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Raja (Tamil actor)

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Raja
Born
Daggubati Venkatesh

(1965-09-16) 16 September 1965 (age 59)
OccupationActor
Years active1981–2000
2019–present
RelativesD. Ramanaidu (uncle)
Venkatesh (cousin)

Daggubati Venkatesh, credited as Raja and Daggubati Raja, is an Indian actor turned businessman[1] who has acted in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu language films. The actor made his debut in the 1981 Tamil film, Paakku Vethalai, before going on to become a leading actor in the Tamil film industry from 1986 to 2000.[2]

He went on to play second lead roles and supporting characters in several films including Kamal Haasan's Sathi Leelavathi and Rajinikanth's Mappillai.[3] He has also acted in few Telugu films like Chinnari Sneham, Sankellu and Shri Krishnarjuna Vijayam.

He is a relative of veteran film producer late D. Ramanaidu.

Career

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A nephew of Telugu film producer D. Ramanaidu, Daggubati Venkatesh was persuaded by his family to become an actor in Tamil cinema owing to his familiarity with Madras. He subsequently joined Bharathiraja's acting school, where he trained before getting his first major career breakthrough with the director's romantic drama Kadalora Kavithaigal (1986).[4] To differentiate from his namesake cousin, Venkatesh was given the screen name "Raja".[5] The box office success of Kadalora Kavithaigal prompted Bharathiraja to cast him again in Vedham Pudhithu (1987), and the popular song "Kannukkul Nooru" earned Raja a large female fanbase.[4]

Raja continued portraying supporting roles in films, and was unable to garner much success as a lead actor. His appearance in a negative role in his collaboration with Manivannan for Ini Oru Suthanthiram was well received by critics, though his best known work in the late 1980s and early 1990s featured him in supporting roles such as in Mappillai (1989) and Pudhu Vasantham (1990).[4] In the early 1990s, he was often typecast in soft, demure characters often portraying a gentle romantic, who regularly lost out to film's lead actor. His most notable films of the period, Sathi Leelavathi (1995), Love Birds (1996) and Kadhal Kottai (1996) all featured him in similar roles. He quickly became disheartened at the films and secondary characters being offered to him, and opted to move into business in 1999.[4] and currently runs a granite business called "Cosmo Granites" in Chennai.[6]

After nineteen years break from films, Raja returned to acting with a role in Krish's biopic drama N.T.R: Kathanayakudu (2019), where he portrayed the supporting role of Trivikrama Rao. He made his return to Tamil films through Adithya Varma (2019), where he appeared as the father of the titular character played by debutant Dhruv Vikram.[4]

Filmography

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Year Film Role Language Notes
1981 Paakku Vethalai Tamil
Chinna Mul Peria Mul Anand Tamil
Nenjile Thunivirunthal Tamil
1982 Kanne Radha Nataraj Tamil
1984 Veetuku Oru Kannagi Tamil
1986 Kadalora Kavithaigal Lawrence Tamil
Pudhiya Poovidhu Tamil
Neethana Antha Kuyil Tamil
1987 Valayal Satham Tamil
Vaidehi Telugu
Ini Oru Sudhanthiram Tamil
Dongodochadu Telugu
Aadade Aadharam Telugu
Gramatthu Minnal Tamil
Vedham Pudhithu Sundarapandi Tamil
1988 Neruppu Nila Tamil
Siripuram Chinnodu Telugu
Jhansi Rani Dinakar Telugu
Sankellu Telugu
Ithu Engal Neethi Tamil
Uzhaithu Vaazha Vendum Raja Tamil
1989 Chinnari Sneham Suryam Telugu
Manidhan Marivittan Tamil
Mappillai Tamil
1990 Vaazhkai Chakkaram Thangavelu's brother Tamil
Ooru Vittu Ooru Vanthu Dinesh Tamil
Adhisaya Manithan Ramani Tamil
Pudhu Vasantham Raja Tamil
Nangal Puthiyavargal Raja Tamil Guest appearance
Sathyam Sivam Sundaram Tamil
Enkitta Mothathe Tamil Guest appearance
1991 Vaa Arugil Vaa Ramakrishnan Tamil
Ente Sooryaputhrikku Malayalam Guest appearance
Karpoora Mullai Dr. Srinivas Tamil
Onnum Theriyatha Papa Tamil
Nee Pathi Naan Pathi Tamil
Edu Kondalaswamy Telugu
1992 Kizhakku Velathachu Tamil
1993 Captain Magal Tamil
Uthama Raasa Marudhu Tamil
Moondravadhu Kann Sundar Tamil
Enga Muthalali Balu Tamil
1994 Sukham Sukhakaram Malayalam
Vanitha Telugu
Priyanka Raja Tamil Guest appearance
Karuththamma Stephen Tamil
1995 Coolie Tamil
Sathi Leelavathi Raja Tamil Guest appearance
Kolangal Rajesh Tamil
Ayudha Poojai Samiyappan's son Tamil
1996 Love Birds Mano Tamil
Vaikarai Pookkal Raja Tamil
Meendum Savithri Vasudevan Tamil
Rajali Tamil Guest appearance
Kadhal Kottai Jeeva Tamil
Andha Naal Vincent Babu Tamil
Sri Krishnarjuna Vijayam Karna Telugu
1997 Bharathi Kannamma Village officer Tamil
Arunachalam Saravanan Tamil
Pudhalvan Tamil
1998 Iniyavale Raja Tamil
Kondattam Gopikrishna Tamil
Sivappu Nila Raja Tamil
2000 Kannukku Kannaga Arun Tamil
2019 N.T.R: Kathanayakudu N. Trivikrama Rao Telugu
N.T.R: Mahanayakudu Telugu
Adithya Varma Vasudevan Varma, Adithya's father Tamil
2021 FCUK: Father Chitti Umaa Kaarthik Umaa's father Telugu
2023 Skanda Bhaskar's father Telugu

References

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  1. ^ S, Srivatsan (6 November 2019). "From 'Kadalora Kavithaigal' to 'Adithya Varma': Tamil cinema's quintessential 'soft-spoken hero' Raja returns after a 20-year exile". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 18 January 2023.
  2. ^ Reddy, T. Krithika (27 November 2010). "Second Coming". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 5 December 2018.
  3. ^ "Raja – Tamil actor". Jointscene. Archived from the original on 17 September 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2012.
  4. ^ a b c d e S, Srivatsan (6 November 2019). "From 'Kadalora Kavithaigal' to 'Adithya Varma': Tamil cinema's quintessential 'soft-spoken hero' Raja returns after a 20-year exile". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 7 November 2019. Retrieved 8 November 2019.
  5. ^ Chowdhary, Y. Sunita (14 January 2019). "Daggubati Raja is back in action". The Hindu. Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2021.
  6. ^ TV9 Telugu Live (4 February 2017). "Actor Daggubati Raja rediscovered by Anveshana ! – TV9" (in Telugu). Archived from the original on 28 December 2021. Retrieved 15 February 2017 – via YouTube.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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