Rajeev is an Indian actor, predominantly working in the Tamil film industry. He has also appeared in Malayalam films with the hit films Ustaad (1999), F.I.R (1999), Sathyam (2004) and Collector (2011).[1] He is mainly noted for his villain role as Narendra Shetty in the 1999 crime thriller film F. I. R.. He has also appeared in Kannada and Telugu films.
Rajeev was born as Rajasekhar in Madurai. His father, Balasubramaniya Mudaliar was working in Indian Telephone Industries, Bengaluru-560016, his mother was Rajeswari Ammal. He studied in ITI Vidya Mandir in Bengaluru-560016.[2] After the death of his parents, Rajeev refused to marry anyone, but agreed after the insistence of his brothers. He is married to Rani and has a daughter, Meena Kamakshi and a son, Kiran Surya.[3]
Rajeev applied for auditions to act in films. He faced lot of struggle and rejection during auditions. Due to lack of opportunities, he worked as a waiter at Taj Coromandel Hotel. He got first prize for dancing in a competition at the hotel; his friends insisted to him to try his luck again in films.[4]
Rajeev met his classmate, Telugu actor Rajendra Prasad at a dubbing studio. Malayalam actor Raveendran, who saw Rajeev, asked him to dub his voice in Oru Thalai Ragam. Rajeev gladly accepted the offer, T. Rajender, director of that film, selected Rajeev as a dubbing artist. He again dubbed for Raveendran in Vasantha Azhaippugal. T. Rajender provided him an opportunity to play a sadistic husband in Rail Payanangalil. He then acted as one of the four heroes in Paalaivanacholai.[5]
In Kannada, he has starred opposite top heroines like Lakshmi and Arathi and also played the role of Suhasini's wayward brother in K. Balachander's Benkiyalli Aralida Hoovu (remake of Aval Oru Thodar Kathai).
His films include:[6]
