Madras Kandaswami Radhakrishnan (20 November 1910 – 29 August 1985), professionally known as M. K. Radha, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in

Tamil cinema Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywood' ...

. He was born in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

and took up acting in Tamil stage at the age of 7. He was tutored by his father Kandasamy Mudaliar a famous

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

teacher at that time. His career spanned for almost 25 years in Tamil drama as a lead actor during

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

´s pre-independence days and he was a popular social hero in various patriotic dramas.

Filmography

Personal life

Radha was married to M. R. Gnanambal, also an actress.

Awards and honours

In 1973, he received the

Padma Shri Padma Shri (IAST: ''padma śrī''), also spelled Padma Shree, is the fourth-highest Indian honours system, civilian award of the Republic of India, after the Bharat Ratna, the Padma Vibhushan and the Padma Bhushan. Instituted on 2 January 1954, ...

Award for his contribution to performing arts from President V.V. Giri. In July 2004, the

Indian Postal Service India Post is a government-operated postal system in India, part of the Department of Post under the Ministry of Communications. Generally known as the Post Office, it is the most widely distributed postal system in the world. Warren Hastings ha ...

special postal envelope in his memory. A neighbourhood in

Teynampet Teynampet, also Teynampettai, is one of the busiest commercial localities in the city of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Part of the city's central business district, it is surrounded by Gopalapuram in the north, Mylapore in the east, Alwarpet in t ...

is named M.K. Radha Nagar in his honour.The Hindu, Clinic in MK Radha Nagar
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References

Tamil male actors Recipients of the Padma Shri in arts Male actors from Chennai 1910 births 1985 deaths {{India-film-bio-stub