Veeraswamy Ravichandran (born 30 May 1961), known mononymously as Ravichandran, is an actor, director, producer, music director, lyricist and editor in the Kannada Film Industry. He is the son of film producer N. Veeraswamy. As producer, Ravichandran continues to run his father's production house, Sri Eswari Productions. He is popularly known as "Crazy Star", a title fans have prefixed to his name.[4]

V.Ravichandran
Born	Veeraswamy Ravichandran (1961-05-30) 30 May 1961 (age 61) Tirunelveli, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation	Actor filmmaker composer Lyricist Television Presenter
Years active	1982–present
Spouse	Sumathy ​ (m. 1986)​
Children	3, including Manoranjan[1]
Parent	N. Veeraswamy[2] (father)
Relatives	Balaji (brother)[3]

Personal life

Ravichandran was born in Tirunelveli, Madras State (now Tamil Nadu), India to N. Veeraswamy and Pattammal. His father is N. Veeraswamy was a producer of South Indian film industry. Ravichandran married Sumathi, on the Valentine's Day; 14 February 1986.[5] The couple has a daughter Geethanjali, two sons Manoranjan and Vikram. Manoranjan made his acting debut with Saheba (2017).[6][7] Ravichandran famous for bringing innovations to Kannada film industry through Premaloka (1987) and introducing Juhi Chawla.

Film career

He made his first on screen appearance as child actor in Dhoomakethu and Kula Gourava - both starring Dr.Rajkumar, the latter also being his father's first movie as independent producer. He made his debut as a producer with Prema Matsara (1982). He began his acting career with an antagonist role in Khadeema Kallaru (1982) which was produced by him. His second film was Chakravyuha (1983) which was also co-produced by him. He then appeared in few more successful films before casting himself in Premaloka (1987) which turned out to be a blockbuster. He is often considered as "The Show Man" of Kannada cinema for his multi-faceted works in his associated films.[8]

Ravichandran initially acted in and directed movies produced by his own banner, Eswari Productions. After Premaloka, he accepted acting offers from other producers. He has worked with leading directors of the Kannada film industry such as Rajendra Singh Babu and D. Rajendra Babu. His association with D. Rajendra Babu is very successful, resulting in several hits, including Naanu Nanna Hendthi (1985), Ramachaari (1991), Sriramachandra (1992), Annayya (1993) and Yaare Neenu Cheluve (1998).[9]

Shanti Kranti (1991) was the most expensive film ever made in Kannada industry at that time. The film was a multilingual project with Rajinikanth and Nagarjuna in prominent roles in Tamil and Telugu respectively. Ramachaari (1991), Halli Meshtru (1992), Putnanja (1995) were notable blockbusters in 90s. Ravichandran and Hamsalekha collaborated on dozens of movies. The end of their long-standing partnership proved to be unsuccessful for both of them. In 2002, Ravichandran embarked on an ambitious film called Ekangi. Shot inside a massive glass mansion built at a cost of Rs 80 lakh, it was a unique take on loneliness. The success of Malla (2004) began a new chapter in his career.

He started his company Eswari Audio later to be known as Eswari Entertainments. He was also awarded as the Best Musical Director on the state level. He not only brought the trend of Big-Budget Movies to Kannada cinema but also brought in Digital Grading technology. He started selling music cassettes through cable operators to beat piracy. Ravichandran was also seen on television as a judge in Dancing-star season-2 on Colors Kannada.[10]

His most recent successes were Maanikya (2014), Drishya (2014) and Hebbuli (2017).

In 2019, Ravichandran played the role of Krishna in Kurukshetra. This was the first mythological film in his career.

