| Junior MGR | |
| Birth Name: | V. Ramachandran |
| Birth Date: | 1986 |
| Birth Place: | India |
| Occupation: | Actor |
| Years Active: | 2016–present |
| Family: | M. G. Ramachandran (grandfather) |
Junior MGR is an Indian actor in the Tamil film industry. Born as Ramachandran, he is the adopted grandson of former Tamil Nadu chief minister and actor, M. G. Ramachandran. He began his career by playing roles as a child artist in television serials in his early age, before his first lead role in Irumban (2023).
Ramachandran, the son of actor-politician M. G. Ramachandran’s adopted daughter Sudha and Vijayakumar,[1] completed a degree in engineering and pursued a master's degree in Australia, before attempting a career as an actor.
In early 2016, it was reported that Ramachandran would first appear in a film titled Kabali Thottam directed by T. R. Bhaskar, and would portray the role of a "rugged, anti-hero character".[2] The film did not complete production and by mid-2016, Ramachandran lost ten kilograms and began working on a road thriller film titled Odu Kumar Odu, directed by Shivashankar Mani.[3] His second proposed project also became shelved, prompting Ramachandran to begin work on a project tiled Whatsapp by A. R. Rakshit in late 2017, which was set amid the 2017 pro-jallikattu protests.[4] [5]
In the late 2010s, Ramachandran accepted supporting roles in film, alongside his continued interest in portraying lead roles. He collaborated twice with director Keera on projects including Para and Kuravan in the period, and both films eventually received delayed releases under the different titles of Ettuthikkum Para (2020) and Irumban (2023). While he portrayed a supporting role in the former project headlined by Samuthirakani, the latter marked his debut as a lead actor and saw him appear alongside actress Aishwarya Dutta.[6] He then worked on three further films in 2021 starring Samuthirakani — Sangathalaivan, MGR Magan and Vellai Yaanai. Other incomplete projects that he worked on in the period included supporting roles in Nawin Ghanesh's Theeyorkku Anjael, Robert's Araathu and Sridhar Govindhraj's Paper Boy.[7]
Under the new stage name of Jr MGR, Ramachandran began work on an action film by Rathan Linga titled Gangster 21 in early 2021. Paired opposite Raai Laxmi, Jr MGR portrayed the lead role of a youngster who comes to Chennai from the Andaman Islands to meet his father, though the film remains unreleased.[8] In the early 2020s, Jr MGR also shot for films including lead roles in Tamizh Thyagarajan's 1848 and Bhaskar Lawrence's Vinaval; the antagonist in Sam Rodrigues's Musasi starring Prabhu Deva and Selvanath's Thanga Puthayal; and supporting roles in Velu Manikkam's Trainers and Sathish Kumaran's Pendulum, all of which are yet to be released.[9] [10]
| Year | Film | Role | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Ettuthikkum Para | ||
| 2021 | Sangathalaivan | ||
| MGR Magan | Raghu | ||
| Vellai Yaanai | |||
| 2023 | August 16 1947 | Sengadu Zamindar's son | |
| Irumban | [11] |