An actor and producer, Maniyanpillai Raju's original name was Sudheer Kumar. He took this name from his own movie 'Maniyanpillai Athava Maniyanpillai'. His debut movie was 'Mohiniyattam' directed by Sreekumaran Thampi. He later appeared in lead roles, charactor roles, comedy roles etc. Both his sons Niranjen and Sachin made their debut performance in the movie 'Black Butterfly'.
National Award-winning actor Nedumudi Venu died at the age of 73 at a private hospital in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday. He had been in a critical condition for some time due to liver-related ailments.
