Versatile actor Raghuvaran (50) passed away early on Wednesday at a private hospital here following cardiac arrest. He is survived by his ex-wife and actress Rohini and son Nanda (8).
Raghuvaran, who made his debut in the off-beat movie Ezaavathu Manithan (1983) as a hero, acted in over 100 films in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi.
In most of his films, he donned the garb of a villain or supporting star. Mani Rathnam’s Anjali is a movie noted for his commendable performance.
His last big movie was Sivaji, the Boss, where he co-starred with Rajini. His last film was Jayaraj’s Silanerangalil, released last month, in which he played a negative role.
One of his little known movies was Oru Manidhanin Kadhai (the story of a man) based on a novel by Tamil writer Sivasankari, which tells the story of a well-to-do man ruined by alcohol.
He had hit the bottle after his wife, fed up with his waywardness, walked out on him with their son, and their marriage culminated in divorce. Later he turned to Sathya Sai Baba and made a recovery of sorts to come back to films.
The end was as poignant as the climax in the Hrishikesh Mukherjee’s Anand where Rajesh Khanna’s recorded voice plays on shortly after he dies. Callers who rang up his landline number to confirm the news of his demise, heard a recorded message which said: Sai Ram, I am Raghuvaran. Please call me on my mobile or my father’s line. Sai Ram.
Actors Vijay, Surya and actor-politicians Sarath Kumar and Vijay Kant paid tearful homage to the actor, whose mortal remains were consigned to flames by his eight-year-old son Nanda.
