the person who is making death threat in this audio and also take action against the administrators who are responsible for instigating violence in this twitter space discussion.”
He further wrote,
CM Stalin Sir, I hope you will maintain law and order by taking action against the persons who make death threat and the administrators of this twitter space. The same person who made death threat and instigated others to involve in violence in a public place has spoken in this audio.”
Facts/Trivia
- He is also referred to as Blue Shirt Maran.
- Maran earned the moniker ‘Blue Sattai’ as he was spotted wearing the same shirt every week on the camera. In an interview, while revealing the reason of wearing the same shirt in all of his videos, Maran said,
When we decided to do it, I knew I had to do reviews every week. So this meant 52 shirts in a year. It was too expensive, and plus I’m not worth all that effort. So we made it a uniform. Now seven years later, I wear the same Derbin shirt every week. I have only one of it. It was Rs.1500 when I bought it.”
- In 1976, when Maran was just 7 years old, he went out to watch the 1957 film Manaalane Mangaiyin Baakkiyam. In an interview, he revealed that he was fascinated by the picture of a snake in the film’s poster and the prospect of ‘magic’. He further said that the film was a roller-coaster of emotions for him.
- While he was still working as an assistant to the personal manager, two of his family friends approached him to create a YouTube Channel connected to cinema. It was during that time, the idea of doing honest reviews of the films struck his mind. The two family friends who approached him were software professionals and decided to handle the green screen and other technical work. Maran also roped one of his friends Adhavan to direct the show and all he was looking for is a host for the reviews. Although he approached more than 50 compares, none of them was ready to work on it. As they had already rented a small office in Vadapalani and had paid four months rent out of their pockets, Maran decided to host the reviews himself.
- In an interview, Blue Sattai Maran revealed that he was initially very nervous to face the camera and often stammered while doing the reviews. He said,
I couldn’t even say ‘Welcome to Tamiltalkies.net. But I managed to do something.”
- In his first critique, Maran delved into a movie featuring Ajith, renowned for his extensive fan following. He drew a comparison between the actor’s Billa 2 and Naan E, a film that shared its release time.
- In 2019, his review of the Tamil movie “Petta” was removed due to alleged copyright infringements. Nevertheless, Maran asserted that this action was intentionally taken before the weekend to avoid any impact on ticket sales.
Categories: Biography
Source: SCHOOL TRANG DAI
