Actor Reghuvaran dies

Raghuvaran (60) the noted character actor of Tamil cinema passed away early this morning at a private hospital in Chetpet, Chennai due to a cardiac arrest. He was admitted to a private hospital following an ailment about a week back. His funeral will be held this evening, family sources said.

The actor was married to actress Rohini, but the marriage failed and they went through a messy divorce. The couple has an 8 year old son Nanda. He was born on December 11, 1948, at Kollankod in Palakkad district.

Reghuvaran's claim to fame was his stylized way of acting and his dialogue delivery, and had a huge following among the masses. He stole the thunder whenever he played the villain with the swagger and the way he drawled on his dialogues. Right from his first film Ezhavathu Manithan (1982), he created his own acting style. He has bagged many awards, including the Tamil Nadu government's 'Kalaimamani' award and best character artiste award. The actor had carved a niche for himself with his special style and voice modulation.

But it was in the role of the villain in commercial Tamil cinema that he shined, especially when he was paired with the superstar Rajinikanth in Baasha, Muthu, Arunachalam etc and was superstar's favourite as he excelled in bad man roles in his films. The superstar knew that unless the villain was given equal importance as the hero, his character will not become popular with the masses.

He has also acted in over 100 films in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Hindi films and has been praised as a natural actor. Most of his roles were of a villain or supporting actor. He has also acted as hero in a few movies, which did not do well at the box-office.

He became famous with his role as the protagonist of a Tamil soap opera, Oru Manidhanin Kadhai (One Man's Story), about a well-to-do man who becomes an alcoholic and faces the consequent difficulties.

Unfortunately, in real life too he is known for his controversial drug addiction and his family too split on this regard.

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