T. Rajendar

Vijaya Thesingu Rajendar
Born	(1955-05-09) May 9, 1955 Mayiladuthurai, Tamil Nadu, India[1]
Occupation	Director, actor, songwriter, screenwriter, Musician, producer, cinematographer, playback singer, politician, film distributor.[2]
Years active	1980-present
Political party	All India Latchiya Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam
Spouse(s)	Usha Rajendar (m.1982-present)
Children	Silambarasan Kuralarasan Ilakiya

Thesingu Rajendar (credited as 'T. Rajhenderr') (born May 9,1955), is a Tamil film actor, director, composer, screenwriter, cinematographer, producer, singer, playback singer, and constitutional law expert. He is also a politician in Tamil Nadu, India.

Family

T. Rajendar is married to former actress Usha. They have two sons, Silambarasan and Kuralarasan, and one daughter, Ilakiya. His wife has served as the producer for some of his films, such as Kadhal Azhivathillai.

Film career

Rajendar started off in the Kollywood industry making successful films which included him as an actor, playback singer, dancer and scriptwriter. He gained popularity through his one-of-a-kind style of acting. He normally serves as, but not limited to director, actor, songwriter, art director,production manager, playback singer. During the 1980s all his movies were blockbusters running for years and the songs were also well appreciated. He is known for introducing new faces in his movies, and many of the actresses who debuted in his movies have been successful in South Cinema, including Amala, Nalini, Jyothi, Jeevitha, and Mumtaj.

After some years, Rajendar's films started to decline in popularity because his films became too predictable, tending to follow the same storyline and oratory style of repetitious dialogues with little if any meaning.^[3] For example his films always contain a sentimental scene involving the hero's younger sister in distress, coupled with the same rhyming rhetoric and gestures.^[3]

Rajendar recently started his own web TV channel called 'Kural TV' (Voice TV).^[4][5] Originally he wanted to start a 24-hour TV channel but could not due to problems arising while securing a license. The channel, apart from broadcasting his movies and speeches, tends to echo sentiments towards the plight of Tamils (especially women) in Sri Lanka.

Rajendar had started talking with "common" people through Skype and discussing latest politics in the recent years. Rajendar also distributes films under his home banner 'Simbu cine arts'. His latest film distribution, as of mid-2011 is his son Silambarasan's film Vaanam which will be distributed in the Chennai and Madurai region.^[6]

He started his party All India Latchiya Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in April 2004. The party was formed as a result of T. Rajendar's expulsion from Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.^[7]

Since early 2008, Rajendar has been slowly working on the production of a film titled Oru Thalai Kadhal, a tale based on a village singer, in which he stars in the lead role.^[8][9] In 2011, he released a first look poster for the film and revealed that three heroines from Mumbai would star longside him.^[10][11] He provided an update in 2014, that the film was still under production and that it was sixty-five percent complete.^[12] He has also revealed that he is working on a script to launch his second son, Kuralarasan, as a lead actor.^[13]

Filmography

Director and actor

Year		Film	Credited as					Role	Notes
			Director	Writer	Actor	Music & Lyrics	Producer
1980	1	Oru Thalai Ragam	N	Y	Y	Y	N		Cameo appearance
1980	2	Vasantha Azhaipugal	Y		Y	Y			Cameo appearance
1981	3	Rail Payanangalil	Y	Y	Y	Y	N		Cameo appearance
1981	4	Kilinjalgal	N	N	N	Y	N
1982	5	Nenjil Oru Raagam	Y		Y	Y			Cameo appearance
1982	6	Sattam Sirikkiradhu	N	N	N	Y	N
1982	7	Raagam Thedum Pallavi	Y		Y	Y			Cameo appearance
1983	8	Thangaikkor Geetham	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Soolakaruppan
1983	9	Uyirullavarai Usha	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
1984	10	Uravai Kaatha Kili	Y	Y	Y	Y	N
1984	11	Premigala Saval	N	Y	N	N	N		Kannada film. Remake of Uyirullavarai Usha
1986	12	Pookalai Pareekatheergal				Y
1986	13	Mythili Ennai Kaathali	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Manickam
1987	14	Cooliekaran				Y
1987	15	Ivargal Varungala Thoongal	N	N	N	Y	N
1987	16	Muthukkal Moondru	N	N	N	Y	N
1987	17	Poopoova Poothirukku				Y
1987	18	Oru Thayin Sabhatham	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
1987	19	Pookal Vidum Thoodhu			Y	Y
1987	20	Aayusu Nooru				Y
1988	21	En Thangai Kalyani	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
1989	22	Samsara Sangeetham	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
1991	23	Shanti Enathu Shanti	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
1992	24	Enga Veetu Velan	Y	Y		Y	Y
1993	25	Pettredutha Pillai		Y		Y	Y
1993	26	Sabash Babu	N	Y	Y	Y	N	Veluchamy
1994	27	Oru Vasantha Geetham	Y	Y	Y	Y	N
1995	28	Thai Thangai Paasam	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y
1996	29	En Aasai Thangachi				Y
1999	30	Monisha En Monalisa	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Kaadhaldasan
2001	31	Sonnal Thaan Kathala	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	T. R.
2002	32	Kadhal Azhivathillai	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Vakil Dada
2002	33	Sri Bannari Amman	N	N	N	Y	N
2007	34	Veerasamy	Y	Y	Y	Y	Y	Veerasamy
2013	35	Arya Surya	N	N	Y	N	N		Guest appearance in song "Thagaru Thagaru"
2016	36	Vizhithiru	N	N	Y	N	N		Guest appearance in song "Papparappa"

As playback singer

Distributor

• Vaanam (2011)
• Vaalu (2015)

References

External links

• V. Thesingu Rajendar at the Internet Movie Database
• Interview with TR