Actor and director Captain Raju passes away in Kochi

Veteran movie and serial actor and director Captain Raju passed away on Monday. He was 68. He passed away at his residence in Kochi and the cremation will be held later in the day.

The actor who made his debut in a movie called 'Raktham' in 1981, went on to act in several Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu films. In his long career spanning nearly four decades, Captain Raju also featured in Hindi and English films, notching up over 500 films to his credit.

In July, the actor was airlifted from Oman to Kochi when he suffered from a stroke and fell unconscious in the flight on his way to the United Arab Emirates to attend his son's wedding in the US. The flight was diverted and landed at Muscat in Oman.

Called 'Captain' because of his army background, the actor directed two films as well besides appearing in a number of Malayalam serials.

A versatile performer, Captain Raju who hailed from Omalur in Pattanamthitta district has acted in serious roles as well as comic ones. Some of his finest performances include Pavanayi in the hilarious Mohanlal- Sreenivasan starrer Nadodikkaatu - a role which he reprised in the second film he directed, Mr Pavanayi 99.99.

Captain Raju starred in several iconic Malayalam films like Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha, Oru CBI Diary Kurippu, No. 20 Madras Mail, Kerala Varma Pazhassi Raja and many more.

With his broad build, Captain Raju was mostly cast as the villain. His last role was in the 2017 movie Masterpiece.

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