Madras Kandaswami Radhakrishnan (20 November 1910 – 29 August 1985), professionally known as M. K. Radha, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Tamil language, the main spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is nicknamed Kollywood, a portmanteau of the names Kodambakkam, a Ch ...

. He was born in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

and took up acting in Tamil stage at the age of 7. He was tutored by his father Kandasamy Mudaliar a famous

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

teacher at that time. His career spanned for almost 25 years in Tamil drama as a lead actor during

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

´s pre-independence days and he was a popular social hero in various patriotic dramas.

Filmography

Personal life

Radha was married to M. R. Gnanambal, also an actress.

Awards and honours

In 1973, he received the

Padma Shri The Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī'', lit. 'Lotus Honour'), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. In ...

Award for his contribution to performing arts from President V.V. Giri. In July 2004, the

Indian Postal Service The Department of Posts, d/b/a India Post, is an Indian public sector postal system statutory body headquartered in New Delhi, India. It is an organisation under the Ministry of Communications. It is the most widely distributed postal system in ...

special postal envelope in his memory. A neighbourhood in

Teynampet Teynampet, also Teynampettai, is one of the busiest commercial localities in the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Part of the city's central business district, it is surrounded by Gopalapuram, Chennai, Gopalapuram in the north, Mylapore in th ...

is named M.K. Radha Nagar in his honour.The Hindu, Clinic in MK Radha Nagar
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References

Tamil male actors Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Male actors from Chennai 1910 births 1985 deaths {{India-film-bio-stub