| A.V.M. Rajan | |
| Birthname: | Shanmugasundaram |
| Birth Date: | 1935 7, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Pudukottai |
| Spouses: | Meenakshi (m.1957) Pushpalatha (m.1964-present) |
| Other Names: | A.V.M Rajan |
| Children: | Rajan Rathnavel Rajan Amuthan Saraswathi (Sachu Venkat) Ganesh Rajan Sis.Rachel (Formerly Mahalakshmi) Dr. Catherine (Formerly Abhirami) |
| Occupation: | Preacher, actor, film producer |
Shanmugasundaram, known by his stage name A.V.M. Rajan, (26 July 1935) is an Indian preacher and former actor who was active in Tamil cinema during the 1960s and 1970s.
Born in Pudukottai, Shanmugasundaram was very eager to join cinema though he held a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Madras University.[1] His higher secondary was at Christian Sweden Mission High School. His parents wanted to see him as a police officer. He came to Madras to write the examination, but didn't fit for the exam. He was not confident as he couldn't straighten his left hand fractured at the age of 14. Instead, while working at Raj Bhavan Guindy Chennai, he tried his luck in cinema knocking on the doors of every film company to earn a better income. At long last, his relentless efforts yielded result by getting him the opportunity to enter cinema through the film Aayiram Kaalathu Payiru in which he was introduced as "Raja B.A.". Soon after, he was signed to act in the AVM's film Naanum Oru Penn also.[2]
Rajan acted in a movie produced by AVM Productions called Naanum Oru Penn, a film that starred S.S.Rajendran in the lead role. Hence he became 'A.V.M.' Rajan. Tamil actress Pushpalatha appeared in the same picture, and they became a couple and later married. They subsequently acted as a pair in many films, including Karppooram (1967) which he won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actor. AVM Rajan has two daughters, the elder daughter Mahalakshmi was an actress between the 80s–90s. On 19 January 1984,[3] through a personal encounter with God, Rajan converted and there after became a full-time Christian preacher since 1988[4] and since then has stopped acting in movies and dramas. His wife Pushpalatha is a Catholic by birth. She hails from Coimbatore. Following Rajan's conversion, his family too is serving full-time Ministry.[5]
| Year | Film | Role | Language | Director | Co-stars | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1959 | Sivagangai Seemai | Tamil | K. Shankar | S. S. Rajendran | His first signed movie but his scenes were chopped off. | ||
| 1963 | Naanum Oru Penn | Balu | Tamil | A. C. Tirulokchandar | S. S. Rajendran, C. R. Vijayakumari, Pushpalatha | ||
| Aayiram Kalathu Payir | Ratnam | Tamil | T.S. Durairaj | First Movie but Naanum Oru Penn got released first | |||
| Paar Magale Paar | Sundaram | Tamil | A. Bhimsingh | Sivaji Ganesan, R. Muthuraman, Pushpalatha | |||
| Thulasi Maadam | Gopal | Tamil | K. B. Srinivasan | Gemini Chandrakantha, S. N. Lakshmi, Sharadha, M. S. Sundari Bai | |||
| 1964 | Alli | Babu | Tamil | S. S. Rajendran | S. S. Rajendran, R. Vijayakumari, Sowcar Janaki, Pushpalatha | ||
| Chitrangi | Jeyveeran | Tamil | R. S. Mani | Pushpalatha | |||
| Pachchai Vilakku | Mani | Tamil | A. Bhim Singh | Sivaji Ganesan, S. S. Rajendran, Pushpalatha | |||
| Andavan Kattalai | Ramu | Tamil | K. Shankar | ||||
| Main Bhi Ladki Hoon | Hindi | A. C. Tirulokchandar | Dharmendra, Pushpalatha | Remake of Naanum Oru Penn | |||
| 1965 | Kumaran | Tamil | In This Film He has got the title 'Nadippu Sudar' | ||||
| Abhimanyu | Tamil | ||||||
| Chandran | Tamil | ||||||
| 1966 | Thambi Durai | Tamil | R. Muthuraman, C. R. Vijayakumari, Kanchana | ||||
| Thattungal Thirakkappadum | Doctor | Tamil | J. P. Chandrababu | R. S. Manohar, Savithri, J. P. Chandrababu, K. R. Vijaya, Cho Ramaswamy | |||
| Chandru | Tamil | ||||||
| Rajinikanth | Tamil | Major Sundarrajan, Nagesh, R. Muthuraman, Jayalalitha | Remake of Hindi film Oonche Log | ||||
| 1967 | Gopinath | Tamil | |||||
