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Raju Sundaram is an Indian Choreographer and actor who has primarily worked on Tamil and Telugu Language Films.
Raju Sundaram is an oldest son of dancer Mugur Sundar, and an older brother to fellow choreographers Prabhu Deva and Nagendra Prasad.
He has also featured as an actor in the films ‘Jeans’ (1998), ‘I Love You Da’ (2002) and ‘Quick Gun Murugan’ (2009); and directed one feature film, ‘Aegan’ (2008) starring Ajith Kumar and Nayantara.
Sundaram began his career assisting as an choreographer for his father Mugur Sundar’s projects, before going on to lead troupes. He was a dancer in “Rukkumani Rukkumani” from Mani Ratnam’s Roja (1992) and in Aasai (1995). He also regularly featured in cameo appearances in songs featuring his brother Prabhu Deva, with the pair making appearances in Shankar’s early films ‘Gentleman’ (1993) and ‘Kadhalan’ (1994). After being the lead choreographer for a few Kannada films, his first break came through Mani Ratnam’s ‘Thiruda Thiruda’ (1993), where he was given the chance to design dances for three songs. He then went on to become a choreographer of Tamil directors Mani Ratnam and Shankar, and worked on Amitabh Bachchan’s album, ‘Aby Baby’ (1996).
Shankar then offered Sundaram an acting opportunity in his romantic comedy ‘Jeans’ (1998), where Sundaram played a full-length role. His played the lead in the sports drama I Love You Da (2002) of which The Hindu stated the film proves “serious acting is simply not his cup of tea”. He then went on to feature in the trilingual ‘One Two Three’ (2003) alongside his brothers, with scenes shot in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada. The film opened to mixed reviews and did not perform well at the box office.
He has since primarily operated as a choreographer, making a few exceptions by starring in comic roles in Jeeva’s ‘Unnale Unnale’ (2007), Prabhu Deva’s ‘Engeyum Kadhal’ (2011) and in the Telugu film, ‘Action 3D’ (2013). Choreographers and actors like Dinesh, Sridhar, Jhony, Nobel Paul, Shobi, Baba Bhaskar, Viji Sathish and Japan Kumar have worked as dancers and assistants to him.
some of his movies are ‘Roja’, ‘Gentleman’, ‘Aasai’, ‘En Swasa Kaatre’, ‘Anantha Poongatre’, ‘Rhythm’, ‘Anniyan’, ‘Vettai’, ‘Idharkuthane Aasaipattai Balakumara’, ‘Endrendrum Punnagai’, ‘Ennamo Nadakkudhu’, ‘Devi’, ‘Remo’, ‘Kaashmora’, ‘Bogan’.
