Indian actor R. Muthuraman

R. Muthuraman (1929–1982) was an Indian actor who has performed in Tamil language films.^[1] He was a leading actor during the 60's and 70's and was fondly called Navarasa Thilakam. He has paired with all the leading heroines of his time and acted in over a hundred films. Muthuraman's son Karthik Muthuraman is also a Tamil actor and politician. He died while shooting for a film

Muthuraman was born to a Thevar family. His father S.Kumaresan was an advocate and his mother's younger brother was a reputed police officer. Muthuraman was attracted to a life as an actor but was forced by his parents to study and become a government employee. However in 1947, Muthuraman after passing his intermediate examination- decided to give up his education and joined Gemini Studio in 1949 in an administrative position. In 1952, he worked as a salesman for P.Orr & Sons- where he was first recognized owing to his good looks by the wife of director Ilaingovan.

In 1957, Muthuraman was cast in the role of Suppu a simpleton in the popular Gemini Ganesan film Thenthoosi and began his career as an actor.

Muthuraman came to act in an era dominated by giants such as M.G.R, Sivaji, Gemini Ganesan- however through the 1960s he had a great number of supporting roles in a number of Tamil movies. He also starred in many movies like Kalyana Parisu (1964), Kaadhalikka Neramillai(1965), Kasethan Kadavulada (1970) etc. He acted in over 90 films and was paired opposite actress Kanchana for 19 of them- a record.

Muthuraman was married to sulochana. The couple had four children- the youngest of them being Karthik Muthuraman who became a popular Tamil actor in the late 80's-early 90's.