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 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 one of the top actors in the industry during the 1960s and 1970s.

Early life

Born in

Pudukottai Pudukkottai Municipal Corporation is the administrative headquarters of Pudukkottai district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is one of the oldest Heritage city located on the banks of the Vellar River. It has been ruled, at different t ...

, Shanmugasundaram was very eager to join cinema though he held a bachelor's degree in mathematics from

Madras University The University of Madras is a public university, public State university (India), state university in Chennai (Madras), Tamil Nadu, India. Established in 1857, it is one of the oldest and most prominent universities in India, incorporated by an ...

. 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 ''Naanum Oru Penn'' () is a 1963 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by A. C. Tirulokchandar and written by K. P. Kottarakkara. The film stars S. S. Rajendran and R. Vijayakumari, with S. V. Ranga Rao, M. R. Radha, S. V. Subbaiah, ...

'' also. 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 Pushpalatha (1937 or 1938 – 4 February 2025) was an Indian actress, who worked predominantly in Tamil-, Telugu-, Kannada- and Malayalam-language films. She acted in heroine and character roles in more than 100 films. Her debut film was '' Se ...

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 Lakshmi (; , , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, , ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the goddess of wealth, fortune, prosperity, beauty, fertility, sovereignty, and abundance. She along with Parvat ...

was an actress between the 80s–90s. On 19 January 1984, through a personal encounter with God, Rajan converted and there after became a full-time Christian preacher since 1988 and since then has stopped acting in movies and dramas. His wife

is a Catholic by birth. She hails from Coimbatore. She died in 2025. Following Rajan's conversion, his family too is serving full-time Ministry.

Filmography

;Actor ;Producer *Oorum Uravum *Lorry Driver Rajakannu *Nandri

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rajan, A. V. M. 1935 births 20th-century Indian Christian clergy Indian male film actors Tamil male actors Living people Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners People from Pudukkottai Converts to Christianity