Shiva Hariharan

Shiva Hariharan’s story isn’t your typical “born for the spotlight” kind of thing. The guy’s from Palakkad, a town in Kerala that most people outside the state probably couldn’t even point to on a map. But he hustled his way up, starting out in short films on this reality show called Nalayin Iyakkunar—yeah, the Kalaignar TV one. Not exactly red-carpet stuff, but hey, everyone’s gotta start somewhere. He took on a bunch of small roles, probably the kind you blink and miss, but he didn’t let that slow him down. Then along came Hridayam. Big deal. Pranav Mohanlal in the lead, Vineeth Sreenivasan calling the shots, and COVID-19 still making a mess of things. But Shiva managed to make his mark, even with all the chaos. After that, he just kept going, showing up in Christopher, Maheshum Maruthiyum, and Thrishanku in 2023—busy year for the guy. What’s cool is he didn’t settle into one lane. For the TVF series Aspirants, he played Sundar Shridhar, an IAS hopeful. Whole new vibe, and he pulled it off. Before all this, Shiva wasn't even in the industry. He used to work as a drilling engineer at a multinational company—yeah, hard hat and all that jazz. He’s got a Mechanical Engineering degree from Calicut University. So, not exactly the classic “I always wanted to act” backstory. He just switched gears and went for it. That’s what makes his journey stand out.