Manikandan

Manikandan, a visual communications graduate who had featured in Kala's dance troupe doing stage shows, was selected by Shankar to feature in his coming-of-age film Boys after impressing in auditions. He shot for the film throughout 2002 alongside fellow debutants Siddharth, Genelia D'Souza, Bharath, Nakul and Thaman. The story centerd on six youngsters, conveying a message about the importance of good education and career over distractions, such as romance and sex, and marked a move away from Shankar's usual brand of vigilante films, gaining much publicity prior to release. The film opened to mixed reviews but became successful at the box office, with reviewers noting the ensemble cast as "excellent". In the following years, while the other five debut actors have been successful, Manikandan has struggled to receive acclaim and feature in high-profile films.

Notably, director Shankar revealed that Manikandan was edged by Bharath to star in Balaji Sakthivel's Kaadhal (2004), which had won Bharath significant acclaim. Manikandan subsequently received offers to feature as the lead actor in Kadhal FM (2005) and then alongside Simran in Kicha Vayasu 16, but both films were low key releases and fared poorly at the box office. He missed opportunities to act in Thenmerku Paruvakaatru (2010) and Soodhu Kavvum (2013), which catapulted Vijay Sethupathi to stardom. He has since starred in several low-budget films, including Gurusamy and Kaadhal 2014.

Manikandan made his acting comeback in 2023 with Adhik Ravichandran's directorial films Bagheera and Mark Antony. In 2024, he received high praise from film critics for his portrayal of Dhana, one of the villains, in the revenge film Maharaja.