Filmography

As Actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
				1968	Dhoomakethu		Child actor
1971	Kula Gourava	Young Shankar	Child actor
1982	Khadeema Kallaru	Johnny
1983	Chakravyuha	Khoya Khoya	[lower-alpha 1]
1984	Naane Raja	Raja
	Premigala Saval
	Pralayanthaka	Raja / Johnny	[lower-alpha 1]
1985	Savira Sullu		[lower-alpha 1]
	Pithamaha
	Swabhimana
	Naanu Nanna Hendthi	Ravi	[lower-alpha 1]
1986	Na Ninna Preetisuve
	Asambhava
	Poi Mugangal	Raja	Tamil film; credited as Rakesh
1987	Premaloka	Ravi
	Paruva Ragam	Ravi	Tamil film
	Sangrama	Arjun Brahmavar
1988	Brahma Vishnu Maheshwara	Narayan
	Ranadheera	Ranadheera (Murali)[lower-alpha 2]
	Anjada Gandu	Anand
	Ramanna Shamanna	Shyam
1989	Yuddha Kaanda	Ravi Bramhavar
	Yuga Purusha	Raaja
	Kindari Jogi	Kindari Jogi / Ravi	[lower-alpha 1]
	Poli Huduga
1990	Bannada Gejje	Manu
	Abhimanyu
1991	Ramachaari	Ramachaari	Also singer
	Shanti Kranti	Subhash
	Shanti Kranti	Bharath	Telugu film
	Nattukku Oru Nallavan	Bharath	Tamil film
	Shanti Kranti	Bharath	Hindi film
1992	Halli Meshtru	Meshtru
	Gopi Krishna	Gopikrishna (Muddukrishna)[lower-alpha 2]
	Guru Brahma	Guru/Bhramah
	Chikkejamanru
	Sriramachandra	Srirama / Chandra[lower-alpha 3]
	Belliyappa Bangarappa		Guest appearance
1993	Gadibidi Ganda	Gopal
	Annayya	Annayya
	Mane Devru	Ranganath
1994	Chinna	Chinna
	Rasika	Krishna
	Jaana	Ravishankar
1995	Putnanja	Putnanja
1996	Sipayi	Sipayi/Shivu
1997	Kalavida
	Mommaga
	Cheluva	Cheluva / Vijay[lower-alpha 3]
1998	Yaare Neenu Cheluve	Surya
	Mangalyam Tantunanena	Vijay
	Preethsod Thappa	Raja
1999	Ravimama	Ravi
	Naanu Nanna Hendthiru	Sriram
	Sneha	Murali
	O Premave	Raja
	Chora Chittha Chora
2000	Mahathma
	Preethsu Thappenilla	Balu
	O Nanna Nalle	Raja
2001	Premakke Sai	Venu
	Kanasugara	Ravi
	Usire	Mutthu
2002	Preethi Mado Hudugarigella	Ravi
	Ekangi	Ravi
	Kodanda Rama	Kodanda
2003	Ondagona Baa	Raghu
2004	Malla	Mallikarjuna / Shiva[lower-alpha 3]	Also a lyricist
	Rama Krishna	Rama
	Sahukara	Muthu
2004	Aham Premasmi	God of Love	Also editor
	Pandu Ranga Vittala	Vithala (Pandu, Ranga)[lower-alpha 2]
2006	Neenello Naanalle		Special Appearance
	Hatavadi	Balu
	Odahuttidavalu	Puttaraju
	Ravi Shastri	Ravi Shastri
	Neelakanta	Neelakanta
2007	Ugadi	Sanjay
2008	Nee Tata Naa Birla	Ravi
2009	Rajakumari	Music Teacher	Guest appearance
2010	Hoo	Anand
	Naariya Seere Kadda	Gopal
	Aithalakkadi		Special appearance
2011	Mallikarjuna	Mallikarjuna / Surya	[lower-alpha 3]
	Kalla Malla Sulla	Ravi
2012	Narasimha	Narasimha
	Dashamukha	Ravindranath R.
	Crazy Loka	Basavaraj Kattimane
2014	Crazy Star	Ravi
	Maanikya	Adishesha
	Drishya	Rajendra Ponnappa
	Paramashiva	Shiva
2015	Love You Alia	Ravi
2016	Apoorva	Rajashekar
	Lakshmana	Police Officer	Guest appearance
	Mungaru Male 2	Preetham's father
2017	Hebbuli	Sathya Moorthy
2018	Seizer	Seizer's Boss
	Buckasura	Chakaravrthy
2019	Padde Huli	Manju's father
	Dasharatha	Dasharatha
	Kurukshetra	Krishna
	Aa Drushya	Surya Tej
2021	Kannadiga	Gunabhadra
	Drishya 2	Rajendra Ponnappa
2022	Ravi Bopanna	Ravi Bopanna
	Head Bush	Professor	Guest appearance
	Kranthi	TBA
	Vijayanand	TBA

As Director and Writer

Year	Film	Credited as				Notes
		Director	Producer	Music director	Editor
1982	Prema Matsara
	Khadeema Kallaru
1983	Chakravyuha
1984	Inquilaab					Hindi Film
	Pralayanthaka
1985	Savira Sullu
	Naanu Nanna Hendthi
	Padikkadavan					Tamil Film
1987	Premaloka
	Paruva Ragam					Tamil film
1988	Ranadheera
1989	Kindari Jogi
1991	Ramachaari
	Shanti Kranti
	Shanti Kranti					Telugu Film
	Nattukku Oru Nallavan					Tamil Film
	Shanti Kranti					Hindi Film
1992	Halli Meshtru
	Gopi Krishna
1993	Mane Devru
1994	Chinna
1995	Putnanja
1996	Sipayi
1997	Kalavida
	Mommaga
	Cheluva
1998	Preethsod Thappa
1999	Naanu Nanna Hendthiru
	Sneha
	O Premave
	Chora Chittha Chora
2000	Mahathma
	Preethsu Thappenilla
	O Nanna Nalle
2002	Ekangi
	Kodanda Rama
2004	Malla
2005	Ayya
	Aham Premasmi
	Pandu Ranga Vittala
2006	Hatavadi
	Neelakanta
2010	Hoo
2014	Crazy Star
2016	Apoorva
2022	Ravi Bopanna

Awards

Cinema Express Awards

• Cinema Express Award For Best Debut Director - Premaloka - 1987
• Cinema Express Award For Best Actor - Premaloka - 1987
• Cinema Express Award For Best Director - Ranadheera - 1989

Karnataka State Film Awards

• Karnataka State Film Award (Special Jury Award) – Shanti Kranti
• Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actor – Ekangi (2001–02)
• Karnataka State Film Award for Best Director for Ekangi (2001–02)
• Karnataka State Film Award for Best Music Director for Ekangi (2001–02)
• Puttanna Kanagal Award for Lifetime Achievement (2005–06)

Other Awards

• Suvarna Film Awards for Lifetime Achievement
• Rajyotsava Awards (2010)
• Udaya Film Award for Best Supporting Actor – Aham Premasmi
• NTR National Award-2013
• Honorary Doctorate From CMR University - 2019
• Honorary Doctorate From Bangalore university - 2022[11]

Notes

References

External links

• Ravichandran at IMDb