fiction.wikisort.org - Actor

Lawrence Raghavendra is an Indian dance choreographer, actor, director, composer, dancer and playback singer. After making his debut as a dance choreographer in 1993, he began looking for acting opportunities. He began his career as an actor in 1998, in a Telugu film. He adopted the name "Raghava" in 2001, and worked for many prominent actors and directors in Tamil cinema throughout his career. He got his breakthrough with Telugu film Style and then Muni. Lawrence is also known for his intricate hip-hop and westernised dance moves and has won four Filmfare Awards and three Nandi Awards for best choreography. In 2015, after the death of former Indian president A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Lawrence set up a charity trust in his name and donated ₹1 crore (US$130,000).[1][2]

Raghava Lawrence
Lawrence promoting Kanchana 2 in 2015
Born	Lawrence Raghavendra (1976-10-29) 29 October 1976 (age 46) Royapuram, Chennai
Occupation	Choreographer actor film director composer philanthropist film producer playback singer dancer
Years active	1989–present
Spouse	Latha Lawrence
Children	1

Early life and background

Lawrence had a brain tumor when he was a child.[3][4] He attributes the curing of his tumor to the deity, Raghavendra Swamy,[5] and in an act of devotion, he took the name Raghava.[4] He built the Raghavendra Swamy Brindavanam Temple at Thirumullaivayal on the Avadi-Ambattur route, which opened on 1 January 2010.[6]

Career

Initial career (1989–2001)

He was working as a car cleaner for fight master Super Subbarayan.[4] Rajinikanth saw him dancing and helped him to join the Dancers Union.[4][7] Lawrence first appeared in a song in Samsara Sangeetham a Tamil film in 1989 directed by T. Rajendran. Then he appeared in Donga Police in 1991, also doing some dances with Prabhu Deva. He was a background dancer in the song Chikku Bukku Chikku Bukku Railey in Gentleman (1993).[4] He also appeared in dance sequences in Muta Mesthri (1993), Rakshana (1993) and Allari Priyudu (1993).[4] Chiranjeevi offered him the job of choreographing the dances for Hitler (1997). Pleased with Lawrence's work, Chiranjeevi asked him to choreograph dances for Master (1997), his next film too.[4] Producer T V D Prasad offered him the role of a hero in his venture Speed Dancer (1999).[4] That film was a flop.[3] After that he acted small roles in Tamil like Ajith Kumar's Unnai Kodu Ennai Tharuven (2000) and Prashanth's Parthen Rasithen (2000).[3] Director K. Balachander invited him to act in his 100th film Parthale Paravasam (2001).[7]

Establishing career (2002–2010)

He acted as a first lead role in the Tamil movie Arpudham (2002). As described by review sify , the latest in the line is Lawrence, who like his predecessor Prabhu Deva, is determined to be a hero. Arputham has a decent screenplay and Lawrence is tolerable. Thereafter, Style (2002). He also made a guest appearance with Vijay in the Tamil movie Thirumalai (2003). After a guest appearance in the film Thendral (2004), he directed his first film in Telugu, Mass (2004) starring Nagarjuna and Jyothika. The movie was a commercial success.[8][9]

He got his breakthrough with the Muni (2007), a horror thriller film.[10] Thereafter, he directed another film, Don (2007). The film starring Nagarjuna and Anushka Shetty. Raghava acted in second roles and made the film depending only on style and technical aspects. The movie had an average response.[11] Raghava continues to play in different categories films such as Pandi (2008), Rajadhi Raja (2009) and Irumbukkottai Murattu Singam (2010). Pandi was a moderate success,[12] while Rajadhi Raja and Irumbukkottai Murattu Singam were released to mixed reviews.[13][14]

Later career (2011–present)

He takes the series Muni in Kanchana (2011). Sarath Kumar play in the main role. The movie was commercially successful.[15] In 2012, he directed Telugu movie Rebel starring Prabhas and Tamannaah.[16] He acted in Kanchana 2 (2015). In 2017, he starred in an action Masala film, Motta Shiva Ketta Shiva. Sify described the film as, "Crass, loud and brainless."[17] Then another of genre horror Shivalinga, remake a Kannada language with the same name directed by P. Vasu. Shakthi Vasudevan, son of director, also starred in the important role for two versions. The story is a cop investigating the suspicious death of a Muslim finds out that his own wife has become possessed by the young man's ghost.[18] Raghava Lawrence is back with the fourth movie in the series – Muni 4: Kanchana 3: Kaali (2019), with the new change being three heroines.[19] The film has received a good collections at the box office.[20] In 2020, he made his directorial debut in Bollywood with film, Laxmii, a remake of Muni 2: Kanchana.[21]

Social work

He did many social service activities in which he has aided many heart surgeries for small children.[22][23][24] He was one of the supporters of the bull-riding sport jallikattu after its ban in 2017. During a protest in Tamil Nadu in January 2017, he provided food, medicine and basic needs to the protesters and promised to support them until the protests were over.[25] He asked for an appointment with Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan to donate 1 crore as relief fund for the Kerala flood victims.[26][27]

