Vellaipookal Dev

Swaminath Raamanathan, known by his stage name, Dev, is an Indian film actor and content producer, who appears in Tamil films. He was earlier credited as Abhinav until 2019, when he adopted his new name. He made his debut playing Nazriya Nazim’s love interest in director Balaji Mohan’s 2014 bilingual Vaayai Moodi Pesavum (Tamil)/Samsaaram Aarogyathinu Haanikaram (Malayalam). In 2016, he played the character of Mukundan in Nelson Venkatesan’s critically acclaimed Oru Naal Koothu (2016).

His first role as a central character was in the Tamil crime thriller Vellai Pookal (2019). He played the role of Ajay, a software engineer working in Microsoft and son of retired cop Rudhran (played by Vivek). The film was shot entirely in Seattle and released in April 2019 to highly positive reviews from critiques and audiences alike. His performance was well received with India Glitz terming it “perfect as the typical Indian techie" and The New Indian Express calling his performance "relatable and realistic".

He also produces content and commercials (web series, television commercials, digital brand films) under his production company Madboys Creatives. He produced and acted in South India’s first web series, Happy to be Single, distributed by Sony Music India with Anirudh Ravichander launching it.