Sudheer Kumar (born 20 April 1955), better known by his

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Maniyanpilla Raju (

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

: മണിയൻപിള്ള രാജു), is an Indian actor and producer who works in

Malayalam film industry Malayalam cinema, also referred to as Mollywood, is a segment of Indian cinema dedicated to producing films in the Malayalam language, primarily spoken in Kerala and the Lakshadweep islands. It encompasses both the mainstream film industry a ...

.മലയാളി ദര്‍ബാറിലെ മണിയന്‍ പിള്ള
mangalam.com. 3 June 2014 His debut film was ''Mohiniyaattam'' in 1976. He has played a variety of roles as a character actor, appearing in over 400 films. His stage name was derived from the character he played in the film '' Maniyanpilla Adhava Maniyanpilla'' (1981), his break-through role.

Early life

Raju was born as the youngest among four in 1955 to Shekharan Nair and Saraswati Amma at Thycaud, Thiruvanathapuram. He has two sisters, Ramani and Radha, and a brother Surendran. He had his primary education from Government Model Boys Higher Secondary School, Thiruvanathapuram. He did his pre-degree in Victory Tutorial College. He learned diploma in acting course during 1973–1975 from Adyar Film Institute,

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

(now Chennai).

Personal life

Maniyanpilla Raju married Indira in 1985, and the couple have two sons, Sachin and Niranj. The younger son, Niranj, made his debut in Renjith's '' Black Butterfly''. He wrote a book titled ''Chirichum Chirippichum'' containing his memoirs in 2012. In 2019, he opened a restaurant, Be@Kiwizo, in Kannur, which is Kerala's first restaurant to use robots to serve customers.

Filmography

As an actor

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

As producer

*'' Hello My Dear Wrong Number'' (1985) *'' Vellanakalude Nadu'' (1988) *'' Aye Auto'' (1990) *''

Anaswaram ''Anaswaram'' is a 1991 Malayalam-language film directed by Jomon and starring Mammootty and Shweta Menon . This was Shweta Menon's first movie in Malayalam. The movie was produced by Maniyanpilla Raju under the banner of Sarawathy Chaithanya ...

'' (1991) *'' Kannezhuthi Pottum Thottu'' (1999) *'' Anandabhadram'' (2005) *'' Chotta Mumbai'' (2007) *'' Oru Naal Varum'' (2010) * ''Black Butterfly'' (2013) * ''Pavada'' (2016) *'' Panchavarnathatha'' (2018) * ''Finals'' (2019) *'' Maheshum Marutiyum'' (2023) *'' Gu'' (2024)

Web series

Television

As judge

*''Comedy Super Show'' (

Flowers Tv Flowers TV is an Indian Malayalam-language, general-entertainment, pay television channel owned by Insight Media City. The channel was launched on 12 April 2015. Flowers TV HD feed is only available through their YouTube channel. History ...

) *''Comedy Stars Plus'' ( Asianet Plus) *''Comedy Stars Season 2'' (

Asianet Asianet may refer to: JioStar channels * JioStar, is an Indian media conglomerate wholly owned by Disney India. ** Asianet, a Malayalam language general entertainment channel ** Asianet Plus, a Malayalam language general entertainment channel ** As ...

) *''Comedy Stars'' (

)

As host

*Beautiful minds (

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

) *''

Laughing Villa ''Laughing Villa'' is an Indian Malayalam celebrity comedy chat show which premiered on Surya TV from 30 July 2016 to 17 November 2019. The first season of the show was hosted by south-Indian film actors Navya Nair and Maniyanpilla Raju. The ...

'' (

Surya TV Surya TV is an Indian Malayalam language Indian general entertainment pay television channel owned by Sun TV Network. which is headquartered at Kochi. Surya TV HD became the third Malayalam language high-definition channel. Current broadcas ...

) * ''Malayali Durbar'' (

Amrita TV Amrita TV is an Indian Malayalam-language free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the appropriate receiving equipment to receive the signal an ...

) *''Jambanum Thumbanum'' ( Asianet Plus)

As actor

* ''Ettu Sundarikalum Njanum'' (

) 2004-2005 * ''Mahatma Gandhi Colony'' (

) 2007-2008 * ''

Kadamattathu Kathanar Kadamattathu Kathanar was a '' kathanar'' (priest) who, according to legends, possessed magical powers. He was an ordained deacon of Kadamattom Church in the 9th century, originally affiliated to the Syriac Orthodox Church in India, in Kada ...

'' (

)- 2004-2005 * ''Sthree'' (

) 1998-2000 * ''Laksharchana'' (

Doordarshan Doordarshan (), abbreviated as DD, is India's State-owned enterprise, state-owned public broadcasting, public television broadcaster. Established by the Government of India on 15 September 1959, it is owned by the Ministry of Information and B ...

) 1995-1996 *''Aarohanam'' (

Kairali TV Kairali TV is an Indian Malayalam-language general entertainment free-to-air television channel owned by PTC Network via holding company G-Next Media Pvt Ltd . It is headquartered at Thiruvananthapuram. It was launched on 17 August 2000. Hist ...

) 2013-2014 *''Akshayapatram'' (

)- 2001-2002

Controversy

Actress Minu Muneer accused Maniyanpilla Raju of harassment. He later denied it and said he would be fine with the investigations if true.

References

External links

Maniyanpilla Raju at MSI
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Raju, Maniyanpilla Male actors from Thiruvananthapuram Living people 1955 births Male actors in Malayalam cinema Malayalam film producers 20th-century Indian male actors Male actors in Malayalam television Indian male television actors Indian male film actors Film producers from Thiruvananthapuram