Vijay Raghavendra

Vijay Raghavendra is an Indian film actor who appears predominantly in Kannada films. Referred to popularly as "Chinnari Mutha",[1] Vijay is the son of producer S. A. Chinne Gowda and nephew of actor Rajkumar.[2]

Vijay Raghavendra
Born	Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Occupation	Film actor Film director Playback singer Television presenter
Years active	1982–present
Spouse(s)	Spandana ​ (m. 2007)​
Children	1
Parent(s)	S. A. Chinne Gowda Jayamma
Relatives	Sriimurali (brother) See Rajkumar family

Vijay started his career as a child artist through the film Chalisuva Modagalu (1982) and won critical acclaims for his performances in Chinnari Mutha (1993) and Kotreshi Kanasu (1994).[3] The latter film won him the National Film Award for Best Child Artist.[4] His first Hero lead role was in Ramoji Rao's production titled Ninagagi in 2002, which was a commercial success and one of the highest-grossing films of the year. However, his subsequent projects under-performed at the box office until he was noticed for his role in the T. S. Nagabharana's period drama Kallarali Hoovagi in 2006, followed by his home production film Sevanthi Sevanthi in the same year. For playing the role of Puttaraj Gawai in the biographical film Shivayogi Sri Puttayyajja in 2016, Vijay won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actor.[5] In 2018, he made his directorial debut in Kismath (2018).[6]

In 2013, by public vote, Vijay won the first season of the game show Bigg Boss – the Indian version of Celebrity Big Brother, currently produced by Endemol India.[7]

Early life

Vijay Raghavendra was born in Bangalore, India to a family of film personalities. He began to act in films featuring his uncle Rajkumar in the lead. After having acted in about eight films as a child artist, Vijay underwent a formal training in acting at Chennai.[8]

Film career

Child roles : 1980s - 1990s

In 1982, Vijay appeared in a small role as a child in Singeetham Srinivasa Rao's romantic drama Chalisuva Modagalu, starring his uncle Rajkumar, Ambika and his cousin Puneeth Rajkumar, credited as Master Lohith. He went on to appear in the 1989 movie Parashuram, alongside his cousin Puneeth Rajkumar in a song. After a brief gap, in 1991 he appeared in Aralida Hoovugalu, a remake of the Hindi film Jawani Diwani (1971), directed by Chi. Dattaraj and co-starred Shiva Rajkumar. 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.

In 1993, Vijay, in his teens, appeared in three films: H. R. Bhargava's novel-based drama Jaga Mechida Huduga, Renuka Sharma's devotional Kollura Sri Mookambika, where he played the role of young Shankaracharya and the lead protagonist in the T. S. Nagabharana's Children's film Chinnari Mutha. The film won multiple laurels and awards upon release both at the state and national level. Vijay won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Child Actor (Male) for his portrayal of an innocent Mutha who rises to great popularity through his good deeds.[9] His popularity further rose in 1995 with the Nagathihalli Chandrashekar's film adaption of the novel "Kotra Highschoolige Seriddu", titled Kotreshi Kanasu. Vijay played the titular role of Kotreshi and went on to win the National Film Award for Best Child Artist for the year 1994-95. The other film he featured in was the biographical Sangeetha Sagara Ganayogi Panchakshara Gavai, directed by Chindodi Bangaresh. He again played the titular role as the young and blind reformer Gawai and also portrayed the younger part of Narendra in the Hindi film Swami Vivekananda. Following this, he took a break from films and concentrated on his studies.

Adult roles: 2002 - Present

His first adult role as an actor was in Ninagagi (2002), a box office blockbuster which brought him success on his first role opposite the debutant Radhika. The film was a remake of the Telugu hit Nuvve Kavali, which screened for over 100 days and created a record.[10] 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 the 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 a mixed response at the box office. In 2015, he starred in the biographical Shivayogi Sri Puttayyajja and won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actor.

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.[11][12] Vijay has been reportedly paid Rs. 5 million prize money.[13]

Personal life

Vijay is the eldest child of producer S. A. Chinne Gowda and his wife Jayamma. His younger brother Sriimurali is a popular Kannada film actor. His paternal aunt Parvathamma Rajkumar was a prominent film producer and distributor in Kannada cinema. He is the cousin of actors Shiva Rajkumar, Raghavendra Rajkumar and Puneeth Rajkumar. On 26 August 2007, he married Spandana, the daughter of Assistant Commissioner of Police, B. K. Shivaram.[14][15] The couple has a son named Shourya.

