Vijay Raghavendra

Vijay Raghavendra
Vijay at the TeachAIDS recording session
Born	26 May 1979 (1979-05-26) (age 45) Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Occupations	Film actor Playback singer Television presenter
Years active	1982–present
Spouse	Spandana ​ (m. 2007)​
Children	1
Parent(s)	S. A. Chinne Gowda Jayamma
Relatives	Sriimurali (brother) See Rajkumar family

Vijay Raghavendra (born 26 May 1979) is an Indian film actor who appears predominantly in Kannada films. Referred to popularly as "Chinnari Mutha", Vijay is the son of producer S. A. Chinne Gowda and nephew of actor Rajkumar.

Vijay started his career as a child artist through the film Chalisuva Modagalu (1982) and won critical acclaims for his performances in Chinnari Mutha (1993) and Kotreshi Kanasu (1994). The latter film won him the National Film Award for Best Child Artist. His first Hero lead role was in Ramoji Rao's production titled Ninagagi in 2002, which was a commercial success and one of the highest-grossing films of the year. However, his subsequent projects under-performed at the box office until he was noticed for his role in the T. S. Nagabharana's period drama Kallarali Hoovagi in 2006, followed by his home production film Sevanthi Sevanthi in the same year. For playing the role of Puttaraj Gawai in the biographical film Shivayogi Sri Puttayyajja in 2016, Vijay won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actor.

In 2013, by public vote, Vijay won the first season of the game show Bigg Boss – the Indian version of Celebrity Big Brother, currently produced by Endemol India.

Early life

Vijay Raghavendra was born on 29 May 1979 in Bangalore, India to a family of film personalities. At the age of 4, he began to act in films featuring his uncle Rajkumar in the lead. After having acted in about eight films as a child artist, Vijay underwent a formal training in acting at Chennai.

Film career

Child roles : National Film Award (1980s - 1990s)

In 1982, at the age of 4, Vijay appeared in a small role as a child in Singeetham Srinivasa Rao's romantic drama Chalisuva Modagalu, starring his uncle Rajkumar, Ambika and his cousin Puneeth Rajkumar, credited as Master Lohith. He went on to appear in the 1989 movie Parashuram, alongside his cousin Puneeth Rajkumar in a song. After a brief gap, in 1991 he appeared in Aralida Hoovugalu, a remake of the Hindi film Jawani Diwani (1971), directed by Chi. Dattaraj and co-starred Shiva Rajkumar. His next movie Chinnari Mutha became a huge success and he became a household name in Karnataka. After that, he acted in many movies, including Kotreshi Kanasu, for which he won a National Award for his performance.

In 1993, Vijay, in his teens, appeared in three films: H. R. Bhargava's novel-based drama Jaga Mechida Huduga, Renuka Sharma's devotional Kollura Sri Mookambika, where he played the role of young Shankaracharya and the lead protagonist in the T. S. Nagabharana's Children's film Chinnari Mutha. The film won multiple laurels and awards upon release both at the state and national level. Vijay won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Child Actor (Male) for his portrayal of an innocent Mutha who rises to great popularity through his good deeds. His popularity further rose in 1995 with the Nagathihalli Chandrashekar's film adaption of the novel "Kotra Highschoolige Seriddu", titled Kotreshi Kanasu. Vijay played the titular role of Kotreshi and went on to win the National Film Award for Best Child Artist for the year 1994-95. The other film he featured in was the biographical Sangeetha Sagara Ganayogi Panchakshara Gavai, directed by Chindodi Bangaresh. He again played the titular role as the young and blind reformer Gawai and also portrayed the younger part of Narendra in the Hindi film Swami Vivekananda. Following this, he took a break from films and concentrated on his studies.

Adult roles: 2002 - Present

His first adult role as an actor was in Ninagagi (2002), a box office blockbuster which brought him success on his first role opposite the debutant Radhika. The film was a remake of the Telugu hit Nuvve Kavali, which screened for over 100 days and created a record. Following this success, he signed two more movies in the same year, which could not succeed at the box office. He has acted in many movies since then. His notable movies are Kallarali Hoovagi, Rishi, Khushi and Kaaranji.

Vijay did not have a single release in 2010. His much delayed films Shraavana, Vinayaka Geleyara Balaga and the multi-starrer Kalla Malla Sulla released in 2011 with the latter two films earning favourable reviews. In 2012, he starred again in a multi-starrer comedy Snehitaru, which received a mixed response at the box office. In 2015, he starred in the biographical Shivayogi Sri Puttayyajja and won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actor.