| Somu | Tamil | A. Kasilingam | Remade into Hindi as Sachaai | ||||
| Tamil | C. N. Shanmugam | Pushpalatha, Manorama, T.S Balaiah, S.A. Asokan, Sri Kanth | |||||
| 1968 | Prakash | Tamil | Dada Mirasi | ||||
| Mohan | Tamil | ||||||
| Thangarathnam | Tamil | ||||||
| Balu | Tamil | Malliyam Rajagopal | |||||
| Jambu | Tamil | A. Kasilingam | |||||
| 1969 | Thulaabaram | Ramu | Tamil | A. Vincent | Kanchana, Sharada, Muthuraman | Remake of Malayalam film Thulabharam | |
| Thunaivan | Velayudham | Tamil | M. A. Thirumugam | Sowkar Janaki, Nagesh | |||
| Annaiyum Pithavum | Bhaskar | Tamil | AVM Brothers | Vanisri, Lakshmi, Nagesh, Sivakumar | |||
| Advocate Kumar | Tamil | 25th Film | |||||
| Chellapen | Tamil | K. Krishnamurthy | Sowkar Janaki was initially signed for the movie. Shooting had progressed to some extent, after which she was replaced by Pushpalatha | ||||
| Magizhampoo | Pasupathy | Tamil | V T Arasu | Pushpalatha | |||
| Paal Kudam | Tamil | Pattu | Pushpalatha, Lakshmi | ||||
| 1970 | Engal Thangam | Moorthy | Tamil | Krishnan–Panju | M. G. Ramachandran, Pushpalatha | ||
| Dharisanam | Pandian/ Chandramohan | Tamil | V. T. Arasu | Pushpalatha, Srikanth, Cho, Manorama | Double Role | ||
| Anadhai Anandhan | Selvam | Tamil | Krishnan–Panju | Jayalalithaa, R. S. Manohar, Anjali Devi, Master Sekhar | Hindi Version of Chanda Aur Bijli | ||
| Noorandu Kaalam Vazhga | Rajan | Tamil | K. Sampath | ||||
| Yaen? | Ramu | Tamil | T. R. Ramanna | ||||
| 1971 | Thyagarajan (Thyagu) | Tamil | |||||
| Pattondru Ketten | Tamil | S. Raghavan | Rajshree, Nagesh, | ||||
| Deivam Pesuma | Dr Sundaram | Tamil | Chinni-Sampath8 | Vennira Aadai Nirmala, Sandhya Rani | |||
| Raju | Tamil | ||||||
| 1972 | Tamil | ||||||
| Malayalam | Mallikarjuna Rao | ||||||
| Rangen | Tamil | A. Kasilingam | |||||
| Thiyagaraj | Tamil | Pattu | |||||
| Prohithar | Tamil | ||||||
| Ravi | Tamil | P. R. Somu | |||||
| Kumaran | Tamil | C. P. Jambulingam | |||||
| Tamil | |||||||
| Bhaskar | Tamil | Pattu | |||||
| Telugu | Dubbed movie of Anadhai Anandhan | ||||||
| Kadhirvelu | Tamil | ||||||
| 1973 | Arun | Tamil | |||||
| Ragunath | Tamil | Malliyam Rajagopal | |||||
| Tamil | C. V. Ramana | 50th Film | |||||
| Tamil | Pattu | ||||||
| Durairaj | Tamil | Remake of Telugu movie Pandanti Kapuram | |||||
| Tamil | |||||||
| Tamil | A. K. Subramaniam | ||||||
| Narathan | Tamil | ||||||
| Tamil | R. Vittal | ||||||
| Rajarathna | Tamil | Pattu | |||||
| Ramu | Tamil | B. V. Srinivasan | |||||
| Boopathy | Tamil | ||||||
| Nyayam Ketkirom | Tamil | C. V. Rajendran | Vennira Aadai Nirmala, R. Muthuraman, Kanchana, Cho, Manorama, VK Ramasamy, | ||||
| Tamil | Kousikan | ||||||
| 1974 | Wing Commander Raghu | Tamil | |||||
| Raja | Tamil | Sornam | |||||
| Madhavan | Tamil | ||||||
| Muruga | Tamil | 75th Film, Remake of Telugu film Drohi | |||||
| Muniyandi | Tamil | Nagesh, Srikanth, Vijayakumar, Vidhubala, Sripriya, Vijaya Chandrika | |||||
| Chandran | Tamil | ||||||
| 1975 | Venu Gopal Rao | Telugu | S. D. Lal | ||||
| Tamil | |||||||
| Kumara Devan | Tamil | R. Thyagarajan | |||||
| 1976 | Rojavin Raja | Gopal | Tamil | K. Vijayan | Sivaji Ganesan, Vanisri | ||
| Tamil | Vijayakumar jayachitra Asokan | ||||||
| 1977 | Murugan Adimai | Tamil | R.Thyagarajan | R.Muthuraman, K.R. Vijaya | |||
| Navarathinam | Raja | Tamil | A. P. Nagarajan | ||||
| Unnai Suttrum Ulagam | Tamil | Kamal Haasan, Jayalalithaa | |||||
| 1978 | Thai Meethu Sathiyam | Babu's Father | Tamil | Rajnikanth, Ambareesh, Mohan Babu | |||
| 1980 | Billa | Inspector Varma | Tamil | R. Krishnamurthy | Rajinikanth | ||
| 1981 | Thee | Ramaiah | Tamil | Rajinikanth | |||
| 1982 | Oorum Uravum | Chandrasekhar | Tamil | Major Sunderarajan, PushpaRajan | Sivaji Ganesan, KR Vijaya, Nizhalgal Ravi, Major Sunderarajan | ||
| 1984 | Nandri | IGP | Tamil | AVM Rajan | Karthik, Nalini, Mahalakshmi (Daughter of AVM Rajan), Arjun Sarja | ||
| 1987 | Veeran Veluthambi | IG of Police | Tamil | Rama Narayanan | Vijayakanth, Radha Ravi |