The film received positive to mixed reviews, but was a commercial success. Shiva was next seen in Kiruthiga Udhayanidhi's directorial debut Vanakkam Chennai, a romantic musical opposite Priya Anand. Sudhish Kamath of The Hindu praised the actor's performance commenting "Nobody makes silly jokes work with a straight face like Shiva does", also adding that he is the "funny man pretending to be important." His next release Ya Ya had him featuring alongside Santhanam. His second release of the year, Sonna Puriyathu, where he played a dubbing artist, his portrayal winning good reviews. The film fared well commercially and Shivas portrayal of a conman was well received by critics. His first release Thillu Mullu, a remake of the 1981 Rajinikanth starrer of the same name, featured him alongside Isha Talwar and Prakash Raj. The success of this film fetched Shiva more scripts and the actor went on to feature in 4 comedy films in 2013. Portraying the role of a small time crook Raghu, critics noted that Shiva was the film's "scene-stealer" and "carries the first half with his quips". In 2012, Shiva featured alongside Vimal in Sundar C.'s comedy film Kalakalappu, which won positive reviews and performed well commercially.
During the period, he had also completed making another comedy film titled Siva Poojaiyil Karadi by Rama Narayanan, but the film was never released. His first 2011 release was the long delayed romantic drama Pathinaaru, in which he had his first non-comedy role. His next project was a comedy, Va Quarter Cutting that released in 2010 and became an average grosser.
Shiva then starred in Thamizh Padam, a full length parody of contemporary Tamil cinema, in which his performance garnered him rave reviews. His next role was again under Venkat Prabhus direction, in the thriller Saroja, which also received appraisal at the box office, as did his performance. The film was a box office success and became a trendsetter for its light-hearted approach.
Shivas performance of the role of Karthik in the film was well received. He featured in the film alongside ten other debutant actors. But his debut as a lead actor was in the film ∜hennai 600028 a sports comedy directed by Venkat Prabhu that released in 2007. Shiva began his film career with a cameo role in the film ∑2B in the year 2001. A former radio jockey at Radio Mirchi, Shiva has mainly appeared in comedy films and his performances in films ∜hennai 600028 and Saroja, both directed by Venkat Prabhu, shot him to fame before he received rave reviews for his performance in the full length parody of contemporary Tamil cinema, Thamizh Padam.īorn on Decemin Udumalai town in the Tirupur district of Tamil Nadu, Shiva began his career as a radio jockey with Radio Mirchi, since when he is referred to with the nickname Mirchi Shiva. Shiva is an Indian actor working in Tamil films.