Filmography

Director

List of films as director, writer, or producer

Year	Film	Director	Writer	Producer	Language	Notes
2004	Mass	Yes	Yes	No	Telugu	Director Debut
2006	Style	Yes	Yes	No
2007	Muni	Yes	Yes	No	Tamil
	Don	Yes	Yes	No	Telugu
2011	Kanchana	Yes	Yes	Yes	Tamil	Remade in Kannada as Kalpana
2012	Rebel	Yes	Yes	No	Telugu
2015	Kanchana 2	Yes	Yes	Yes	Tamil
2019	Kanchana 3	Yes	Yes	Yes	Tamil
2020	Laxmii	Yes	Yes	No	Hindi	Remake of Kanchana

Actor

List of acting performances in film

Year	Film	Role(s)	Language(s)	Notes
1999	Speed Dancer	Seenu	Telugu
2000	Unnai Kodu Ennai Tharuven	Ganapathi	Tamil
2000	Parthen Rasithen	Doss	Tamil
2001	Parthale Paravasam	Azhagu	Tamil
2002	Arpudham	Ashok Kumar	Tamil
2002	Style	Rishaanth	Tamil
2004	Thendral	Kumar	Tamil
2004	Mass	Cameo	Telugu
2006	Style	Raghava	Telugu
2007	Muni	Ganesh	Tamil
2007	Don	Raghava	Telugu
2008	Pandi	Pandi	Tamil
2009	Rajadhi Raja	Raja	Tamil
2010	Irumbukkottai Murattu Singam	Singam & Singaram	Tamil	Double role
2011	Muni 2: Kanchana	Raghava	Tamil
2015	Muni 3: Kanchana 2	Raghava & Shiva	Tamil	Dual role
2017	Motta Siva Ketta Siva	ACP Shivakumar	Tamil	Also playback singer for song "Motta Paiyan"
2017	Shivalinga	Shivalingeswaran	Tamil
2019	Muni 4: Kanchana 3	Raghava & Kaali	Tamil	Dual role
2022	Rudhran	Rudhran	Tamil	Releasing on April 2023[28]
2023	Adhigaram	TBA	Tamil	Filming[29]
2023	Chandramukhi 2	TBA	Tamil	Filming[30]
2023	Durga	TBA	Tamil	Announcement[31]

Dancer

List of dancing performances in film

Year	Film	Song	Language	Notes
1993	Uzhaippali	"Uzhaippali Illatha"	Tamil
1993	Gentleman	"Chikku Bukku Rayile"	Tamil
1993	Mutha Mestri	"Ee Pettakku"	Telugu
1994	Chinna Madam	"Kora Kizhangukku Kodi"	Tamil
1995	Thai Thangai Paasam	"Roopu Tera Masthana"	Tamil
1996	Akka Bagunnava	"Aalesha Deko Pyaree"	Telugu
1997	Hitler	"Nadaka Kalisina Navaraatri"	Telugu
1998	Prema Pallaki	"Kannepilla Pongulu "	Telugu
1998	Suryudu	"Manasu Petti"	Telugu
1999	Amarkalam	"Maha Ganapathi"	Tamil
2000	Bagunnara?	"Tirumala Tirupati Venkatesa"	Telugu
2000	Unnai Kodu Ennai Tharuven	"Sollu Thalaiva"	Tamil
2000	Kshemamga Velli Labhamga Randi	"Lovvuki Age"	Telugu
2000	Chala Bagundi	"Yentabagundi Basu"	Telugu
2000	Thirunelveli	"Yele Azhagamma"	Tamil
2001	Asura	"Maha Ganapathi"	Kannada
2002	Varushamellam Vasantham	"Naan Ready Neenga Readya"	Tamil
2002	Roja Kootam	"Subbamma"	Tamil
2002	Baba	"Maya Maya"	Tamil
2003	Ninne Istapaddanu	"Krishna Zilla"	Telugu
2003	Satyam	"Kuch Kuch"	Telugu
2003	Naaga	"Nayudori Pilla"	Telugu
2003	Andhrawala	"Naire Naire"	Telugu
2003	Pudhiya Geethai	"Annamalai"	Tamil
2003	Thirumalai	"Thaamthakka Dheemthakka"	Tamil
2004	Mass	"Mass"	Telugu
2010	Pen Singam	"Adi Aadi Asaiyum Iduppu"	Tamil
2014	Kathai Thiraikathai Vasanam Iyakkam	"Live The Moment"	Tamil

Television

• Masthaana Masthaana Part II (2007)

Discography

As a playback singer

List of films as a playback singer

Song(s)	Year	Film	Composer
Thala Suttuthe Maamu	2007	Muni	Bharadwaj
Motta Motta Paiyyan	2017	Motta Siva Ketta Siva	Amresh Ganesh

As a music composer

List of films as music composer

Year	Film
2007	Don
2012	Rebel

As lyricist

Year	Film	Song	Notes
2011	Kanchana	"Nillu Nillu"

Accolades

Filmfare Award	Movie	Year	Language	Result	Ref.
Filmfare Award for Best Dance Choreographer	Paarthale Paravasam	2001	Tamil	Won	[32]
	Indra	2002	Telugu	Won	[33]
	Style	2006		Won	[34]

Nandi Awards	Film	Year	Result	Ref.
Nandi Award for Best Choreographer	Annayya	2000	Won
	Indra	2002	Won
	Style	2006	Won

Tamil Nadu State Film Award

Best Choreographer - Raghava Lawrence

References

External links

• Raghavendra at IMDb
• Lawrence Charitable Trust

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