Vishnu Vishal

Vishal Kudawla (born 17 July 1984), known professionally as Vishnu Vishal, is an Indian actor and producer who appears in Tamil film industry. After a brief career in cricket, he started his acting career in the year 2009 playing the lead role in the sports film Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu, winning acclaim for his portrayal. Vishnu won further acclaim for his role in Neerparavai (2012), portraying a fisherman. He rose to fame with the psychological thriller film, Ratsasan (2018). Early life and family Vishnu Vishal was born on 17 July 1984 to Ramesh Kudawla, a high-ranking Tamil Nadu police officer. He finished his schooling in Holy Cross Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Vellore. After completing his MBA in marketing from SRM Institute of Science and Technology, he went on to become a cricketer, playing in TNCA league games. However, a leg injury ended his cricket career and the actor noted that during the time he was bedridden, he started watching films and began an interest in an acting career. His father's uncle had been an actor in several small films and he shaped Vishnu's interest in the industry. He entered the film industry changing his name to Vishnu to which he later added his birth name. Career 2009–2014 After being offered a role by Anand Chakravarthy in Suseenthiran's directorial debut Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu, Vishnu spent months preparing for the role. He had to tan his body sitting for hours in the sun to get dark and look like a player and then for 3 months he trained for kabbadi matches under a coach, for five hours a day. The film opened to very positive reviews, with Vishnu earning a nomination from the Vijay Awards for Best Debut Actor. He had two releases in 2010, portraying an action role in the comedy Bale Pandiya and then played a rowdy from Royapuram in Drohi. Featuring alongside Srikanth in the latter, Vishnu had to put on to look mature for the role. He subsequently worked on the comedy, Kullanari Koottam, After a year without any releases, he had two releases in 2014: the romantic comedy Mundasupatti under Thirukumaran Entertainment and the sports drama Jeeva for which he collaborated with Suseenthiran again. Both films won positive reviews and performed well at the box office.