J. K. Rithesh (5 March 1973 – 13 April 2019) was an Indian actor and member of the

All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; AIADMK, also abbreviated as ADMK), also shortened to Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, is an Indian Regionalism (politics), regional political party with great influence in the Federated state, sta ...

. He was a

Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; ; DMK) is an Indian political party based in the state of Tamil Nadu, where it is currently the ruling party, and the union territory of Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry, where it is currently the main ...

(DMK) Member of Parliament (MP) in the 15th

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

from Ramanathpuram constituency. In the Indian general elections of 2009, Rithesh received 294,945 votes to defeat his closest rival, Satiyamoorthy of

(AIADMK) party by a margin of 69,215 votes. On 10 April 2014, he joined

AIADMK The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; AIADMK, also abbreviated as ADMK), also shortened to Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, is an Indian regional political party with great influence in the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory ...

as a primary member. He died on 13 April 2019, due to heart attack.

Early life and education

Rithesh was born in

Kandy Kandy (, ; , ) is a major city located in the Central Province, Sri Lanka, Central Province of Sri Lanka. It was the last capital of the Sinhalese monarchy from 1469 to 1818, under the Kingdom of Kandy. The city is situated in the midst of ...

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

in 1973 before migrating to

Rameswaram Rameswaram (; also transliterated as Ramesvaram, Rameshwaram) is a municipality in the Ramanathapuram district of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is on Pamban Island separated from mainland India by the Pamban channel and is about from ...

in 1976, where he was brought up. His father was employed in the agricultural sector and his mother is a housewife. Rithesh has two elder sisters, Shanthi and Mani. Rithesh married Jotheeswari in 2007 and has a son, Arik Roshan (born 2008). He completed Diploma in Civil Engineering at Mohamed Sathak Polytechnic College Kilakarai, Ramanathapuram district.

Career

His first film was '' Kaanal Neer'', directed by

Chinni Jayanth Chinni Jayanth is an Indian film director, producer, comedian, actor and mimicry artist who has appeared in many main, character and supporting roles in Tamil films. He is also a popular television personality having hosted hit shows like ''S ...

. Rithesh had helped produce the project but the film failed to become a success at the box-office. His second film, '' Nayagan'' took an average opening at the box-office. After the moderate performance of ''Nayagan'', the actor announced several projects and started work on films including ''Thillu Mullu'' alongside another debutant Siddique, a film with Chinni Jayanth, ''Deivamagan'' and his home production, ''Thalapathy''. As of 2019, none of these projects have been completed. He made his acting comeback with a negative role in ''LKG''. He was arrested in November 2011 in a

land grabbing Land grabbing is the large-scale acquisition of land through buying or leasing of large pieces of land by domestic and Multinational corporation, transnational companies, governments, and individuals. While used broadly throughout history, land g ...

case. He was booked in charges of cheating a US citizen of Indian origin for promising him buying a land.

Death

Rithesh died on 13 April 2019, due to a heart attack at

Ramanathapuram Ramanathapuram (), also known as Ramnad, is a city Municipal Corporation in Ramanathapuram district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of Ramanathapuram district and the second largest town (by population) ...

at the age of 46.

Filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rithesh, J. K. Tamil male actors Indian actor-politicians India MPs 2009–2014 1973 births 2019 deaths Actors from Kandy Sri Lankan emigrants to India Lok Sabha members from Tamil Nadu People from Ramanathapuram district Male actors from Tamil Nadu Male actors in Tamil cinema