Raghuvaran

Raghuvaran Velayuthan Nair (11 December 1958 – 19 March 2008) was an Indian actor who predominantly acted in films made in South India. He has acted in more than 200 Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films. According to the Hindustan Times, "the actor had carved a niche for himself with his special style and voice modulation."

He played the protagonist of a Tamil soap opera, Oru Manithanin Kathai, about a well-to-do man who becomes an alcoholic. He received critical acclaim for his role as Father Alphonso in the Malayalam movie Daivathinte Vikruthikal, directed by Lenin Rajendran and based on M. Mukundan's novel of the same name.

Raghuvaran's six-song music album, composed and sung by him, were officially released by actor Rajinikanth and the album was received by actress Rohini and Raghuvaran's son Rishi Varan.

Personal life

Raghuvaran Velayuthan Nair was born on 11 December 1958 as the eldest among four children When his father moved his hotel business from Mathur to Coimbatore, the family shifted to Coimbatore. He had his primary education from Stanes Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School, Coimbatore. He also learned piano from Trinity College London.

From 1979 to 1983, he was part of an acting drama troupe in Chennai, Chennai Kings, which also included the Tamil actor, Nassar. He was spotted and cast as the lead actor in Ezhavathu Manithan, which was his biggest role to date.

He married Rohini in 1996 and their son Rishi Varan was born in 2000. The couple later separated and divorced in 2004. directed by Hariharan won many awards, but not many offers for him. A few more films followed with him as hero, like Oru Odai Nadhiyagirathu and Nee Thodumbothu released, but did not become successes. The villain role in Silk Silk Silk was noticed and the film's success opened the gate of offers for him. The villain act continued in films like Kutravaaligal, Mr. Bharath, Manthira Punnagai, Poovizhi Vasalile, Makkal En Pakkam, Oorkavalan and Puriyaadha Pudhir.

Raghuvaran did many films as hero and most of them did good business as well. The films Kavithai Paada Neramillai, Koottu Puzhukkal and Michael Raj helped to stabilize his career. The police officer in Thaimel Aanai (1988), the rowdy with a golden heart in Kai Naattu (1988), the lawyer in Kaliyugam (1988), the common man in En Vazhi Thani Vazhi (1988) and the honest Medical student turned Goonda in Kuttravali (1989) helped Raghuvaran's market value as hero to reach greater heights. But his desire to try all types of roles, like supporting actor as well as villain simultaneously halted the progress as hero, even though he played hero roles in Anjali (1990) and Malayalam movies Vyooham (1990) followed by Kavacham (1992). Raghuvaran featured as the bad guy in big-ticket Tamil films like Shankar's films Kaadhalan (1994) and Mudhalvan (1999).

Raghuvaran was pitted against Dilip Kumar in his Bollywood debut Izzatdaar (1990) and his popularity further soared at the national level with Ram Gopal Varma's gangster flick Shiva (1990), where he played the dreaded gangster Bhawani. Other Bollywood films include Rakshak (1996) opposite Sunil Shetty (1996), Hitler (1998) opposite Mithun Chakraborty, Lal Baadshah (1999) opposite Amitabh Bachchan. and Grahan along with Jackie Shroff, where he replaced a busy Nana Patekar in 2001.

Known for playing the antagonist in a number of box office hits during the course of his career, he shared screen space with several big names in Tamil cinema, with his most memorable on-screen foe being none other than 'Superstar' Rajinikanth. The duo had appeared together in Mr. Bharath (1986), Oorkavalan (1987), Manithan (1987), Siva (1989), Raja Chinna Roja (1989), Baashha (1995), Muthu (1995), Arunachalam (1997) and Sivaji (2007).

He later returned to supporting roles – sometimes as a father or as a mentor in films such as Run (2002), Bala (2002), Alai (2003), Thirumalai (2003) and Yaaradi Nee Mohini (2008).

Death Raghuvaran died on 19 March 2008, aged 49. His death occurred during the filming stages of several films, including Kanthaswamy (2009), wherein Raghuvaran's portions were reshot with Ashish Vidyarthi, which resulted in the film's delayed release. His posthumous film, Aatadista, released shortly after his death.

