Tribute to Ravichandran on his birth anniversary

B.S. Raman – better known by his screen name, Ravichandran – was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on 30 March 1942. He moved to Thiruchy,Tamil Nadu in 1951 where he completed his studies.

Whilst at college, he acted in two plays and was subsequently introduced to director CV Sridhar by cinematographer P.N. Sundaram. Sridhar cast him in the lead role of the trendy 1964 romantic comedy, Kadhalika Neramillai – one of the first Tamil films of young love with a cast of young actors.

He went on to enjoy a successful career starring in a wide variety of genres and also shared the screen with MGR and Sivaji Ganesan. His lead roles in Naan, Athey Kanngall, Utharavindri Ulle Vaa and Kumarie Penn were among the roles that firmly entrenched his place in the Tamil film industry. His 100^th Tamil film, Manaseega Kaadhal in 1999 saw his debut as a director.

Two of his sons – Hamsavirudhan (from his first marriage to Vimala) and George Vishnu (from his second marriage to Malayalam actress Sheela) went on to become actors. His granddaughter, Tanya Ravichandran, made her debut to acting in the 2016 film Balle Vellayathevaa and has completed 10 films to date, including Trigger, Maayon and Agilan.

Ravichandran passed away on 25 July 2011 at the age of 69.