Premgi Amaren

Prem Kumar Gangai “Premji” Amaren is an Indian singer, composer, songwriter, actor and comedian. The son of composer and director Gangai Amaran, he often composes rap songs in Tamil cinema and is known for his comical performances in his elder brother Venkat Prabhu's films.
He is also best known for his catchphrases "Enna koduma sir idhu?" and "Evvalavo pannitom, itha panna mattoma?", the former being a modified version of a famous dialogue used by Prabhu in Chandramukhi.

Career

In 1997, Premgi planned to enter the film industry as a director with a project titled Wanted starring his elder brother and S. P. B. Charan. The film, which had his younger cousin as music composer and his father and S. P. Balasubrahmanyam as comedians, did not complete shoot.
In 2005, he became an independent music director with Gnabagam Varuthe, starring his brother.
Primarily interested in composing music, Premgi then started his career as an assistant and additional music programmer to his cousin and film music composer Yuvan Shankar Raja, turning a playback singer, singing mostly the rap portions in Yuvan Shankar Raja's compositions, before working with other music composers as well. Working with Yuvan Shankar Raja, he also remixed some of his compositions for the soundtrack albums, the first being "Loosu Penne" from the film Vallavan.
In 2006, however, he made his acting debut in Silambarasan's Vallavan as the heroine's friend, following which he starred in his brother Venkat Prabhu's directorial debut Chennai 600028, in which he played Seenu. The movie went on to become the year's biggest summer blockbuster, establishing Premgi as a comedy actor.
After that, he composed for Agathiyan's Nenjathai Killathe and for Thozha, in which he played one of the leading roles as well. Apart from film music, he composed music for an episode titled Planet Galatta II – Adra Sakkae on Singapore's satellite channel, "Mediacorp Vasantham". He joined with his brother for his next film Saroja, which fetched him accolades for his performance as Ganesh Kumar.
He appeared as a lead character in his elder brother's Goa, before going on to make further appearances in Mankatha and Settai. He made his Malayalam debut in North 24 Kaatham. In the upcoming Maanga, he plays the lead character and also works as the music composer. He has acted in Chennai 600028 II which is a sequel of the super-hit movie Chennai 600028.
Amaren composed a song with singer Suresh Peters called "The One Anthem", and it was made as a tribute to the legend Michael Jackson.

Personal life

Premgi is the son of musician Gangai Amaran, and the younger brother of film director and actor Venkat Prabhu. Film composer Ilaiyaraaja is his uncle, while Yuvan Shankar Raja, Karthik Raja and Bhavatharini are his cousins. He married Indu on 9 June 2024 at Thiruthani Murugan Temple. They have a daughter who was born on 19 November 2025.
His stage name, Premgi, is actually a spelling error, as it is meant to be "Prem G.", the G standing for his father.

Filmography

As actor

;Films

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Payanangal Mudivathillai	Himself	Uncredited appearance in the song "Thogai Ilamayil"
2003	Punnagai Poove	Himself	Special appearance
2003	Whistle		Uncredited
2005	Kanda Naal Mudhal	Himself	Special appearance
2006	Vallavan	Swapna's friend
2007	Chennai 600028	Seenu
2007	Satham Podathey	Ravichandran's friend
2008	Thozha	Arivazhagan
2008	Santosh Subramaniam	Sekhar
2008	Sathyam	Bora
2008	Saroja	Ganesh Kumar	—Vijay Award for Best Comedian
2008	Silambattam	Himself	Special appearance
2010	Goa	Saamikannu
2011	Mankatha	Prem	Won—Edison Award for Best Comedian
2011	Mankatha	Prem	Won—Best Supporting Actor Award">ITFA Best Supporting Actor Award">Best Supporting Actor Award
2012	Podaa Podi	Himself	Special appearance
2013	Onbadhule Guru	Charles
2013	Settai	Cheenu
2013	North 24 Kaatham	Vyomkesh	Malayalam film
2013	Biriyani	Parasuram
2014	Vadacurry	Phone Seller	Special appearance
2014	Salim	Himself	Special appearance
2014	Theriyama Unna Kadhalichitten	Himself	Special appearance
2015	MGR Sivaji Rajini Kamal	Premgi	Guest appearance
2015	Masss	Jetli
2015	Maanga	Shiva
2015	Yatchan	Himself	Guest appearance
2016	Narathan	Narathan
2016	Ennama Katha Vudranunga	Himself	Cameo
2016	Chennai 600028 II	Seenu
2017	Mupparimanam	Himself	Cameo
2018	Tamizh Padam 2	Himself	Special appearance
2019	Simba	Simba
2019	Zombie	Himself	Cameo
2020	RK Nagar	Himself	Guest appearance
2021	Kasada Thapara	Bala	Released on Sony Liv. Segment : Kavasam
2021	Maanaadu	Eeswara Moorthy
2021	Tamil Rockers	Jeeva
2022	Manmadha Leelai	Veer	Guest appearance also music composer
2022	Prince	Bhoopathy
2023	Custody	Prem
2023	Sathiya Sothanai	Pradeep
2024	The Greatest of All Time	Seenu
2025	Dinasari	Prem
2025	Vallamai	Saravanan

;Web series

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2021	Live Telecast	Bigil Sathya
2023	Badep		Malaysia Tamil language TV series

Discography

As music director

Note: all films are in Tamil, unless otherwise noted.

Year	Film	Notes
2005	Gnabagam Varuthe
2006	Thunichal
2007	Chennai 600028	Background score only
2008	Nenjathai Killadhe
2008	Thozha
2008	Nannusire	Kannada film
2009	Adhe Neram Adhe Idam
2009	Kasko	Telugu film
2010	Goa	Additional background score only
2014	Ennamo Nadakkudhu
2015	Maanga
2016	Achamindri
2018	Party	Unreleased
2019	Zombie
2019	RK Nagar	released on Netflix
2021	Kasada Thapara	Composed one song "Vaa Un Neram"
2021	Tamil Rockers
2022	Manmadha Leelai