Daggubati Venkatesh, credited as Raja and Daggubati Raja, is an Indian actor turned businessman who has acted in Tamil and Telugu language films. The actor made his debut in the 1981 Tamil film, Paakku Vethalai, before going on to become a leading actor in the Tamil film industry from 1986 to 2000.
He went on to play second lead roles and supporting characters in several films including Kamal Haasan's Sathi Leelavathi and Rajinikanth's Mappillai. He has also acted in few Telugu films like Chinnari Sneham, Sankellu and Shri Krishnarjuna Vijayam.
He is a relative of veteran film producer late D. Ramanaidu and the cousin of Venkatesh.
Career A nephew of Telugu film producer D. Ramanaidu, Daggubati Venkatesh was persuaded by his family to become an actor in Tamil cinema owing to his familiarity with Madras. He subsequently joined Bharathiraja's acting school, where he trained before getting his first major career breakthrough with the director's romantic drama Kadalora Kavithaigal (1986). To differentiate from his namesake cousin, Venkatesh was given the screen name "Raja". The box office success of Kadalora Kavithaigal prompted Bharathiraja to cast him again in Vedham Pudhithu (1987), and the popular song "Kannukkul Nooru" earned Raja a large female fanbase.
Raja continued portraying supporting roles in films, and was unable to garner much success as a lead actor. His appearance in a negative role in his collaboration with Manivannan for Ini Oru Suthanthiram was well received by critics, though his best known work in the late 1980s and early 1990s featured him in supporting roles such as in Mappillai (1989) and Pudhu Vasantham (1990). In the early 1990s, he was often typecast in soft, demure characters often portraying a gentle romantic, who regularly lost out to film's lead actor. His most notable films of the period, Sathi Leelavathi (1995), Love Birds (1996) and Kadhal Kottai (1996) all featured him in similar roles. He quickly became disheartened at the films and secondary characters being offered to him, and opted to move into business in 1999. and currently runs a granite business called "Cosmo Granites" in Chennai.
After nineteen years break from films, Raja returned to acting with a role in Krish's biopic drama N.T.R: Kathanayakudu (2019), where he portrayed the supporting role of Trivikrama Rao. He made his return to Tamil films through Adithya Varma (2019), where he appeared as the father of the titular character played by debutant Dhruv Vikram.
Filmography Tamil films Year Film Role Notes1981 Paakku Vethalai Chinna Mul Peria Mul Anand Nenjile Thunivirunthal 1982 Kanne Radha Nataraj 1984 Veetuku Oru Kannagi 1986 Kadalora Kavithaigal Lawrence Pudhiya Poovidhu Neethana Antha Kuyil 1987 Valayal Satham Ini Oru Sudhanthiram Gramatthu Minnal Vedham Pudhithu Sundarapandi 1988 Neruppu NilaMohan Ithu Engal Neethi Uzhaithu Vaazha Vendum Raja 1989 Manidhan Marivittan Mappillai 1990Vaazhkai Chakkaram Thangavelu's brother Ooru Vittu Ooru Vanthu Dinesh Adhisaya Manithan Ramani Pudhu Vasantham Raja Nangal Puthiyavargal Raja Guest appearance Sathyam Sivam Sundaram Engitta Mothathay Guest appearance1991 Vaa Arugil Vaa Ramakrishnan Karpoora Mullai Dr. Srinivas Onnum Theriyatha Papa Nee Pathi Naan Pathi 1992 Kizhakku Velathachu 1993 Captain Magal Kalyan Kumar Uthama Raasa Marudhu Moondravadhu Kann Sundar Enga Muthalali Balu 1994 Priyanka Raja Guest appearance Karuththamma Stephen 1995 Coolie Sathi Leelavathi Raja Guest appearance Kolangal Rajesh Ayudha Poojai Samiyappan's son 1996 Love Birds Mano Vaikarai Pookkal Raja Meendum Savithri Vasudevan Rajali Guest appearance Kadhal Kottai Jeeva Andha Naal Vincent Babu 1997 Bharathi Kannamma Village officer Arunachalam Saravanan Pudhalvan 1998 Iniyavale Raja Kondattam Gopikrishna Sivappu Nila Raja 2000 Kannukku Kannaga Arun 2019 Adithya Varma Vasudevan Varma 2025 Nesippaya Varadharajan
Telugu films Year Film Role Notes1987 Dongodochadu Aadade Aadharam 1988 Siripuram Chinnodu Jhansi Rani Dinakar Sankellu 1989 Chinnari Sneham Suryam Aakhari Kshanam1991 Stuvartpuram Dongalu Viji Edu Kondalaswamy 1996 Sri Krishnarjuna Vijayam Karna 1997 Ratra Yatra 2019 N.T.R: Kathanayakudu N. Trivikrama Rao N.T.R: Mahanayakudu 2021 FCUK: Father Chitti Umaa Kaarthik Umaa's father 2023 Skanda Bhaskar's father
Other language films Year Film Role Language Notes1988 Agni Kanye Mohan Kannada 1991 Ente Sooryaputhrikku Malayalam Guest appearance1994 Sukham Sukhakaram Malayalam
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