RAGHUVARAN

100 films old, and still going strong!

Raghuvaran, the versatile actor, has done it again. A decade ago he was seen at his best as Bhavani, the mafia don, in Ram Gopal Varma’s debut film, Shiva. That film catapulted Raghuvaran into instant stardom in Telugu films.

Thereafter, he has acted in many Telugu films besides Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. The ever reliable character artiste is again in the news for his convincing portrayal of Deva alias Dawood, a hardcore terrorist, in the now commercially successful Nagarjuna starrer, Azad, directed by Tirupati Swamy.
It is 18 years since Raghuvaran made his screen appearance with that offbeat film, Hariharan’s Ezhavadu Manidan, which won many awards and was shown in International fests. A product of the Adyar Film Institute, he has never let down the audiences in his 100-odd movie assignments so far. Recollects the usually media-shy Raghuvaran: “I do a lot of homework for each role. When Tirupati Swamy discussed with me about the baddy’s role in Azad, I came out with my version of the role, which he immediately liked. It took ten days for me to write the role which was in my mind, after going through a lot of material.

Fortunately, in Telugu, the audiences have always received me well. I started my career in Telugu films with Dasari Narayana Rao’s Kanchana Seetha in a positive role supportive of the sister-in-law’s character in the film. In my very second film, Pasivadi Pranam, I’ve had to play the villain opposite Chiranjeevi. But my role was applauded and the film went on to become a big hit. After enacting some routine kind of characters, I did a very good role in Suswagatham as Pawan Kalyan’s dad. And now Azad. I told Tirupati Swamy, either I should do that role or Nana Patekar. The role has such depth to it. I am really happy with the Telugu audiences. They look at the character in the film and not the artiste who is enacting it. In fact, Bhavani in Shiva was a terrifying character. But when I went to Hyderabad, people addressed me as Bhavanigaru, (ji for Telugu) bagunnara (How are you, Bhavaniji?). Such is their warmth.”

Incidentally, his wife hails from Andhra Pradesh. An actress of eminence, she quit films after marriage. The couple are blessed with a son, Sai Rushi. “Before Rushi was born, I used to carry home my film roles. Now, when I go home and see my son, I forget everything,” says Raghuvaran with a smile and adds, “my home is now managed by my wife and my dates by an able manager, Giri. Yes, they have taken off the heat on me. I am very cool and composed now”.
Though he has been a sought after actor, he accepted very few films in his near two decade old career when compared to other artistes of his batch. Says Raghuvaran: “I cannot accept every role that comes my way. The chemistry of a role should come first. Moreover, before signing a film, I discuss my role with the director 10 or 20 times. I do a lot of homework. Even for Shankar’s Mudalvan, I studied a lot of politicians, specially chief ministers of various states before going to the sets. For the role of Deva in Azad, I undertook a lot of research on ISI activities and terrorism. Finally, I sketched a character, the terrorist with a human touch. There is a human being within a terrorist. I worked on this point and it clicked. Here I should thank the film’s hero Nagarjuna for his encouragement. He saw the rushes and told me ‘you do your job the way you are doing and I’ll do mine’, so, if I have done well, the credit also goes to him. This rational way of thinking he has inherited from his illustrious father, A Nageswara Rao, with whom I had worked in my guru K Raghavendra Rao’s Pelli Sambandham.”

Raghuvaran says he admires Amitabh Bachchan as an actor but likes Sanjeev Kumar’s acting. “I still watch Sanjeev Kumar’s movies on video. My ambition is to do a role like the one he enacted in Koshish.

The maverick actor, who now plans to balance his acting career by doing Telugu and Tamil films alternatively, firmly believes: “Be a good man in real life then you can become a good artiste in reel life”.

Naresh