Anujan Srikantha, a British Tamil athlete representing England, has made history by clinching gold at the 2024 Commonwealth Powerlifting Championship held in Sun City, South Africa earlier this year. Competing in the Men’s Classic Benchpress Championships, Srikantha not only emerged victorious in the 83kg division but also earned the prestigious title of Best Male Lifter, a recognition for benching the highest weight relative to body weight across all classes. Srikantha’s stellar performance saw him bench an impressive 192.5kg while weighing just 82kg.

Today marks the 76th birthday of Puthuvai Ratnathurai, an Eelam Tamil Revoluntary Poet, who was in charge of the Tamil Eelam Arts and Cultural Guild. 

Rathnathuai was last seen in the custody of the Sri Lankan military on 18 May 2009 in Mullivaikkal and to date his fate is not known. 

He has written hundreds of poems. Here we publish just one such poem, originally written in Tamil and translated into English by the late Chelva Kanaganayakam.

The genre of war epic makes its grand re-entry to Tamil cinema with director Rajkumar Periasamy’s sophomore feature film, ‘Amaran.’ As is often the case with this genre, one cannot help but feel the events of the ‘true story’ onscreen have been heavily modified for easy consumption.

 

 

 

Since his start in the Telugu film industry and Tamil debut with 2011’s ‘Siruthai’ starring Karthi, Siva has unabashedly aimed to provide nothing but mindless entertainment for his audience. If you are looking for leave-your-brain-at-home, escapist cinema, Siva will provide by the bucket.

 

 

 

Lawrence Valin’s ‘Little Jaffna,’ a feature-length debut based on his short film, delivers a compelling story about identity. Set in France, the film follows Michael, a Tamil-French police officer, assigned to infiltrate a crime syndicate funding the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). As Michael enters this world, his long-suppressed connection to it resurfaces, leading to internal conflict as he balances his mission and heritage.

 

 

“I didn’t make it like it was my first film. I made it like it was my last.”

Lawrence Valin sat down with Tamil Guardian, returning from the Toronto International Film Festival having sold out two screenings of his debut feature film ‘Little Jaffna’. The groundbreaking film was also selected to be screened at the Zurich Film Festival and chosen as a closing film at the Venice International Film Festival.

 

 

Jaffna’s own 29-year-old Satkunarasa Pushanthan achieved an outstanding feat at the Commonwealth Powerlifting Championship 2024, winning an overall silver medal at the international competition. Pushanthan had a total lift of 827.5 kg, smashing three national records to solidify his place as one of the island's top powerlifters.

Sid Sriram joined a long list of illustrious names to perform at the O2 Arena on the Greenwich Peninsula, last Sunday, to mark his biggest UK solo concert to date. The multi-talented versatile singer adds another feather to his musical journey progressing from last year’s performance at the OVO Arena, Wembley. 

Australian Tamil footballer Nishan Velupillay made a stunning international debut for Australia during their 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualifier match against China, as he bagged a goal in his first international match.

^{Photograph: @Socceroos}

TJ Gnanavel’s previous feature film, Surya starrer ‘Jai Bhim’ was received with widespread acclaim, causing a movement to submit the film as India’s official selection for the Academy Award for Best International Feature. The film did not work for me, however, and the entire movement felt like an extreme overreaction for a mediocre film - an issue which plagues the Tamil film industry, where the ‘message’ of a film often trumps the quality of it.