During the IPL 2021, the Sunrisers Hyderabad suffered a crushing defeat by the Delhi Capitals. Although the fans of  the Sunrisers Hyderabad were undeniably downcast, many keen eyed viewers were seen quoting the presence of Kavya Maran, the young CEO of the team via memes and Facebook shares! As her fame has seen a sudden spike, we wonder if this is the perfect time for you to get acquainted with these quick facts about the young CEO and how she came to become one in the first place! 

Kavya Maran: Who Is The CEO of Sunrisers Hyderabad?

1. She is nicknamed the ‘Mystery Girl’ of Sunrisers Hyderabad:

It seems that the two things we notice as soon as we type in Kavya Maran’s name are the fact that she is a businessperson and that she is the ‘Mystery Girl’ of Sunrisers Hyderabad.

Often dubbed as the latter, Kavya Maran earned the nickname and the position by being the daughter of businessman Kalanithi Maran, who is the founder of the SUN TV group. Her mother, Kaveri Maran also shares the family interest as the Joint Managing Director of SUN and is among the highest paid businesswomen in India.  

In addition to Kavya’s expert attention to her Sunrisers Hyderabad’s team, it seems that attention has been reversed after she makes appearances in IPL matches. With recent matches, Kavya seems to often be noted on social media and has won the hearts of many as seen through Twitter where some tweets from her fans go as below:

“SRH don’t deserve her. I think Everyone will watch SRH match only for this Kavya Maran”

2. She is also the co-owner of Sunrisers Hyderabad:

The family has been regulars at IPL auctions and at several matches but keen-eyed viewers have noticed the young Kavya who has been seen increasingly over the last couple of years. As the co-owner of Sunrisers Hyderabad, she is deeply involved in running the team in addition to being a part of the company of SUN Music and FM channels of SUN TV.

3. Kavya Maran and her family members:

The 29-year-old uncle’s name is Dayanidhi Maran who is also India’s textile minister. On the other hand, her father has several stakes in many TV channels, DTH services, weeklies, newspapers, a movie production house and FM radio stations. 

Kavya’s father is the 57-year-old Kalanithi Maran is the son of former Union Minister of India, Murasoli Maran. According to our online sources, her father is also a grand-nephew of the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Indian writer, and politician M. Karunanidhi who belonged to the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party (DMK). 

He has a wife also known as Kavya’s mother who also shares the family interest as the Joint Managing Director of SUN and is among the highest-paid businesswomen in India.  

Controversy with Karunanidhi’s family has clouded the Maran family. In May 2007, Karunanidhi’s son M.K. Azagiri’s supporters attacked Maran’s newspaper office after a poll in it claimed that people preferred MK Stalin over Azagiri. Later in December 2008, it was claimed that the dispute between the Karunanidhi and Maran families had come to an end. However, in 2010 a criminal case was filed against Kalanithi Maran by Azhagiri’s cable TV distribution company Zak Communications.

4. Kavya Maran’s education: 

Kavya’s youthful presence is deceivingly intriguing as she looks fairly young but in fact the 29 year old was reportedly a B.com graduate from Stella Maris College, Chennai. The co-owner also completed her MBA from Leonard N Stern School of Business, New York University.

5. Who is Kavya Maran’s father? 

Kavya Maran’s father is named among the 20 richest people in India by Forbes with the highest paid employees in India. Kalanithi Maran owns not only the cricket team Sunrisers Hyderabad but he is also the chairman and founder of the Sun Group. Kavya Maran’s father has a company called Sun TV which was listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange on 24 April 2006.

Born in 1964, he is Asia’s most profitable broadcaster. In June 2010, he acquired SpiceJet, India’s most profitable airline. Kavya Maran’s father owns TV channels and newspapers that are mainly concentrated in South India while FM radio channels, DTH services, and airlines are spread across the country.

In terms of his early life, Kalanithi Maran was schooled in Don Bosco, Egmore, Chennai. At Loyola College, Chennai, Kalanithi Maran became the president of the student union and led a movement for the cause of Sri Lankan Tamils. Kavya Maran’s father would go on to also receive an MBA degree from the University of Scranton.

His love for acquiring the radio business might have come from his early days when he worked for VU as an amateur radio operator and for Kunkumam, a weekly Tamil magazine from the 1980s, which he later bought. In 1990, at the age of 26, he started Poomaalai, a monthly video (VHS) news magazine that was distributed among Tamils ​​in India and outside. Then, he quickly founded Sun TV on 14 April 1993 with a bank loan investment of US$ 86000. 

Kavya Maran’s father is the son of former Commerce Minister Murasoli Maran, great-grandson of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and brother of India’s Textiles Minister Dayanidhi Maran. In 1991 he married Kannada Kaveri (the Joint Managing Director of Sun Network) and they had a daughter named Kavya (born in 1992). For most of the time since his entry into the media business, Kavya Maran’s father has proved to be quite successful, despite his father’s political rivals wielding state power. Kavya Maran’s father has also emerged as No. 1 in neighboring states, where his rivals include politicians and businessmen from those states.

Kavya Maran’s father has been honored as a Young Businessman by CNBC, Ernst & Young and the prestigious Forbes magazine based in the United States of America bestowed him with the title of “Television King of Southern India”. Kavya Maran’s father Kalanithi Maran was also one of the few delegates to attend the roundtable along with US President Bill Clinton.

Kalanidhi’s Sun Pictures produced his first film titled Endhiran, starring Rajinikanth and Aishwarya Rai.