Captain Raju No More! 5 Iconic Roles of the Malayalam Actor For The Fans to Remember Him Forever!

Popular Malayalam actor Captain Raju is no more. The actor, who has not been keeping up good health in the past few months, has breathed his last on September 17. He was 68. The actor had recently suffered from a massive stroke while flying to USA for his son's wedding and his flight had to be rerouted to UAE for him to be deplaned and admitted in a hospital nearby. Since then, Captain Raju has been keeping a very low profile. Malayalam movie lovers will be really shocked on hearing his sad demise. Malayalam actor Captain Raju Passes Away at 68, Twitterati Pays Condolence

Captain Raju got the moniker 'Captain' thanks to his early military background. The actor has worked in more than 100 films, having made his debut in 1981. He has also worked in languages like Tamil, Telugu and even English. Captain Raju also turned director and made two films with him as the lead - Itha Oru Snehagatha (also starring future Tamil superstar Chiyaan Vikram) and Mr Pavanayi 99.99. His last screen appearance was in last year's Masterpiece, where he played himself.

As a tribute to his work in Malayalam cinema, we list five of our favourite Captain Raju performances that will be forever etched in our memories!

Pavanayi in Naadodikaattu

Of course, the first role that any Malayali movie fans would remember Captain Raju in would as the cool assassin who has a not-so-cool mission in this Mohanlal-Sreenivasan film. From his array of weapons to how he tries to kill his two victims (and fails spectacularly at that!), he stands out in a film filled with memorable characters and puns. It also showed Malayalam fans that Captain Raju has a comic streak in him.

Sathyaraj in Aavanazhi

As the devious villain who takes advantage of a woman's (unjustified) anger towards Mammootty's cop, Sathyaraj doesn't go for OTT portrayal, instead his character is shown as cunning and manipulative, which makes him one of the most underrated villains in Malayalam cinema.

Nicholas in August 1

Captain Raj has that forte in him to play some very cool assassins. In this remake of The Day of the Jackal, he plays a smart assassin, who may be the villain of the piece, but doesn't do anything wanton beyond his principles. His steadfast devotion in finishing his mission make us almost root for him, if his mission wasn't killing off a very honest Chief Minister (that's a rare breed, indeed).

Krishnadas in Samrajyam

A hero is as good as the villain he faces; ask Batman! So Mammootty has the luck to have faced a scene-stealing Captain Raju in many films. In this underworld drama, Captain Raju plays a ruthless lynchpin hell-bent on destroying Alexander (Mammootty)'s competition by any means.

Aringodar Chekavar in Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha

It is not just that Captain Raju has played villains in all Mammootty films. In this film that won Mammootty a National award, Captain Raju played his well-meaning Kalari guru, who gets killed treacherously in a duel. The movie makes really good use of Captain Raju's imposing figure to make Aringodar Chekavar such a landmark character.

Rest in peace, Captain Raju! You will be missed by all Malayalam movie lovers.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 17, 2018 01:07 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).