Nedumudi Venu

Kesavan Venu Gopal known popularly by his stage name Nedumudi Venu was an Indian actor writer and director He was widely regarded as one of the greatest actors in Indian cinema Venu was born as Venugopal to P K Kesavan Naira school master and P Kunjikkuttiyamma in Nedumudi Alappuzha as the youngest of their five children He has four elder brothers He had his primary education from N S S Higher Secondary School Nedumudi and St Marys Higher Secondary SchoolChampakulam He was involved in art and music since his academic period After graduating from Sanatana Dharma College Alappuzha he worked as a journalist in Kalakaumudi and as a teacher in a tutorial institute Venu was living in Thiruvananthapuram when he made friends with the likes of Aravindan Padmarajan and Bharath Gopi This ultimately paved way for his film career He is a talented Mridangam player Venu started his career in theater and went on to act in films He was a member of Kavalam Narayana Panickers dramas He debuted in the film Thambu 1978 by director G Aravindan His acting skills were showcased in the Bharathan film Aaravam Padmarajans Oridathoru Phayalwan and Kallan Pavithran set a milestone for him It marked his start in karanavar head of the family roles which included most of his memorable performances Venu also wrote scripts for movies He wrote the stories for the films Kattathe Kilikkoodu Theertham Sruthi Ambada Njane Oru Katha Oru Nunnakkatha Savidham and Angane Oru Avadhikkalathu He also tried his hand in direction with Pooram He has also acted in a few Tamil films with director Shankar such as Kamal Hasans Indian and Vikrams Anniyan Venu has also acted in some television serials He acted in NFDC film Parinamam The Change directed by P Venu that won the best screenplay award at the Ashdod International Film Festival held in Israel He won the Best Actor award for his role in Saira at the Zimbabwe International Film Festival which concluded in September 2007 Saira was the only film from India to be included in the festival The committee mentioned that he acted compellingly and convincingly in his portrayal of a man caught between secularism and fundamentalism