Filmography Tamil films Year Film Role Notes 1982 Ezhavathu Manithan Anand Marumagale Vazhga Dr. Saravanan 1983 Silk Silk Silk Ashok Kumar Vasanthame Varuga Suriyanarayanan Oru Odai Nadhiyagirathu Bhaskar 1984 Nee Thodumbothu 1985 Kutravaaligal Engirunthalum Vazhga 1986 Mr. Bharath Michael Meendum Pallavi Selvan Samsaram Adhu Minsaram Chidamabaram Manthira Punnagai Daniel Miranda 1987 Poovizhi Vasalile Anand Megam Karuththirukku Mathru Moorthy Makkal En Pakkam Ramesh Kavithai Paada Neramillai Oorkavalan Rajadurai Koottu Puzhukkal Surya Manithan Kumaravelu Ivargal Varungala Thoongal Raja Puyal Paadum Paattu Police Inspector Arul Tharum Ayyappan Person praying Cameo appearanceKavalan Avan KovalanHimselfGuest appearance Michael Raj Michael Raj 1988 Annanagar Mudhal Theru Janardhanan Kuttravali Raja Irandil Ondru Ragan Thaimel Aanai Vinod En Bommukutty Ammavukku Alex Kai Naattu Laber Kaliyugam Mahesh Koyil Mani Osai Rajavelu En Vazhi Thani Vazhi Advocate Raja 1989 Siva John Idhu Unga Kudumbam Raja Chinna Roja Bhaskar 1990 Pagalil Pournami Hindu saint Anjali Shekar Puriyaadha Pudhir Chakravarthi Thiyagu Thiyagu 1991 Pudhiya Raagam Raghuraman 1992 Uyarnthavan Bhaskhar 1993 Konjum Kili Dr. Izzet Peter Pudhiya Mugam Terrorist in Airport Cameo appearance Dhool Parakuthu Aarumugam 1994 Paasamalargal Bar customer Cameo appearance Thozhar Pandian Kaadhalan Mallikarjuna Veera Padhakkam Vadivelu 1995 Baashha Mark Antony Manathile Oru Paattu James Cameo appearance Rani Maharani Witness Ramesh Kolangal Bairavan Muthu Rajasekharan Maa Manithan Sigamani Thotta Chinungi Gopal 1996 Take It Easy Urvashi Jaya Selva Varatharajan 1997 Arunachalam Vishwanath Love Today Chandrasekar Ullaasam G. K. Abhimanyu Maasilamani Nerukku Ner Raghu Aahaa..! Raghuraman Ratchagan Gnaneswar 1998 Thulli Thirintha Kaalam Chidambaram Iniyavale Ramanathan Poonthottam Panneerselvam Nilaave Vaa Siva 1999 Suriya Paarvai Jayanth En Swasa Kaatre Pandian Endrendrum Kadhal Shekar Oruvan Krishna Prasad Amarkkalam Tulasi Das Pooparika Varugirom Ranganathan Mudhalvan Aranganathan Iraniyan Aande 2000 Kannukkul Nilavu Dr. Rajasekhar Good Luck Chandra Mohan Mugavaree Shiva Sudhandhiram Raghu Vallarasu DGP Jaganathan Kandukondain Kandukondain Sowmya's Boss Parthen Rasithen Panneer Uyirile Kalanthathu Raghuraman 2001 Dosth Raghu Narasimha Raana Star Dhanushkodi Majunu Gajapathy 2002 Red Sethupathy Dhaya Major Rudhraiya Roja Kootam Ilango's father Run Shiva's brother-in-law University Tamilselvan I Love You Da Rajkishore Bala Jeyamani Kadhal Virus Kavitha's father 2003 Alaudin Gangadhar Alai Aathi's father Kaiyodu Kai Manickavasagam Anjaneya Venketeswaran Thirumalai Artist Anbe Un Vasam V. Rathinavel Pandian 2004 Jana Jana's father Arasatchi Ashok Mehta Jananam Udhaya Moorthy 2005 Sachein Gowtham 2006 Sivappathigaram Elango 2007 Deepavali Dr. Devasaghayam Cameo appearance Nalladhor Veenai Sivaji Chezhian Marudhamalai Suryanarayanan 2008 Bheemaa Periyavar Ashoka Huzoor Thodakkam Vanchinathan Sila Nerangalil Krishnan Yaaradi Nee Mohini Vasu's father Posthumous film Ellam Avan Seyal Jagadeeswaran Posthumous film 2009 Adada Enna Azhagu Himself Posthumous film; cameo appearance 2012 Ullam Kavitha's father Posthumous film; delayed release

Telugu films Year Film Role Notes1987 Pasivadi Pranam Venu Jebu Donga Teja 1988 Kanchana Seeta Nyayaniki Sankellu Dhanraj Nyayaniki Siksha Prajapathi Rao 1989 Rudranetra Black Cobra Lankeshwarudu Shiva Bhavani 1991 Chaitanya Raana 1992 Lathi Avinash Prema Drohi Drohi Asadhyulu Dr. Pratap 1994 Captain Kannappa Rao Partially reshot in Tamil 1995 Mounam Mr. X 1996 Anaganaga Oka Roju Raghu Kranthi 1998 Aahaa..! Raghuram Suswagatham Dr. Chandra Shekar 1999 Anaganaga Oka Ammai Bhavani Prasad 2000 Pelli Sambandham Azad Deva 2002 Seema Simham Visweswara Rao Bobby K. R. 2003 Naaga Naaga's father Johnny Ravishankar Damle 2004 Naani Scientist Mass Satya 2006 Valliddari Vayasu Padahare Shekhar 2007 Evadaithe Nakenti Bal Gangadhar 2008 Aatadista Raghunath Posthumous film Pellikani Prasad Posthumous film 2009 Bank Raghuvaran Posthumous film

Malayalam films Year Film Role Notes 1982 Kakka 1983 Rugma Joseph 1989 Dhanushkodi Unreleased film 1990 Vyooham Tony Leous 1991 Daivathinte Vikrithikal Alphonso Kizhakkan Pathrose Anthony 1992 Kavacham Ravi Soorya Manasam Shivan 1993 Addeham Enna Iddeham Perera 1995 Peter Scott Leo Fernandes Maanthrikam Abdul Rahiman

Kannada films

Hindi films Year Film Role 1990 Izzatdaar Indrajeet Sabharwal Shiva Bhavani 1996 Rakshak Raghu 1998 Hitler Ankush Raj 1999 Lal Baadshah Vikram Singh 2001 Grahan Raghu Sinha

Singer Year Film Song Notes2008 Thodakkam "Edhuthan Mudiyadhu"

Awards Winner, Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Villain for Mudhalvan (1999)