Raghava Lawrence

Early life and background

Lawrence was born on 29 October 1976 into a Tamil speaking family of Murugaiyan and Kanmani. Lawrence had a brain tumor when he was a child. He attributes the curing of his tumor to the deity, Raghavendra Swamy, and in an act of devotion, he took the name Raghava He built the Raghavendra Swamy Brindavanam Temple at Thirumullaivayal on the Avadi-Ambattur route, which opened on 1 January 2010. Raghava also has a younger brother, Elviin Lawrence.

Career

Initial career (1989–2001)

He was working as a car cleaner for fight master Super Subbarayan. Rajinikanth saw him dancing and helped him to join the Dancers Union. 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). He also appeared in dance sequences in Muta Mesthri (1993), Rakshana (1993) and Allari Priyudu (1993). 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. Producer T V D Prasad offered him the role of a hero in his venture Speed Dancer (1999). That film was a flop. After that he acted small roles in Tamil like Ajith Kumar's Unnai Kodu Ennai Tharuven (2000) and Prashanth's Parthen Rasithen (2000). Director K. Balachander invited him to act in his 100th film Parthale Paravasam (2001).

Establishing career (2002–2010)

He acted as a first lead role in the Tamil with 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.

He subsequently directed and acted in Style (2006) co-starring with Prabhu Deva and featuring Nagarjuna and Chiranjeevi in guest roles.He got his breakthrough with Muni (2007), a horror thriller film. 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. 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, while Rajadhi Raja was released to negative reviews, and Irumbukkottai Murattu Singam was released to mixed reviews.

Later career (2011–present)

He takes the series Muni in Kanchana (2011). Sarath Kumar play in the main role. The movie was commercially successful. In 2012, he directed Telugu movie Rebel starring Prabhas and Tamannaah. 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." 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. Raghava Lawrence is back with the fourth movie in the series – Muni 4: Kanchana 3: Kaali (2019), with the new change being three heroines. The film has received a good collections at the box office. In 2020, he made his directorial debut in Hindi cinema with film, Laxmii, a remake of Muni 2: Kanchana.

On November 10, 2023, the movie Jigarthanda DoubleX, featuring actors Raghava Lawrence and SJ Suryah in the lead roles, was released as a prequel to the original film, Jigarthanda.

On 14 April, 2024, it was announced that Lawrence will be starring in a film titled Benz, directed by Bakkiyaraj Kannan and written and produced by Lokesh Kanagaraj,which was confirmed as a part of the Lokesh Cinematic Universe in October 2024.

Social work

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 .

He did many social service activities in which he has aided many heart surgeries for small children. 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. He asked for an appointment with Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan to donate 1 crore as relief fund for the Kerala flood victims.

Filmography

Film director

Actor

• All films are in Tamil language, unless otherwise note

Dancer

Television

• Masthaana Masthaana Part II (2007)

Discography

As a playback singer

As a music composer

As lyricist

Accolades

Notes

References

References

1. (16 January 2006). "Raghava Lawrence – Telugu Cinema interview – Telugu film director".
2. (25 April 1998). "Rediff on the Net, Movies: India rubber".
3. (30 September 2001). "பதினாறு வயசுல மறுபிறவி!".
4. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060105224137/http://www.telugucinema.com/c/stars/interview_lawrence_2005.php TeluguCinema.Com – TC Exclusive: Interview with choreographer-director Lawrence]. Telugucinema.com. 11 February 2005
5. "Rajini's spiritual suggestion". [[The New Indian Express]].
6. (8 November 2008). "Metro Plus Kochi / Music : My First Break – Raghava Lawrence". [[The Hindu]].
7. "Mass (Dammunte Kasko) – Telugu cinema Review – Nagarjuna, Charmy, Jyothika".
8. "Style review. Style Telugu movie review, story, rating".
9. "Tamil Movie review Muni Lawrence Raghavendra Rajkiran Vethika saran gemini production picture gallery images".
10. "Don Review: Wrong choice of Nagarjuna". Greatandhra.
11. "Pandi review. Pandi Tamil movie review, story, rating".
12. "Review : Rajadhi Raja (2009)".
13. "Irumbu Kottai Murattu Singam - Tamil Movie Reviews - Irumbu Kottai Murattu Singam - Larencce - Lakshmi Rai - Padmapriya - Sandhya - Behindwoods.com".
14. "Kanchana review: High on emotions". greatandhra.
15. "Rebel (2012) – Rebel Movie – Rebel Telugu Movie Cast & Crew, Release Date, Review, Photos, Videos".
16. "Review : Motta Shiva Ketta Shiva review- Crass, loud and brainless (2017)".
17. "Sivalinga Review {2.5/5}: Shivalinga isn't boring or crassy, and is passable, but isn't that too low a bar for a veteran like P Vasu to be settling for?". The Times of India.
18. (2019-04-19). "Kanchana 3 movie review: Raghava Lawrence's film is loud, annoying and barely entertaining horror-thriller".
19. (2019-04-23). "Kanchana 3 Box office Collection Report: Raghava Lawrence starrer film beats Kalank, Jersey".
20. (May 21, 2019). "Raghava Lawrence on exiting Laxmmi Bomb: I have no issues with Akshay Kumar".
21. India, The Hans. (2023-11-10). "Dhanush's Reviews on Jigarthanda Double X Movie".
22. (2024-04-14). "Lokesh Kanagaraj's new venture with Raghava Lawrence and Bakkiyaraj Kannan titled Benz".
23. Kumar, Akshay. (2024-10-29). "Raghava Lawrence's Benz is officially a part of LCU".
24. "Lawrence donates 1cr".
25. (August 4, 2015). "Raghava Lawrence launches Abdul Kalam Trust, donates Rs 1 cr". Hindustan Times.
26. "Raghava Lawrence helped a child in heart surgery".
27. "Page 1 of Raghava Lawrence Helped 128th Heart Surgery, Raghava Lawrence Helped 128th Heart Surgery Photos".
28. (15 March 2016). "Raghava Lawrence helped a child in heart surgery, 128thh heart surgery done by Raghava Lawrence — Serials online SunTv VijayTv Polimer RajTv News".
29. "For Jallikattu, AR Rahman To Fast, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar And Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudeva Say Ban Must End".
30. "Actor-director Raghava Lawrence to donate 1 crore for Kerala". News Minute.
31. "Kerala floods: Choreographer-turned-actor Raghava Lawrence to donate Rs 1 crore towards relief fund". [[The Times of India]].
32. Hungama, Bollywood. (24 January 2025). "MEGA EXCLUSIVE: Manish Shah of Goldmine Telefilms gets back to producing films after Pushpa: The Rise – Part 01; backs Kanchana 4 starring Pooja Hegde, Nora Fatehi, Raghava Lawrence : Bollywood News - Bollywood Hungama".
33. "Rudhran First Look Wall Poster".
34. (2023-11-10). "Jigarthanda Double X Twitter reviews are in: Raghava Lawrence and Karthik Subbaraj film termed 'bad, bold and mad'".
35. "Raghava Lawrence's Adhigaram shooting to begin soon".
36. "Actor Raghava Lawrence enters Lokesh Kanagaraj's cinematic universe with Benz".
37. "Raghava Lawrence announces next Tamil movie titled Kaala Bhairava".
38. "Elviin and Raghava Lawrence's Bullet wraps filming".
39. (2002). "49th Annual Filmfare Awards - South Winners".
40. "Manikchand Filmfare Awards: Sizzling at 50". [[BSNL]].
41. "Filmfare Awards presented".
42. (14 July 2017). "TN Govt. announces Tamil Film Awards for six years". The Hindu.