Raghava Lawrence

Raghava Lawrence or Raghavendra Lawrence (born 9 January, 1976) is an Indian choreographer who has also worked in films as an actor, director, composer and playback singer. After making his debut as a 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 ₹10 million.[1][2]

Raghava Lawrence
Raghava Lawrence in 2015
Born	(1976-01-09) 9 January 1976 Madras, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation	Choreographer actor film director composer playback singer
Years active	1993-present

Life and career

Lawrence was born in Madras (present-day Chennai), Tamil Nadu. Lawrence had a brain tumor when he was a child and rarely went to school.[3][4] He attributes the curing of his brain tumor to the deity, Raghavendra Swamy,[5] and in an act of devotion, he took the name Raghavendra.[4] He built the Raghavendra Swamy Brindavanam Temple at Thirumullaivayal on the Avadi-Ambattur route, which opened on 1 January 2010.[6]

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] Chiranjeevi offered him the job of choreographing the dances for Hitler. Pleased with Lawrence's work, Chiranjeevi asked him to choreograph dances for Master, his next film too.[4]

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] 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]

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 Akkineni 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 Akkineni Nagarjuna and Anushka Shetty in lead roles. 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]

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 directed the Hindi film, Laxmmi Bomb, a remake of Muni 2: Kanchana.[21]

Social service

He did many social service activities in which he has aided many heart surgeries for babies.[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][28]

Filmography

Director

Year	Film	Director	Writer	Producer	Language	Notes
2004	Mass	Yes	Yes	No	Telugu	Director Debut
2006	Style	Yes	Yes	No	Telugu
2007	Muni	Yes	Yes	No	Tamil
	Don	Yes	Yes	No	Telugu
2011	Muni 2: Kanchana	Yes	Yes	Yes	Tamil
2012	Rebel	Yes	Yes	No	Telugu
2015	Kanchana 2	Yes	Yes	Yes	Tamil
2019	Kanchana 3	Yes	Yes	Yes	Tamil
2020	Laxmmi Bomb	Yes	Yes	No	Hindi	Remake of Muni 2: Kanchana

Actor

Film	Year	Language	Role	Notes
Speed Dancer	1999	Telugu	Seenu
Unnai Kodu Ennai Tharuven	2000	Tamil	Ganapathi
Parthen Rasithen	2000	Tamil	Doss
Parthale Paravasam	2001	Tamil	Azhagu
Arpudham	2002	Tamil	Ashok Kumar
Style	2002	Tamil	Rishaanth
Thendral	2004	Tamil	Kumar
Style	2006	Telugu	Raghava
Muni	2007	Tamil	Ganesh
Don	2007	Telugu	Raghava
Pandi	2008	Tamil	Pandi
Rajadhi Raja	2009	Tamil	Raja
Irumbukkottai Murattu Singam	2010	Tamil	Singam, Singaram
Muni 2: Kanchana	2011	Tamil	Raghava
Muni 3: Kanchana 2	2015	Tamil	Raghava, Shiva
Motta Siva Ketta Siva	2017	Tamil	ACP Shivakumar	Also playback singer for song "Motta Paiyan"
Shivalinga	2017	Tamil	Shivalingeswaran
Muni 4: Kanchana 3	2019	Tamil	Raghava, Kaali

Dancer

Film	Song	Year	Language	Notes
Uzhaippali	"Uzhaippali Illatha"	1993	Tamil
Gentleman	"Chikku Bukku Rayile"	1993	Tamil
Mutha Mestri	"Ee Pettakku"	1993	Telugu
Chinna Madam		1994	Tamil
Thai Thangai Paasam	"Roopu Tera Masthana"	1995	Tamil
Akka Bagunnava		1996	Telugu
Hitler	"Nadaka Kalisina Navaraatri"	1997	Telugu
Suryudu	"Manasu petti"	1998	Telugu
Amarkalam	"Maha Ganapathi"	1999	Tamil
Bagunnara?	"Tirumala Tirupati Venkatesa"	2000	Telugu
Unnai Kodu Ennai Tharuven	"Sollu Thalaiva"	2000	Tamil
Kshemamga Velli Labhamga Randi	"Lovvuki Age"	2000	Telugu
Chala Bagundi	"Yentabagundi Basu"	2000	Telugu
Thirunelveli	"Yele Azhagamma"	2000	Tamil
Asura	"Maha Ganapathi"	2001	Kannada
Varushamellam Vasantham	"Naan Ready Neenga Readya"	2002	Tamil
Roja Kootam	"Subbamma"	2002	Tamil
Baba	"Maya Maya"	2002	Tamil
Ninne Istapaddanu	"Krishna Zilla"	2003	Telugu
Satyam	"Kuch Kuch"	2003	Telugu
Naaga	"Nayudori Pilla"	2003	Telugu
Andhrawala	"Naire Naire"	2003	Telugu
Pudhiya Geethai	"Annamalai"	2003	Tamil
Thirumalai	"Thaamthakka Dheemthakka"	2003	Tamil
Mass	"Mass"	2004	Telugu
Pen Singam	"Adi Aadi Asaiyum Iduppu"	2010	Tamil
Kathai Thiraikathai Vasanam Iyakkam	"Live The Moment"	2014	Tamil
Khaidi No. 150	"Ratthaalu"	2017	Telugu