In 2013, Vijay was a contestant and winner in the much talked about Kannada version of the reality show Bigg Boss in its first season, which started with 13 contestants. Vijay has been reportedly paid Rs. 5 million prize money.

Personal life

Vijay is the eldest child of producer S. A. Chinne Gowda and his wife Jayamma. His younger brother Sriimurali is a popular Kannada film actor. His paternal aunt Parvathamma Rajkumar was a prominent film producer and distributor in Kannada cinema. He is the cousin of actors Shiva Rajkumar, Raghavendra Rajkumar and Puneeth Rajkumar. On 26 August 2007, he married Spandana, the daughter of Assistant Commissioner of Police, B. K. Shivaram. The couple has a son named Shourya.

Charitable work

Recording session

In 2013, it was announced that he had joined other Bollywood and international celebrities in the TeachAIDS initiative, a state-of-the-art approach to worldwide HIV prevention, developed at Stanford University.

Filmography

Actor

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1982	Chalisuva Modagalu
1991	Aralida Hoovugalu
1993	Jaga Mechida Huduga	Young Shivu
1993	Kollura Sri Mookambika	Young Shankaracharya
1993	Chinnari Mutha	Mutta	Karnataka State Film Award for Best Child Actor (Male)
1994	Kotreshi Kanasu	Kotreshi	National Film Award for Best Child Artist
1995	Sangeetha Sagara Ganayogi Panchakshara Gavai	Young Ganayogi Panchakshara Gawai
1998	Swami Vivekananda	Young Narendra	Hindi film
2002	Ninagagi	Tarun
2002	Prema Khaidi	Vijay
2002	Romeo Juliet	Achyuth
2003	Heart Beats	Vikky
2003	Preethisale Beku	Ganesha
2003	Vikram	Vikram
2003	Khushi	Vijay
2003	Vijaya Simha	Vijay
2004	Avale Nanna Gelathi
2005	Rishi	Hari
2006	Shree	Shree
2006	Sevanthi Sevanthi	Devu
2006	Kallarali Hoovagi	Jayadeva
2007	Ee Rajeev Gandhi Alla	Rajeev Raj
2007	Naanu Neenu Jodi	Arjun
2008	Beladingalaagi Baa	Vivek
2008	Minchina Ota	Kishore
2008	Ganesha Matte Banda	Ganesha
2008	Mast Maja Maadi	Ramu
2009	Nam Yajamanru	Alok
2009	Kaaranji	Viji
2009	IPC Section 300	Viji
2009	Gokula	Raja
2009	Khiladi Krishna	Krishna
2010	Aithalakkadi		Special appearance
2011	Vighneshwara	Vijay
2011	Shraavana	Vijay
2011	Vinayaka Geleyara Balaga	Viju
2011	Kalla Malla Sulla	Raghu
2011	Naliyona Baaraa	Rajeev
2012	Snehitaru
2013	Chella Pilli	Hemanth
2013	Bhajarangi		Special appearance
2014	Paramashiva	Raghu
2014	Fair & Lovely	Abhimanyu
2015	Vamshodharaka	Vishwa
2016	Shivayogi Sri Puttayyajja	Puttaraj Gawai	Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actor
2016	Ranatantra	Gautham
2016	Apoorva		Guest appearance
2016	Nanna Ninna Prema Kathe	Shankar
2017	Srikanta	Journalist
2017	Chowka	Surya Shetty
2017	Eradu Kanasu	Muthu
2017	Happy New Year	Raghavendra
2017	Toss
2017	Mass Leader
2017	Jani	Jani
2018	Raja Loves Radhe
2018	Kismat		Also director, delayed
2018	Nimagagi		Filming

Singer

• 2016 - Akira: "Alisade Husiyagide"

Director

• 2014 Kismat

Television

• 1998 – Attige (Tele-serial)
• 2013 – Bigg Boss Kannada 1 (Winner)
• 2014 – Nenapina Idiot-Box (Radio Host at 92.7 Big FM)
• 2016 - Drama Juniors (Judge)
• 2017-Drama Junior 2 (judge)
• 2017- Dance Karnataka Dance Family War (Judge)
• 2018- Dance Karnataka Dance Little Masters (Judge)

External links

• Vijay Raghavendra at IMDb