Vijay Thesingu Rajendar, also known as T. R., is an Indian actor, film director, film producer, musician, cinematographer, film distributor and politician who works primarily in the

Tamil film industry Tamil cinema is the segment of cinema of India, Indian cinema dedicated to the production of Film, motion pictures in the Tamil language, the main spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is nicknamed Kollywood, a portmanteau of the nam ...

. He lives 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 ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. Rajendar is known for being able to speak in rhyming sentences spontaneously and incessant rapping.

Family

T. Rajendar is married to former actress Usha Rajendar. They have two sons,

Silambarasan Silambarasan Thesingu Rajendar (born 3 February 1984), popularly known as Simbu or by his initials as STR, is an Indian actor, producer, and playback singer who primarily works in Tamil cinema. He is the eldest son of director T. Rajendar. ...

and Kuralarasan, and one daughter, Ilakiya. His wife has served as the producer for some of his films, such as ''

Kadhal Azhivathillai ''Kadhal Azhivathillai'' () is a 2002 Indian Tamil-language romantic action film written, directed and produced by T. Rajendar, who also composed the music and portrayed a supporting role. It stars his son Silambarasan (in his debut as a lead ...

'' (2002), starring Silambarasan.

Film career

Rajendar started off in the

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

film industry making successful films which included him as an actor, playback singer, dancer and scriptwriter. He gained popularity through his one-of-a-kind style of acting. He normally serves as, but not limited to director, actor, songwriter, art director, production manager and

playback singer A playback singer, as they are usually known in South Asian cinema, or ghost singer in Western cinema, is a singer whose performance is pre-recorded for use in films. Playback singers record songs for soundtracks, and the performers lip-sync the ...

. During the 1980s, all his movies were blockbusters, running for years and the songs were also well appreciated.Anantharam, Chitra Deepa (27 March 2017
I am the pioneer of kuthu: T Rajendherr
. ''The Hindu'' He is known for introducing new faces in his movies, and many of the actresses who debuted in his movies have been successful in South Cinema, including Amala,

Nalini Nalini (Devanagari: नलिनी) is a female gender Indian people, Indian given name, which means "lotus", "goddess Gayatri","mother of Vedas", "sweet nectar", "Amrit", Feminine "lily" in Sanskrit.''Baby Names''"Nalini" Retrieved on 9 January ...

, Jyothi,

Jeevitha Jeevitha, popularly known as Jeevitha Rajasekhar is an Indian actress, director and producer who has primarily worked in Tamil and Telugu films. Career Jeevitha made her debut in Tamil with T. Rajendar's '' Uravai Kaatha Kili'' in 1984 and ...

and

Mumtaj Mumtaj (born 5 July 1980) is an Indian former actress of Tamil cinema. She entered the film industry through the Tamil film ''Monisha En Monalisa'' (1999) by T. Rajender and subsequently garnered popularity appearing in glamorous roles in f ...

. After some years, Rajendar's films started to decline in popularity because his films became too predictable, tending to follow the same storyline and oratory style of repetitious dialogues with little if any meaning. For example, his films always contain a sentimental scene involving the hero's younger sister in distress, coupled with the same rhyming rhetoric and gestures. Rajendar recently started his own web TV channel called 'Kural TV' (Voice TV). Originally he wanted to start a

24-hour The modern 24-hour clock is the convention of timekeeping in which the day runs from midnight to midnight and is divided into 24 hours. This is indicated by the hours (and minutes) passed since midnight, from to , with as an option to indicate ...

TV channel but could not, due to problems arising while securing a license. The channel, apart from broadcasting his movies and speeches, tends to echo sentiments towards the plight of Tamils (especially women) in Sri Lanka. He previously owned a magazine called ''Usha''. Rajendar had started talking with "common" people through Skype and discussing latest politics in the recent years. Rajendar also distributes films under his home banner "Simbu cine arts". His latest film distribution, as of mid-2011 is his son Silambarasan's film ''

Vaanam ''Vaanam'' () is a 2011 Indian Tamil-language action drama film written and directed by Krish. A remake of his Telugu film, '' Vedam'' (2010), it has an ensemble cast of Silambarasan TR, Bharath, Prakash Raj, Anushka Shetty, Santhanam, Soni ...

