Vijayaraghavan is an Indian actor who works primarily in the Malayalam film industry, also known as Mollywood. He is known for his supporting roles in films like Venicile Vyapari (2011), Ramaleela (2017), Punyalan Private Limited (2017) and Kammara Sambhavam (2018).
Wiki/Biography
Narayanapillai Vijayaraghavan was born on Thursday, December 20, 1951, in Kuala Lumpur, Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) (age 71; as of 2022). His zodiac sign is Sagittarius. He studied at Government High School, Kudamalore, Kerala.
Photos of Vijayaraghavan as a child
appearance
Hair color: black
Eye color: black
family
Parents and siblings
Vijayaraghavan’s father NN Pillai is an Indian playwright, actor, theater director, orator, script writer and lyricist. He served as the Field Propaganda Force Commander under Subhas Chandra Bose of the Indian National Army. Vijayaraghavan’s mother Chinnamma (also known as Kalyanikutti Amma) was a housewife. She often worked as an artist in some of Pillay’s theater productions. Vijayaraghavan has two sisters, Sulochana Pillai and Renuka Pillai.
Childhood photo of Vijayaraghavan (far right) with his family
wife and children
Vijayaraghavan is married to Anitha Vijayaraghavan (also known as Suma). The couple has two sons, Jinadevan and Devadevan; Jinadevan is a businessman and Devadevan works in the South Indian film industry.
Vijayaraghavan and his family
Profession
Movie
Malayalam
Vijayaraghavan made his debut in the Malayalam film industry in 1973 with Kaapalika, an adaptation of his father’s play of the same name; he played the role of “Babu” in the film.
Poster of the movie “Kaapalika” (1973)
In 1983, Vijayaraghavan played the lead role of ‘Abu’ in the film ‘Surumaitta Kannukal’. Vijayaraghavan’s career in Malayalam cinema was really ignited after he played the role of Ananthan in the 1987 neo-noir action thriller New Delhi. His brilliant performance as the villain ‘Ramji Rao’ in the 1989 film ‘Ramji Rao Saying’ added more momentum to his stardom. This performance was a major turning point and cemented Vijayaraghavan’s status as a sought-after actor in the industry. Remakes of the film were produced in various languages by different production houses, including Hera Pheri (2000) in Hindi, Dhanalakshmi, I Love You (2002) in Telugu and Kannada Trin Trin (2004).
Vijayaraghavan as Ramji Rao in a still from the film Ramji Rao Saying (1989)
He went on to star in films such as Crime Branch (1990) (as Babu), Onam Muhtam (1991) (as William Patrick Parela), Commissioner (1994) (as Mohammad Iqbal), CID, Moosa (2003) (as DIG Sathyanarayanan), Mangalyam Thanthunanena (2018) (as Avarachan) and Sayanna Varthakal (2022) year) (as Varghese). In 2023, Vijayaraghavan played the role of a 100-year-old man named Ittoop in the film Pookkaalam. In the same year, he starred in a comedy film called “Neymar”.
Vijayaraghavan plays ‘Ittoop’ in a still from the movie ‘Pookkaalam’ (2023)
tamil
Vijayaraghavan made his debut in the Tamil film industry (also known as Kollywood) with the 1990 screwball comedy film “Arangetra Velai”, in which he played the role of “Pakki Ram”. In 2017, he played the role of “Vaishali’s father” in the action film “Bairavaa”.
Vijayaraghavan in a still from the movie Bairavaa (2017)
television
Malayalam
Vijayaraghavan has also appeared in some daily soaps including Kairali TV’s “Crime Branch” and Surya TV’s “Kavyanjali” and “Snehatheeram”.
Awards
- 2015: AsiaNet Film Awards Honorary Special Jury
- 2019: Won the Asianet Film Award for Best Actor for the film “Porinju Mariam Jose”
- 2022: Valikunnam Nattupacha Kala Cultural Forum Film Awards
December 29, 2022: Vijayaraghavan receives Valikunnam Nattupacha Kala Cultural Forum Film Award from KM Dharmaman
car collection
Vijayaraghavan owns various cars of different brands like Audi and Toyota; he owns Toyota’s Fortuner and Innova. Vijayaraghavan spoke about his love for cars in an interview and said that among his collection, he considers the Toyota Fortuner to be the epitome of comfort.
Facts/Trivia
- Vijayaraghavan said that he enjoys challenging roles; however, romantic scenes and dance sequences did not suit him. In interviews, he recalled the early years of his acting career, when filmmakers often relied on clichéd and inexperienced depictions of romance, and said he found the sequences awkward to perform because they were incompatible with his interpretation of romance. Doesn’t match.
- Apart from appearing in films and daily soaps, Vijayaraghavan has also acted in a few theater productions.
- In an interview, Vijayaraghavan shared insights into his approach of taking inspiration from other actors. He says that while he draws inspiration from them, he never slavishly imitates their style, fearing it might lead to pure imitation. He added that during his theater career, he often imitated actors like Dharmendra, Dev Anand and Kamal Haasan, but his father was strongly against doing so. Vijayaraghavan further expressed his deep admiration for the contributions of Amitabh Bachchan, Naseeruddin Shah, Mammootty, Om Puri and Nedumudi Venu to the field of acting.
- He revealed in an interview that dubbing is often a challenge for him. He mentioned that the pressure exerted during the process often caused discomfort in his throat.
- In 2017, social media was awash with false rumors of Vijayaraghavan’s death. The picture of the ambulance with Vijayaraghavan’s picture was widely shared on various social media platforms; however, Vijayaraghavan was quick to dispel the rumors, clarifying that the image being circulated was just a still from his film project Ramaleela. He urged his followers and fans to ignore the misleading information. Reacting to the incident, Vijayaraghavan lodged a complaint with Kerala Police Commissioner TP Senkumar, who later assured that appropriate action would be taken against those spreading false news of the actor’s death.
This photo was actually taken during the shooting and circulated along with the news of Vijayaraghavan’s death
Categories: Biography
Source: HIS Education