Lawrence in Shivalingam.
Actor, choreographer, composer, director, dancer, producer, philanthropist and singer.
Raghava Lawrence has many sides.
He started his journey as a dancer in the film industry with the song Chikku Bukku Rayile for the movie Gentleman (1993), and danced away in the songs Maha Ganapathi, Subbamma, Maya Maya and Thaamthakka. Lawrence’s directorial debut movie Mass (2004) in Telugu was a blockbuster. However, it is the Tamil horror movies series Muni that shot Lawrence to fame as a director. After his movie Motta Shiva Ketta Shiva, Shivalinga—touted as the spiritual sequel to Chandramukhi—hit theatres on April 14.
About his Tamil movie Shivalinga, Lawrence says, “It will be a perfect entertainer with elements children and family will enjoy.”
Lawrence’s support to the bull-taming sport Jallikattu endeared young fans. He was also deeply moved by farmers suicide in Tamil Nadu. “The plight of our farmers taking their lives is nerve-wracking. I designed a programme called Vivasayigalin Uyir Kaapom: Solladhe Sei to support them. We started the project in Erode by giving a pair of cows and a calf each to 25 farming families affected by the suicide of a family member. We got back mangalyams of some women who had mortgaged them on account of debt owed by their husbands. This is only a first and immediate step aimed at stopping the farmers from ending their lives,” he says. Differently-abled dancers trained by him will also conduct shows to raise funds for the project.
After letting a transgender’s ghost possess his body in the 2011 film Kanchana, Lawrence will now open a bank account and start saving for transgenders’ well-being. He plans to build a shelter home for them and wants to train them in classical dance.
The 41-year-old is building a temple in Ambattur in Chennai dedicated to his mother Kanmani. “We will inaugurate it on May 1. My mother stood by me through and through. She would hold me in her arms and walk to Stanley Hospital in Chennai to save the bus fare to buy rose milk for me,” he says. Kanmani’s statue will be installed alongwith an 11 feet tall one of deity Gayatri Amman in the temple, symbolising that the goddess and mother are one.
Source: The New Indian Express