Devan (actor)

Devan Sreenivasan (born 8 January 1952), also known as Devji, is an Indian film and television actor, producer, and politician. He is known for his character roles in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and few in Kannada and Hindi language films. He has starred in over 380 films. He made his breakthrough in the 1987 film New Delhi.

He later advanced to a lead actor with films like Oru Minnaminunginte Nurunguvettam (1987), Oozham (1988), Simon Peter Ninakku Vendi (1988) and Aranyakam (1988). His well-known movies such as Vietnam Colony (1992), Ekalavyan (1993), Honest Raj (1994), Baashha (1995) and Indraprasdham (1996).

Devan founded the political party Kerala People's Party in 2004. He relaunched the party as Nava Kerala People's Party in 2020, which was merged with the Bharatiya Janatha Party (BJP) in 2021. In 2023, he was made the state vice-president of BJP in Kerala.

Early life
Devan was born on 8 January 1952 in Thrissur, India. His father, Sreenivasan, was a public prosecutor and his mother, Lalitha, was a doctor. He has three siblings, Shobha, Sheela and Sureshbabu. Malayalam filmmaker Ramu Kariat was his uncle. Devan completed his schooling at Government Model Higher Secondary School, Thrissur. He took bachelor's degree from St. Thomas College, Thrissur, during his college time he was a member of Kerala Students Union (KSU); his parents were Indian National Congress-leaning. His father wanted him to be a police officer, but he wanted to be in army. After graduation, he tried at the National Defence Academy, but was not selected. He went to Madras (now Chennai) in search of a job and later took post-graduation in Master of Business Administration.

He was engaged in several business ventures before starting his career in movies.

Career
During his time in college, he used to read books a lot. He found possibility for a film in N. N. Pisharody's novel Vellam, he approached director Hariharan, who agreed with him, M. T. Vasudevan Nair wrote the screenplay, it was the first and last screenplay of his not based on his own story. Devan produced the film, filming was halted midway due to financial crisis. He made his acting debut in Ashatapathi to raise fund to resume filming, it was followed by a number of acting projects. After which, shooting resumed, but upon release, the film failed at the box office. In an interview, he said that Vellam (1985) is the best film come out from Hariharan-M. T. Vasudevan Nair combination. It was in the 1987 film New Delhi that he first appeared as a villain, since then he was typecast as a villain in Malayalam cinema. However, in Telugu cinema, he is known for character roles. Devan recalled in an interview that his best roles were in Telugu and Tamil cinema.

Devan started his acting career in supporting roles, after being approached by a producer at Spencer Plaza in Chennai. His most notable movies are Ekalavyan, Baasha and Indraprasdham. He has also acted in several TV series.

Personal life
He was married to his uncle Ramu Kariat's daughter, Suma. The couple has a daughter named Lakshmi. His wife Suma died on 12 July 2019 due to H1N1 infection.

Politics
Devan was active in Kerala Students Union (KSU) in his college days. In 2004, he founded the Kerala People's Party, a political party in Kerala. He contested and lost in the Wadakkanchery Assembly constituency by-election in the same year as an independent candidate. He contested in the 2006 assembly election from Trivandrum West as an independent candidate, but lost. In a 2014 interview, Devan revealed his admiration for politician Ramakrishna Hegde. In 2020, he formed a new party named Nava Kerala People's Party. In 2021, it was merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of Home Minister of India Amit Shah. In 2023, Devan was made the state vice-president of BJP in Kerala.