Veteran actor Captain Raju passes away

Malayali actor Captain Raju passed away on Monday morning. The actor aged 69 breathed his last at his residence in Kochi. He had been suffering from various health issues after suffering a stroke few months ago. Captain Raju was a navy officer before he entered film industry in 1981. He made his acting debut with a movie called ‘Raktham’. He later went on to act in over 500 films across many languages. In a career spanning four long decades, he was most prominent in Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu films.

Captain Raju was a versatile performer who could effortlessly switch from a negative role to a character role and even comic roles. Some of his most popular roles came in movies like ‘Nadodikattu’, ‘Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha’, ‘1 August’ and ‘Puthukottyile Puthu Manavalan’. His performance as the hilarious hitman Pavanayi in ‘Nadodikattu’ is still hugely popular among Keralites. Besides acting, he has also directed a couple of films – ‘Mr. Pavanayi 99.99’ and ‘Itha Oru Snehagatha’.

A few months ago, Captain had suffered a stroke and fell unconscious during a flight to the US. After being informed of his condition, the flight was diverted and ended up landing in Muscat. Following his family’s request, he was then shifted from Muscat to Kochi for further treatment.

Captain Raju is survived by his wife Prameela and son Ravi Raju.