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
He was born as the eldest among four children in 1958 at Kollengode in Palakkad district in Kerala. He was the grandson of Mr. N. Radhakrishnan Nair and son of Chunkamannathu N. R. Velayudhan Nair and Kasthuri Chakkungal. 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.

He discontinued his Bachelor of Arts in history from Coimbatore (Government Arts College) to pursue a career in acting. He landed a minor role in the Kannada film Swapna Thingalgal. He began acting in minor roles in Telugu and Kannada films.

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.

Career
Following his beginnings on the stage, and a diploma in acting from M.G.R. Government Film and Television Training Institute in Chennai, Raghuvaran approached many Kollywood studios aiming for performance oriented roles and finally got selected as hero. The offbeat film named Ezhavathu Manithan (Seventh Man), 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 Kadhalan (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. The cause of death was due to organ failure because of excessive alcohol consumption. 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.

Awards

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