'', which will be distributed in the

and

Madurai Madurai ( , , ), formerly known as Madura, is a major city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District, which is ...

region. Since early 2008, Rajendar has been slowly working on the production of a film titled ''Oru Thalai Kadhal'', a tale based on a village singer, in which he stars in the lead role. In 2011, he released a first look poster for the film and revealed that three heroines from Mumbai would star alongside him. He provided an update in 2014, that the film was still under production and that it was sixty-five percent complete. He has also revealed that he was working on a script to launch his second son, Kuralarasan, as a lead actor.

Political career

Rajendar founded the Thayaga Marumalarchi Kazhagam party in 1991 after he had been expelled from the

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) party. In 1996, after

Vaiko Vaiko, birth name Vaiyapuri Gopalsamy (born 22 May 1944), is an Indian politician. He is a member of the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India from Tamil Nadu. He is the founder and General Secretary of the Marumalarchi Drav ...

's departure from the DMK and the formation of

Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; MDMK) is a political party active in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It was established by Vaiko in 1994 after he left the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. The headquarters of the party is called Thayag ...

, Rajendar's TMK merged with the DMK. Rajendar left the DMK again in 2004, to form the

All India Latchiya Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam All or ALL may refer to: عرص Biology and medicine * Acute lymphoblastic leukemia, a cancer * Anterolateral ligament, a ligament in the knee * ''All.'', taxonomic author abbreviation for Carlo Allioni (1728–1804), Italian physician and prof ...

.1991 Tamil Nadu Election Results, Election Commission of India
''accessed'' 19 April 2009 Before expulsion, he was the propaganda secretary of DMK and was elected from Park Town constituency in the 1996 Assembly polls. He further supported the

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 ...

in the 2006 Assembly elections. After those 2006 elections, the DMK came back to power and he was made vice-chairman of the Small Savings Scheme. He subsequently quit the post.

Filmography

As film director, producer, writer, actor, cinematographer, and music director

As composer and lyricist

This list is of films that T. Rajender only worked as a music director and lyricist.

As playback singer

As lyricist

This list is of films that T. Rajender only worked as a lyricist (and singer) and not as a composer.

As distributor

*''

'' (2011) *''

Vaalu ''Vaalu'' () is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language romantic action comedy film written and directed by debutante Vijay Chandar. The film stars Silambarasan and Hansika Motwani, with Santhanam, VTV Ganesh and Brahmanandam portraying supporting rol ...

'' (2015) * ''

Kadamaiyai Sei ''Kadamaiyai Sei'' () is a 2022 Indian Tamil-language psychological action comedy drama film written and directed by Venkat Ragavan in his second directorial film after ''Muthina Kathirika'' (2016). The film stars S. J. Suryah and Yashika Aann ...

'' (2022)

Television

*''Super Kudumbam'' - Sun TV *''Arattai Arangam'' - Sun TV *''Nyayam Endrum Solven'' - Vijay TV

References

External links

*
Interview with TR
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajendar, Vijayan T. Tamil male actors Tamil film score composers Living people Tamil film directors Tamil film poets Film directors from Tamil Nadu Tamil cinematographers Tamil playback singers Tamil Nadu MLAs 1996–2001 People from Mayiladuthurai district Annamalai University alumni Male actors in Tamil cinema Indian actor-politicians Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam politicians Tamil screenwriters Screenwriters from Tamil Nadu 21st-century Indian singers Male actors from Tamil Nadu 20th-century Indian male actors 21st-century Indian male actors 20th-century Indian composers 21st-century Indian composers Musicians from Tamil Nadu Film producers from Tamil Nadu Indian film distributors Indian male film actors 1955 births Thayaga Marumalarchi Kazhagam politicians