Charitable work

Recording session

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.[16]

Filmography

Actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Chalisuva Modagalu	Uncredited
1991	Aralida Hoovugalu	Uncredited
1993	Jaga Mechida Huduga	Young Shivu
	Kollura Sri Mookambika	Young Shankaracharya
	Chinnari Mutha	Mutta	Karnataka State Film Award for Best Child Actor (Male)
1994	Kotreshi Kanasu	Kotreshi	National Film Award for Best Child Artist
1995	Sangeetha Sagara Ganayogi Panchakshara Gavai	Young Ganayogi Panchakshara Gawai
1998	Swami Vivekananda	Young Narendra	Hindi film
2002	Ninagagi	Tarun
	Prema Qaidi	Vijay
	Romeo Juliet	Achyuth
2003	Heart Beats	Vikky
	Preethisale Beku	Ganesha
	Vikram	Vikram
	Khushi	Vijay
	Vijaya Simha	Vijay
2004	Avale Nanna Gelathi
2005	Rishi	Hari
2006	Shree	Shree
	Sevanthi Sevanthi	Devu
	Kallarali Hoovagi	Jayadeva
2007	Ee Rajeev Gandhi Alla	Rajeev Raj
	Naanu Neenu Jodi	Arjun
2008	Beladingalaagi Baa	Vivek
	Minchina Ota	Kishore
	Ganesha Matte Banda	Ganesha
	Mast Maja Maadi	Ramu
2009	Nam Yajamanru	Alok
	Kaaranji	Viji
	IPC Section 300	Viji
	Gokula	Raja
	Khiladi Krishna	Krishna
2010	Aithalakkadi	Himself	Special appearance
2011	Vighneshwara	Vijay
	Shraavana	Vijay
	Vinayaka Geleyara Balaga	Viju
	Kalla Malla Sulla	Raghu
	Naliyona Baaraa	Rajeev
2012	Snehitaru
	Golmaal
2013	Chella Pilli	Hemanth
	Bhajarangi	Himself	Special appearance
2014	Paramashiva	Raghu
	Fair & Lovely	Abhimanyu	Extended Cameo Appearance
2015	Vamshodharaka	Vishwa
2016	Shivayogi Sri Puttayyajja	Puttaraj Gawai	Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actor
	Ranatantra	Gautham
	Apoorva	Ravichandran Son	Guest appearance
	Nanna Ninna Prema Kathe	Shankar
2017	Srikanta	Journalist
	Chowka	Surya Shetty
	Eradu Kanasu	Muthu
	Happy New Year	Raghavendra
	Toss
	Mass Leader	Vijay
	Jani	Jani
2018	Kismath	Vijay	Also director
	Raja Loves Radhe	Raja
	Pardesi C/O London	Vijay
2019	Yada Yada Hi Dharmasya	Dharma
2020	Malgudi Days	Laxmi Narayana Malgudi	Swayam Prabha Entertainment & productions

Singer

• 2006 - Sevanthi Sevanthi: "Jaaji Mallige Hoove"
• 2011 - Vinayaka Geleyara Balaga: "Yaarivalee Hudugi"
• 2014 - Fair & Lovely: "Haage Ondu"
• 2016 - Akira: "Alisade Husiyagide"
• 2018 - Aduva Gombe: "Madarangee Madarangee"

Director

• 2018 - Kismath[17]

Television

• 1998 – Attige (Tele-serial)
• 2013 – Bigg Boss Kannada 1 (Winner)
• 2014 – Nenapina Idiot-Box (Radio Host at 92.7 Big FM)
• 2016- Drama Juniors (Judge)
• 2017-Drama Juniors 2 (judge)
• 2017- Dance Karnataka Dance Family War (Judge)
• 2018- Dance Karnataka Dance Little Masters (Judge)
• 2018- Drama Juniors 3 (judge)
• 2019- Dance Karnataka Dance Family War 2 (Judge)

References

1. "Vijay Raghavendra makes his directorial debut, changes his name". The Times of India. 11 November 2013. Archived from the original on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
2. "Vijay Raghavendra Biography". filmibeat.com. Archived from the original on 8 May 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
3. "On my pinboard — Vijay Raghavendra". =Deccan Herald. 26 January 2017. Archived from the original on 24 December 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
4. "Vijay Raghavendra has got national award". The Times of India. 16 September 2014. Archived from the original on 19 March 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
5. "Vijay Raghavendra, Malashri bag top honours at State Film Awards". News Karnataka.com. 17 May 2016. Archived from the original on 15 February 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
6. "'Kismat' turns Vijay Raghavendra into a director". Sify.com. 12 November 2013. Archived from the original on 5 January 2019. Retrieved 5 January 2019.
7. "Vijay Raghavendra wins Kannada Bigg Boss Season 1". Archived from the original on 9 July 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
8. "Vijay Raghavendra- A Macho Built Popular Actor Of Kannada Cinema". Passionconnect.in. Archived from the original on 27 May 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
9. "Vijaya Raghavendra Lucky". Chitraloka.com. 30 June 2013. Archived from the original on 25 May 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
10. Centuries on debut for them
11. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 9 July 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
12. "Vijay Raghavendra in Big Boss house". Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 24 May 2013.
13. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2 July 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2013.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
14. "Vijay to wed Spandana". IndiaGlitz. 5 April 2007. Archived from the original on 3 June 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
15. "Wedding bells for Vijaya Raghavendra". The Times of India. 20 April 2007. Archived from the original on 23 December 2017. Retrieved 6 May 2017.
16. "Kannada movie star Vijay Raghavendra joins the TeachAIDS education efforts". TeachAIDS Blog. 2013. Archived from the original on 25 July 2014. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
17. "Vijay Ragavendra to direct Kismat". Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 12 December 2013.

External links

• Vijay Raghavendra at IMDb