Vijay Raghavendra was born in Bangalore, India to a family of film personalities. He began to act in films featuring his uncle Rajkumar in the lead. After having acted in about eight films as a child artist, Vijay underwent a formal training in acting at Chennai.[8]
Film career
Child roles : 1980s–1990s
In 1982, Vijay appeared in a small role as a child in Singeetham Srinivasa Rao's romantic drama Chalisuva Modagalu, starring his uncle Rajkumar, Ambika and his cousin Puneeth Rajkumar, credited as Master Lohith. He went on to appear in the 1989 movie Parashuram, alongside his cousin Puneeth Rajkumar in a song. After a brief gap, in 1991 he appeared in Aralida Hoovugalu, a remake of the Hindi film Jawani Diwani (1971), directed by Chi. Dattaraj and co-starred Shiva Rajkumar. His next movie Chinnari Mutha became a huge success and he became a household name in Karnataka. After that, he acted in many movies, including Kotreshi Kanasu, for which he won a National Award for his performance.
His first adult role as an actor was in Ninagagi (2002), a box office blockbuster which brought him success on his first role opposite the debutant Radhika. The film was a remake of the Telugu hit Nuvve Kavali, which screened for over 100 days and created a record.[10] Following this success, he signed two more movies in the same year, which could not succeed at the box office. He has acted in many movies since then. His notable movies are Kallarali Hoovagi, Rishi, Khushi and Kaaranji.
In 2013, Vijay was a contestant and winner in the much talked about Kannada version of the reality show Bigg Boss in its first season, which started with 13 contestants.[11][12] Vijay has been reportedly paid Rs. 5 million prize money.[13]
Personal life
Vijay is the eldest child of producer S. A. Chinne Gowda and his wife Jayamma. His younger brother Sriimurali is a popular Kannada film actor. His paternal aunt Parvathamma Rajkumar was a prominent film producer and distributor in Kannada cinema. He is the cousin of actors Shiva Rajkumar, Raghavendra Rajkumar and Puneeth Rajkumar. On 26 August 2007, he married a Tulu-speaking girl, Spandana, the daughter of Assistant Commissioner of Police, B. K. Shivaram.[14][15] The couple has a son named Shourya. Spandana died on 7 August 2023 from cardiac arrest in Bangkok.[16][17]
Charitable work
Recording session
In 2013, it was announced that he had joined other Bollywood and international celebrities in the TeachAids initiative, a state-of-the-art approach to worldwide HIV prevention, developed at Stanford University.[18]
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