Ravichandran was all colours...

Veteran actor Ravichandran who passed away on July 25 at the age of 71 was a dashing actor who held on his own in the 60s and 70s even when MGR, Sivaji and Gemini were ruling the roost. He along with Jaishankar and Muthuraman were called the alternate triumvirate.

Ravichandran was born as PS Raman in Kuala Lumpur, studied in Trichy and achieved fame and fortune in Chennai.  After his Pre-University exams Ravichandran wanted to become a doctor. But destiny took him to director Sridhar who rechristened him as Ravichandran and introduced him in the film ‘Kadhalikka Neramillai’.
‘Kadhalikka Neramillai’ which was released on February 27, 1964 was a blockbuster and Ravichandran instantly became the new heartthrob of college girls. He never looked back since then until the paradigm shift that happened in Tamil cinema during the second part of the 70s.

Ravichandran had a few unique designates like “Colourpada Kathanayagan” and “Velli Vizha Nayagan”.  That’s not without reasons. He was lucky to be the hero of the first ever Eastman colour film ‘Kadhalikka Neramillai which was a silver jubilee hit.
He also then acted in a string of colour films which were expensive propositions then and they went on to become super hits. Films like ‘Kathalikka Neramillai’, ‘Adhe Kangal’, ‘Naan’ and ‘Idhayakamalam’ were some films that took Ravichandran to stardom in his early years.

Though perceived as a romantic hero, Ravichandran had done a variety of films in his super active years.  Rollicking comedies like ‘Utharavindri Ulle Vaa’ and  ‘Madras to Pondicherry’, typical Modern Theatres kind of action movies like ‘Moondrezhuthu’ and ‘Justice Vishwanathan’, emotional family dramas like ‘Kumari Penn’, ‘Pugundha Veedu’ and ‘Thai Veetu Seedhanam’ made the career of Ravichandran more multi-coloured than he  anticipated.
When sweeping changes took Tamil film industry by storm in the late 70s, Ravichandran and his contemporaries left the stage leaving it to younger actors like Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan. Later they all returned to do character roles. Like Jaishankar and Muthuraman, Ravichandran also re-entered films in a negative character.

The 1984 thriller ‘Oomai Vizhigal’ marked Ravichandran’s return to films. The recognition of his role of a psycho killer riding a chariot in dark looking for girls made him busy again. From then until his death Ravichandran remained as one of the most favoured character artistes for almost three decades.
‘Arunachalam’, ‘Pammal K Sambandham, ‘Ramana’ and ‘Kandein Kadhalai’ are some of the recent films of this veteran. Ravichandran was last seen in the film ‘Aadu Puli’ playing the pair to one of his favourite actresses KR Vijaya.