Thursday, July 30, 2009

Veteran Malayalam actor Rajan P. Dev dead

Kochi, July 29: Veteran Malayalam character actor Rajan P. Dev died here early Wednesday following brief illness, family sources said. He was 58.

Dev died at a private hospital, where he had been undergoing treatment for a liver disorder.

The funeral will take place at St. Xavier's church in Angamaly, about 40 km from here, Thursday morning.

He was born on May 20, 1954 to S J Dev and Kuttiyamma in Chertalai in Alappuzha district of Kerala. He had proved his mettle as a theater artiste before entering film world. Dev began his film career in 1980 with small roles. He soon became popular as a villain.

In a career spanning close to three decades, he acted in about 180 films, including those in Tamil, Telegu and Kannada. It was his unique ability to add humor to villainous characters.

He owns a theater troupe in his hometown of Chertalai named Jubly Theaters. He had acted in more than 150 films and his last move was 'Ee Pattanathil Bhootham'.

A veteran theater artiste, Rajan P Dev had won state award for the best theater actor in 1984 and 86. Among several plays he acted, 'Kaattukuthira' was prominent one, which was, in fact, a turning point in his life.

Dev immortalised the character Kochu Vava in the hit play "Kattukuthira" that was staged over a thousand times across Kerala.

However, when the drama was made into a film with the same name, the role was played by another veteran actor Thilakan.

"Malayalam films will be poorer with Dev's death but his characters will live for a long time," Thilakan told IANS.

Dev's last film was "Ee Patanathil Bhootham", starring superstar Mammootty, which is currently running in theatres

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