Vineeth R

The very innocent boy of 'Nakhakshathangal', who was caught in  between two girls; the romantic face in Aranyakam, Oru Muthasshi Katha,  Gazal etc; a singer in Sargam; a dancer in Kamaladhalam; a psychic in  'Manathe Vellitheru; yes, Vineeth is a multifaceted actor and dancer,  who have grown up in front of Malayalees  from a young boy to a  brilliant actor. 

Being the nephew of the famous Travancore sisters  Lalitha, Padmini, Ragini; Cinema was not a stranger to Vineeth. But it was none other than the inborn talent that made a filmmaker like M T Vasudevan Nair to select him to his movie. Vineeth was born to KT Radhakrishnan and Pk  Shanthakumari and interestingly, ace actress Shobhana is his cousin.  Vineeth is married to Priscilla Menon and they have a daughter, Avanthi.  

Though all believe that 'Nakhakshathangal' was the debut movie of  Vineeth, it was 'Idanilangal' of I V Shashi, in which he appeared first.  The movie saw Mammootty and Mohanlal as lead actors. Vineeth was basically a dancer, who always conquered the stages in which he performed. He has been as 'Kalaprathibha' in the state school youth festival, which gave him an entry into the glamour world of cinema. 

Vineeth's debut movie as a lead actor, 'Nakhakshathangal' had many specialties. The movie saw the sprouting of two talented artists  Vineeth and Monisha along with one of the versatile actress of South  Indian movies, Saleema. With MT's script and Harihara's direction,  'Nakhakshathangal' came out to be one of the perfect works of that time.  The movie also gave one of the loveliest onscreen pairs of Malayalam movie industry. 

Vineeth and Monisha were one of the celebrated pairs of Mollywood.  Though they appeared together in very few movies, their on-screen chemistry was well applauded. Apart from 'Nakhakshathangal', they joined hands in the movies like Rithubhedham and Kamaladhalam.  'Kamaladhalam' was one of the best movies in their career.  Somashekharanunni and Malavika will always remain in the minds of movie lovers. In Vineeth's 'Chempakulathachan', Monisha had a cameo appearance. If fate hadn't taken 'Monisha' away in December 1992, there would have been more hits from them. 

At the beginning of his career, Vineeth was always portrayed as a boy next door. Luckily, he was able to be a part of good projects in the late '80s. Movies like Pranamam, Oridathu, Nammukku Parkkaan Munthiri  Thoppukal, Idanazhiyil Oru Kalocha, Amritham Gamaya, Aranyakam,  Mahayana, etc were milestones in his career. His innocent look and subtle acting made him one of the favorite actors of writer and director,  MT. He did pivotal roles in the movies like Amritham Gamaya and  Aranyakam scripted by MT and directed by Hariharan. 

When Hariharan and MT again joined hands for 'Sargam' in 1992, it changed the destiny of many artists. Sargam was a movie which gave us a  very talented actor Manoj K Jayan and an actress  Ramba. Manoj's 'Kuttan  Thampuran' and Vineeth's 'Haridas' were well received in the theatres.  'Sargam' was one of the biggest hits in the career of both Vineeth and  Manoj K Jayan. Manoj and Vineeth later appeared in various movies such as Samooham, Gazal, Parinayam, etc. 

From his very calm and cool roles, Vineeth later transformed himself doing slightly different roles. 'Manathe Vellitheru' with his cousin  Shobhana was one such movie, which was noted with his outstanding performance. The climax scene of the movie was tremendous, increasing the pace of the movie lovers and giving another platform for Vineeth to prove himself.

In early 2000, Vineeth was seen to be part of many multi-star movies. Darling-Darling, Mazhavillu, Prem Poojari, Chathikkatha Chanthu,  Perumazhakkalam, etc were some of them. His association with actress  Kavya Madhavan did magic in the theatres. Together they enacted in the movies like Darling-Darling, Perumazhakkalam, Vadakkum Nathan, Banaras,  Bavuttiyude Namathil and Breaking News Live. The audience loved to see them together on-screen. 

Apart from Malayalam movies, Vineeth also had been part of Tamil,  Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and even in an English project. His Tamil movies like Kadhal Desham, Aavarampoo, Puthiya Mugham, May Madham, etc made him very popular among the Tamil audience. The Hindi movie in which he appeared was 'Bhul Bhulaiya' directed by Priyadarshan. In this movie, he did the dream role of a dancer, which he was not able to do in the same project taken in Malayalam. Actually 'Bhool Bhulaiya' was the Hindi remake of 'Manichithrathaazhu'. In its Tamil remake 'Chandramukhi' also,  he did the same role. His English movie was 'Bokshu The Myth', directed by Shyamaprasad.

Vineeth is very flexible to fit himself into any types of roles. His entry into the film industry was at the right time when there were MT and  Hariharan team, Padmarajan, Bharathan, Aravindan, etc with their outstanding works. Vineeth was able to be part of some of these projects, which gave him a prominent place in the industry. Dedication and hard work have brought him here and gave him the stardom that he deserves.