Television

• Masthaana Masthaana Part II (2007)

Discography

As a playback singer

Song(s)	Year	Film	Composer
Motta Motta Paiyyan	2017	Motta Siva Ketta Siva	Amresh Ganesh

As a Music Composer

Year	Film
2007	Don
2012	Rebel

Awards

Filmfare Awards

• Filmfare Award for Best Dance Choreographer – South – Annayya – Telugu (2000)
• Filmfare Award for Best Dance Choreographer – South – Paarthale Paravasam – Tamil (2001)
• Filmfare Award for Best Dance Choreographer – South – Indra – Telugu (2002)
• Filmfare Award for Best Dance Choreographer – South – Style – Telugu (2006)

Nandi Awards

• Nandi Award for Best Choreographer – Annayya – Telugu (2000)
• Nandi Award for Best Choreographer – Indra – Telugu (2002)
• Nandi Award for Best Choreographer – Style – Telugu (2006)

Edison Awards

• Manidha Neyam Award – (2015)
• Extraordinary Performance (Male) – Kanchana 2 – Tamil (2015)

References

1. "Lawrence donates 1cr". Archived from the original on 8 December 2015.
2. "Raghava Lawrence launches Abdul Kalam Trust, donates Rs 1 cr". Hindustan Times. 4 August 2015.
3. "Raghava Lawrence – Telugu Cinema interview – Telugu film director". Idlebrain.com. 16 January 2006. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
4. "Rediff on the Net, Movies: India rubber". Rediff.com. 25 April 1998. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
5. TeluguCinema.Com – TC Exclusive: Interview with choreographer-director Lawrence. Telugucinema.com. 11 February 2005
6. "Rajini's spiritual suggestion". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
7. "Metro Plus Kochi / Music : My First Break – Raghava Lawrence". The Hindu. 8 November 2008. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
8. "Mass (Dammunte Kasko) - Telugu cinema Review - Nagarjuna, Charmy, Jyothika". Idlebrain.com. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
9. "Style review. Style Telugu movie review, story, rating". IndiaGlitz.com. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
10. "Tamil Movie review Muni Lawrence Raghavendra Rajkiran Vethika saran gemini production picture gallery images". Behindwoods.com. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
11. "Don Review: Wrong choice of Nagarjuna". Greatandhra. Archived from the original on 2 April 2019. Retrieved 15 March 2019.
12. "Pandi review. Pandi Tamil movie review, story, rating". IndiaGlitz.com. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
13. "Review : Rajadhi Raja (2009)". Sify.com. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
14. "Irumbu Kottai Murattu Singam - Tamil Movie Reviews - Irumbu Kottai Murattu Singam - Larencce - Lakshmi Rai - Padmapriya - Sandhya - Behindwoods.com". Behindwoods.com. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
15. "Kanchana review: High on emotions". greatandhra. Archived from the original on 21 March 2019. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
16. "Rebel (2012) - Rebel Movie - Rebel Telugu Movie Cast & Crew, Release Date, Review, Photos, Videos". FilmiBeat.com. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
17. "Review : Motta Shiva Ketta Shiva review- Crass, loud and brainless (2017)". Sify.com. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
18. "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?". Timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
19. "Kanchana 3 movie review: Raghava Lawrence's film is loud, annoying and barely entertaining horror-thriller". Hindustan Times. 19 April 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2020.
20. https://www.zeebiz.com/india/news-kanchana-3-box-office-collection-report-raghava-lawrence-starrer-film-beats-kalank-jersey-95895
21. https://www.indiatoday.in/movies/bollywood/story/raghava-lawrence-on-exiting-laxmmi-bomb-i-have-no-issues-with-akshay-kumar-1530890-2019-05-21
22. "Raghava Lawrence helped a child in heart surgery". Cinibytes.com. Archived from the original on 6 April 2016. Retrieved 18 April 2016.
23. "Page 1 of Raghava Lawrence Helped 128th Heart Surgery, Raghava Lawrence Helped 128th Heart Surgery Photos". Movies.sulekha.com.
24. "Raghava Lawrence helped a child in heart surgery, 128th heart surgery done by Raghava Lawrence — Serials online SunTv VijayTv Polimer RajTv News". Kollyzone.org. 15 March 2016.
25. "For Jallikattu, AR Rahman To Fast, Sri Sri Ravi Shankar And Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudeva Say Ban Must End". Ndtv.com. Retrieved 2 April 2019.
26. Corona Crisis
27. "Actor-director Raghava Lawrence to donate 1 crore for Kerala". News Minute. Archived from the original on 24 January 2019. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
28. "Kerala floods: Choreographer-turned-actor Raghava Lawrence to donate Rs 1 crore towards relief fund". The Times of India. Retrieved 2 April 2019.

External links

• Raghavendra on IMDb
• Lawrence Charitable Trust