മഴനൂലുകള്‍ ‍/ Mazhanoolukal

Raghuvaran(60), a distinguished character artiste, passed away in Chennai this morning (March 19). He was admitted to Mehtha Hospital for treatment a few days ago. The reason for the death has been disclosed as weakness caused by excessive alcohol consumption. It is learnt that he had been under intensive medical care for the past few weeks.

Raghuvaran, born in Decemember 11,1948. He is a native of Kollankod in Palakkad district. He has acted in several Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Hindi films. He made his entry into film world through 'Ezhavathu Manithan' in 1982. 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.

Raghuvaran's claim to fame was his stylized way of acting and his dialogue delivery. He had a huge following among the masses. He stole the thunder whenever he played the villain with the swagger and with the way he drawled on his dialogues. Right from his first film Ezhavathu Manithan(1982), he created his own acting style.

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 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. His family too split on this regard, and he has also undergone de addiction courses. Anyway he was a very colourful person. His last release was Jayaraj’s Silanerangalil (Feb 29, 2008) where he played a negative character.