&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Vijay's Theri to SRK's Jawan: A look at Atlee’s 13-year directorial journey")
Thirteen years ago, Atlee arrived in Indian cinema with Raja Rani, and he has since built an extraordinary theatrical track record — five directorial films and five commercial successes. His debut was a romantic drama starring Arya, Nayanthara, Jai and Nazriya Nazim, a film that proved Atlee could create a strong audience connection even without the larger-than-life action spectacles that would later become his signature.
Raja Rani went on to collect around ₹52 crore worldwide, giving the young filmmaker a strong beginning and setting the tone for a career built around stories that combine emotion with entertainment.
Also Read: Raaka director Atlee Kumar and wife Priya Atlee reveal baby girl’s name; here’s its meaning
Atlee's journey as a director
Atlee then entered a highly successful phase with Thalapathy Vijay, delivering three consecutive commercial successes.
Theri (2016) marked his first collaboration with Vijay and crossed the ₹150 crore mark worldwide. Mersal (2017) raised the scale further, with Vijay in multiple roles and a combination of action, emotion and social messaging, going on to collect ₹240 crore-plus worldwide.
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Bigil (2019) took Atlee into sports cinema, featuring women’s football with family, emotion and mass entertainment, and emerged as another major theatrical success, collecting around ₹300 crore worldwide. The three films strengthened Atlee’s commercial track record while establishing his collaboration with Vijay as one of the successful actor-director combinations in Tamil cinema.
And then came Jawan. With Shah Rukh Khan, Atlee stepped into Hindi cinema and took his established mass-cinema formula to a pan-India audience. The film brought together action, emotion, family, social themes and whistle-worthy theatrical moments, while releasing in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu. Jawan went on to become Shah Rukh Khan’s highest-grossing film worldwide at the time, surpassing Pathaan’s ₹1,050.30 crore worldwide collection.
Also Read: Jawan director Atlee's 'surreal moment' as he receives honorary doctorate from Sathyabama University
Jawan reportedly collected ₹1,148.32 crore worldwide, including ₹761.98 crore from India and ₹386.34 crore from overseas.
Across every film, Atlee has retained the ingredients audiences associate with his cinema: emotion, family, action, music, powerful heroes and larger-than-life theatrical moments. Now, with Raaka starring Allu Arjun, Atlee enters his next chapter with another superstar and an even bigger canvas.