Vinu Chakravarthy, noted character artiste and filmmaker, passed away earlier today. He was 71.
It was reported earlier this year that the actor was critically ill. He was suffering from diabetes and high blood pressure. Although unconscious, it was said he was responding to treatment. A spokesperson for the family confirms that Vinu ultimately succumbed to complications from the disease.
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Born in 1971 to Adimoola Thevar and Manjuvani Ammal, Vinu Chakravarthy moved to Chennai to complete his higher education at Wesley School, Royapettah. He graduated with a degree in Commerce from the AM Jain College.
He served as a sub-Inspector at the Ice House Police Station, Chennai for sometime before joining Southern Railways. Dreams of being in the movies prompted him to resign his job, and join Kannada director Puttanna Kanagal as an assistant.
Tiruppur Mani gave him his first role in the 1977 movie Parasangada Gendetimma, which was later remade into Tamil. Following this, he acted in, or made over 1000 films, in various South Indian languages. He was known to call himself Rajinikanth’s ‘lucky actor’, as most of the films he starred in with Rajini went on to be superhits. Noteworthy examples are Thambikku Endha Ooru, Manithan, and Guru Sishyan.
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Vinu Chakravarthy was also known for introducing Silk Smitha to the world. Vinu apparently discovered Smitha at a flour mill near AVM Studios. He took her under her wing, and trained her for a career in cinema. Known to be a long-time supporter of the late actress, Vinu disapproved of any negative portrayal of her onscreen. He slammed the Ekta Kapoor-produced The Dirty Picture, loosely based on Silk Smitha’s life. He wanted full control over the script so as to make sure that Silk Smitha was not demeaned onscreen in any way.
Muni, directed by Raghava Lawrence, has the distinction of being Vinu Chakravarthy’s thousandth film.
His last onscreen appearance was as the glum Adhikesavan in the Balaji Mohan directorial Vaayai Moodi Pesavum.