V. S. Raghavan

Born in Vembakkam village, near Singaperumal Koil near Chengleput, where he spent early part of his childhood, later for three years he lived in Mylapore neighbourhood of Chennai, and studied at the P S High School. Subsequently, he studied at St Columbus Higher Secondary School, Chengalpattu, followed by two years in Madras Christian College, Chennai. However, as he finished his school the death of his father prompted his mother to shift from native village to move to Vellala Street in Purasawalkam, Chennai where his elder sister lived.^[1]

V S Raghavan started his career in 1942, as a sub-editor for Malathi magazine run by humourist Thumilan (N Ramaswamy), and after it closed he joined a printing press. At the press a group of fellow employees used to do amateur stage plays, which led him to act in some plays including some Hindi plays. Earlier, he had acted in YMIA Fine Arts' theatre group's play Vairamalai, written by Thottakara Viswanathan, staged at the YMCA, and when the production adapted the stage play into a film, he played the same role in it, thus made his film début in 1954. In the same year, he made his debut as a dramatist and started the Indian National Artists (INA) with four other friends like Malli, Vadiraj, Nataraj and K Balachander. The INA staged plays at reputed Sabhas in Chennai.^[1][4]

Veteran director K Balachander who has won several accolades for memorable films was part of his troupe where he acted and wrote scripts. The INA closed down a decade later and Raghavan entered the cinema world and acted in supporting roles. He has acted in around 1000 films and has also featured in many MGR films. He is also very well known for his role in the TV serial Anni created by K Balachander.^[2]

• Alaivarisai (2013)