Vijay Raghavendra

Vijay Raghavendra
Raghavendra at TeachAIDS recording session in 2013
Native name	ವಿಜಯ್ ರಾಘವೇಂದ್ರ
Born	(1979-05-26) 26 May 1979 Bengaluru, Karnataka
Other names	Raagu
Spouse(s)	Spandana (2007–present)
Family	Srimurali (brother)

Vijay Raghavendra is an Indian actor who primarily works in Kannada films. He started as a child artist in the film industry and won critical acclaims for his performances in Chinnari Mutha (1993) and Kotreshi Kanasu (1994). The latter won him the National Film Award for Best Child Artist.^[1] His first lead role was in Ninagagi (2002).

In 2013, by public vote, Vijay won the first season of game show Bigg Boss – the Indian version of Celebrity Big Brother, currently produced by Endemol India.^[2]

Family

Raghavendra is the son of famous Kannada film producer, S. A. Chinne Gowda. He is also related to the actor and singer Rajkumar and is the cousin of the actors Shivarajkumar, Raghavendra Rajkumar and Puneeth Rajkumar. His brother, Sri Murali, is also an actor. He married Spandana in 2007 and has a son named Shourya.^[3]

Career

Raghavendra started his career as a child actor in the film Chalisuva Modagalu (1982) starring his uncle Rajkumar and Ambika. His next movie Chinnari Mutha became a huge success and he became a household name in Karnataka. After that he acted in many movies, including Kotreshi Kanasu for which he won a National Award for his performance.

His first adult role as an actor was in Ninagaagi (2002), a box office blockbuster which brought him success on his first role opposite the debutant Radhika. The film was a remake of Telugu hit Nuvve Kavali which screened for above 100 days and created a record.^[4] Following this success, he signed two more movies in the same year which could not succeed at the box-office.

He has acted in many movies since then. His notable movies are Kallarali Hoovagi, Rishi, Khushi and Kaaranji.

Vijay did not have a single release in 2010. His much delayed films Shraavana, Vinayaka Geleyara Balaga and multi-starrer Kalla Malla Sulla released in 2011 with the latter two films earning favourable reviews. In 2012, he starred again in a multi-starrer comedy Snehitaru which received mixed response at the box-office.

In 2013, Vijay was a contestant and winner in the much talked about Kannada version of the reality show Bigg Boss in its first season, which started with 13 contestants.^[5][6] Vijay has been reportedly paid Rs. 5 million prize money.^[7]

Charitable work

In 2013, it was announced that he had joined other Bollywood and international celebrities in the TeachAIDS initiative, a state-of-the-art approach to worldwide HIV prevention, developed at Stanford University.^[8]

Filmography

Actor

Director

• 2014 Kismat^[9]

Television

• 1998 – Attige (Tele-serial)
• 2013 – Bigg Boss Kannada 1 (Winner)
• 2014 – Nenapina Idiot-Box (Radio Host at 92.7 Big FM)

References

External links

• Vijay Raghavendra at the Internet Movie Database