Veeraswamy Ravichandran is a popular Kannada actor, director, producer, music director, lyricist and editor. He is popularly known as ‘Crazy Star’ among his fans due to his acting career. He is the son of producer N. Veeraswamy. Ravichandran produces and distributes films under his father’s production company, Sri Ishwari Productions.
He entered the industry as a child artist with the movie ‘Kul Gaurav’ in 1971. He started working as an associate producer in 1982. He got the opportunity to play the lead role in the movie ‘Premigala Saval’, released in 1984. In 2002, Ravichandran won the Best Director, Best Actor and Best Music Director awards at the Karnataka State Film Awards for his performance in the movie “Ekangi”. He has also won the Karnataka State Puttanna Kanagal Award, Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award, Kannada Rajyotsava Award, NTR National Award.
| Attribute | Details |
| Born | 30 May 1961 |
| Other Names | ‘Crazy Star’ |
| Years Active | 1980 – Present |
| Spouse | Sumati |
| Children | 3 |
| Parents | Mudaliar N. Veeraswamy ( Father )
Pattammal ( Mother) |
| Relative | Balaji |
Early Life
Ravichandran was born on 30 May 1961 in Bangalore, Mysore state, India, to Tamil producer Mudaliar N. Veeraswamy and Pattammal. The couple has a daughter, Geethanjali, and two sons, Manoranjan and Vikram. Ravichandran married Sumati on Valentine’s Day, 14 February 1986.
Acting Career
1980-1990
Ravichandran made his debut in the industry as a child artist in 1971 with the movies ‘Dhoomketu’ and ‘Kula Gaurav’. In 1982, at the age of just 20, he independently produced the movies ‘Ravi Cine Creations’ and ‘Prema Mathsara’. In 1982 and 1983, he worked with his father in the movies ‘Khadima Kallaru’ and ‘Chakravyuh’. He acted and produced the Hindi remake movie ‘Inkilab’ in 1984. After that, he also acted and produced the movie ‘Pralayantak’. In 1985, he entered the Tamil industry by producing the movies ‘Sivaji Ganesan’ and ‘Padikathavan’ starring Rajinikanth. After that, he worked in the second lead role in the movies ‘Peethamaha’ and ‘Swabhimanaar’. In 1986, he acted in the Tamil film “Poi Mugangal”, based on the novel “Kakitha Changiligal” by writer Sujatha, and was introduced as Rakesh.
In 1987, his first production film “Premaloka” was released and was a commercial success. In 1988, Ravichandran worked with Ananth Nag and Ambareesh in a drama “Brahma Vishnu Mahesh”. In the same year, his two hit films “Randheera” and “Anjada Gandu” were released. In 1989, he acted in two consecutive films “Juddha Kanda” and “Yug Purush” which were successful.
1990-2000
In the 90s, he worked with big directors like P. Basu, Rajendra Singh Babu, Om Sai Prakash and D. Rajendra Babu. He worked with D. Rajendra Babu in several movies like ‘Nanu Nanna Hendathi’, ‘Ramachari’, ‘Sri Ramachandra’, ‘Annya’ and ‘Yaare Neenu Cheluve‘ from 1983 to 1998. In 1988, his under-production movie ‘Shanti Kranti’ was released in 1991. In 1988, he worked with Juhi Chawla for the third time after Premaloka and Kindari Yogi, but this time their movie flopped at the box office, which greatly affected Ravichandran and he went bankrupt. To make up for the losses, he worked in the movies ‘Halli Meshatru’, ‘Chikkezhamanru’, ‘Gadibidi Ganda’, ‘Annya’ from 1991 to 1993.
He returned to directing with the films ‘Mane Devru Chinna’, ‘Putnanja’, ‘Sepayi’, ‘Kalavida’, ‘Prithsod Thappa’ from 1993 to 1998 and achieved success. He worked in about 20 films from 1990 to 1998.
2001 – 2013
In 2001, he worked on remake movies with various producers. In 2002, he acted in another movie ‘Ekangi’ with a Boro risk and a Boro budget. Although he won the Karnataka State Film Awards in various categories for this movie, it flopped at the box office and again suffered huge losses. In 2003, he worked on the remake of the movie ‘Kaalisundam Ra’, ‘Ondagona Ba’, which also flopped.
In 2004, he achieved success with the movie ‘Malla’, which was produced by himself. But his next project ‘Aham Premasmi’ was a flop at the box office. The average failure rate continued until 2010.
2014 – Present
After achieving moderate success in the lead role, Ravichandran agreed to play the role of a father for the first time in the movie ‘Manikya’ released in 2014 and achieved success. He worked in the movie ‘Drishya’ for a few years. In 2016, his directed movie ‘Apurva’ was released, although the movie was a flop. At the end of the year, he played the role of a father again in the movie ‘Mungaru Male 2’ directed by Pritam Gubbi. After working in some flop movies, he achieved success by acting in a mythological movie ‘Kurukshetra’ in 2019. In 2021, the movie ‘Dristhi 2’ in which he acted was released. In 2022, Ravichandran acted in the remake movie of the Malayalam movie ‘Joseph’. In 2023, he played the role of a father again in the action drama ‘Kranti’.
Media
Ravichandran later started his own company, Ishwari Audio, which later became Ishwari Entertainment. He was awarded the Best Music Director award in his state. He contributed to the introduction of big-budget movies in Kannada cinema as well as digital grading technology. Ravichandran also worked as a judge on Colors Kannada’s Dancing Star Season 2 on television.
Awards
- Win Cinema Express Award In 1987 & 1989 for Best Director, In 1988 for best actor.
- Karnataka State Film Award In three Category ( best Actor, Best Director & Best Music Director ) at the same time.
- Win Rajyotsava Awards In 2010
- NTR National Award In 2013
- Honorary Doctorate From CMR University In 2019 & Bangalore university In 2022
