M. R. Radha
Radha inRatha Kanneer
Born	Madras Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan (1907-04-14)14 April 1907 Madras,Madras Presidency,British India (present-dayChennai,Tamil Nadu, India)
Died	17 September 1979(1979-09-17) (aged 72) Tiruchirappalli,Tamil Nadu, India
Other names	Nadigavel
Occupations	Actor politician
Years active	1937-1980
Spouses	Saraswathi Dhanalakshmi Geetha
Children	12 (includingM. R. R. Vasu,Radha Ravi, Raju,Radhika andNirosha)
Family	Radha family

Madras Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan (14 April 1907 – 17 September 1979), better known asM. R. Radha, was an Indian actor and politician active in Tamil plays and films. He was given the title "Nadigavel" (King of Acting) byPattukkottai Alagiri.^[1] He mostly played villain roles, but had also acted in several films as comedian.

Madras Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan was born on 14 April 1907 atChintadripet, a locality inChennai (then Madras), Tamil Nadu.^[2][3] Radha left his home at an early age due to a quarrel with his mother in which she declined to give an extra piece of fish to eat.^[4]

Radha was a popular theatreartiste who performed in more than 5000 stage shows. Starting at the age of 10, he appeared at first in small roles and eventually grew to a level that stories for dramas were custom-made for him.^{[citation needed]}

Radha gained popularity with the success of his stage playRatha Kanneer. His performance inthe 1954 film version of the play, directed byKrishnan–Panju, brought wider recognition of his talents and made him a household name in Tamil Nadu.^[5]

Radha played both villain roles and comedic roles. In the 1960s, roles were specially written for him, and he often played the villain to actors likeM.G. Ramachandran andSivaji Ganesan.

Although there were some professional conflicts withE.V. Ramasamy in the beginning, later he was greatly attracted by his principles and became a prominent supporter of theDravidar Kazhagam. While being a personal friend ofKamaraj, he campaigned for him during elections when E.V. Ramasamy supported the Congress. Due to his political leanings and profession, he had differences of opinion withM.G.R.

He extensively propagated his reformist ideas, anti-Brahministic views,^[6] and Dravidian movement concepts through his plays and films. Despite this, even his opponents appreciated his acting.^{[citation needed]}

The Madras Provincial Legislative Assembly introduced a new law specifically to ban plays in response to Radha's "Ramayanam" play. When the debate for this law was taking place, Radha went to the legislature. The assembly members opposed this, but Radha insisted that he should necessarily witness the debate since the law was being created specifically for him.^[7]

When Periyar announced that a hall would be opened in the name of Radha who had once proclaimed 'Don't build fan clubs for actors,' Radha shyly declined the honor. In 1963, while inaugurating the Radha Mandram (Radha Hall) at Periyar Thidal, Periyar remarked in his speech, 'I am inaugurating this hall only so that other actors might gain some wisdom.

On 12 January 1967, Radha and producer K.N. Vasu of Muthukumaran Pictures visited the actor and politicianM. G. Ramachandran at his home to talk about a future project. During the conversation, Radha suddenly got up from his chair and shot twice at Ramachandran's left ear. Both bullets got lodged in Ramachandran's neck. Radha then turned the gun on himself and tried to shoot himself, but the bullet just scratched his right temple. Radha and Ramachandran were admitted to theGovernment General Hospital, Chennai, where they survived after proper treatment.^[8] The only eyewitness for the shooting was Vasu.

In the assassination trial, held at Saithapet First Division Magistrate Court under Magistrate S. Kuppusami in May 1967, and later at the Chingleput Sessions Court held under Justice P. Lakshmanan, Radha was represented by eminent criminal attorney N. T. Vanamamalai. The verdict was delivered on 4 November 1967. As majority of the evidences were against Radha, he was sentenced to a seven-year term. At the High Court hearing, considering his age, the sentence was reduced to four years and three months.^[9]

After being released from jail, Radha died of jaundice on 17 September 1979 aged 72 at his residence in Thiruchirappalli. His popularity had improved and his funeral procession was one of the largest in South India, as over 200,000 mourners paid respect.^[10][11]

Though Tamil-speaking, Radha is of Telugu descent and his family traces its roots to Andhra Pradesh.^[12][13][14] He married three times, and his marriages were concurrent. The names of his wives were Saraswathi, Dhanalakshmi and Geetha. Radhakrishnan was the father of 12 children by his three wives. His four sons wereM. R. R. Vasu,M. R. Radha Ravi, Raju and Mohan. Also had eight daughters including Rashya, Rani, Rathikala, Ganavalli, Kasturi, Rajeswari,Radhika Sarathkumar andNirosha. His first son Vasu was a leading character artist until the mid-1980s. His other sonRadha Ravi is also an actor. Radhika is an actress and producer and is married to actorR. Sarathkumar.Nirosha (also known as Niroja) is an actress working mostly in supporting roles; she is married to actorRamki.

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• M. R. Radha atIMDb

• Indian male film actors
• Tamil male actors
• Dravidian movement
• Anti-Brahminism
• 1907 births
• 1979 deaths
• Indian male stage actors
• 20th-century Indian male actors
• Male actors in Tamil cinema
• Periyarists
• Male actors from Chennai
• Telugu people

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