Raja
Born
Daggubati Venkatesh

(1965-09-16) 16 September 1965
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

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

Year Film Role Language Notes
1981Paakku VethalaiTamil
Chinna Mul Peria MulAnandTamil
Nenjile ThunivirunthalTamil
1982Kanne RadhaNatarajTamil
1984Veetuku Oru KannagiTamil
1986Kadalora KavithaigalLawrenceTamil
Pudhiya PoovidhuTamil
Neethana Antha KuyilTamil
1987Valayal SathamTamil
VaidehiTelugu
Ini Oru SudhanthiramTamil
Dongodochadu Telugu
Gramatthu MinnalTamil
Vedham PudhithuSundarapandiTamil
1988Neruppu NilaTamil
Siripuram ChinnoduTelugu
Jhansi RaniDinakarTelugu
SankelluTelugu
Ithu Engal NeethiTamil
Uzhaithu Vaazha VendumRajaTamil
1989Chinnari SnehamSuryamTelugu
Manidhan MarivittanTamil
MappillaiTamil
1990 Vaazhkai ChakkaramThangavelu's brotherTamil
Ooru Vittu Ooru VanthuDineshTamil
Adhisaya ManithanRamaniTamil
Pudhu VasanthamRajaTamil
Nangal PuthiyavargalRajaTamilGuest appearance
Sathyam Sivam SundaramTamil
Enkitta MothatheTamilGuest appearance
1991Vaa Arugil VaaRamakrishnanTamil
Ente SooryaputhrikkuMalayalamGuest appearance
Karpoora MullaiDr. SrinivasTamil
Onnum Theriyatha PapaTamil
Nee Pathi Naan PathiTamil
Edu KondalaswamyTelugu
1992Kizhakku VelathachuTamil
1993Captain MagalTamil
Uthama RaasaMarudhuTamil
Moondravadhu KannSundarTamil
Enga MuthalaliBaluTamil
1994Sukham SukhakaramMalayalam
VanithaTelugu
PriyankaRajaTamilGuest appearance
KaruththammaStephenTamil
1995CoolieTamil
Sathi LeelavathiRajaTamilGuest appearance
KolangalRajeshTamil
Ayudha PoojaiSamiyappan's sonTamil
1996Love BirdsManoTamil
Vaikarai PookkalRajaTamil
Meendum SavithriVasudevanTamil
RajaliTamilGuest appearance
Kadhal KottaiJeevaTamil
Andha NaalVincent BabuTamil
Sri Krishnarjuna VijayamKarnaTelugu
1997Bharathi KannammaVillage officerTamil
ArunachalamSaravananTamil
PudhalvanTamil
1998IniyavaleRajaTamil
KondattamGopikrishnaTamil
Sivappu NilaRajaTamil
2000Kannukku KannagaArunTamil
2019N.T.R: KathanayakuduN. Trivikrama RaoTelugu
N.T.R: MahanayakuduTelugu
Adithya VarmaVasudevan Varma, Adithya's fatherTamil
2021FCUK: Father Chitti Umaa KaarthikUmaa's fatherTelugu
2023SkandaBhaskar's fatherTelugu

References

  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. 1 2 3 4 5 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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