Kollywood Mourns The Death Of Choreographer R Raghuram

Noted choreographer R Raghuram died at his residence on Saturday (November 30) following a brief illness. He is survived by his wife and two daughters - Suja and Gayathri, who is a well-known actress-cum-choreographer.

R Raghuram learnt the dance from the age of five. His gurus were Gopinath, Vazhavur Ramaiah Pillai and Bolanath. In his five-decade association with the film industry, he choreographed over 1000 songs in major film industries like Tamil, Hindi, Bollywood, Malayalam and Kannada. Some of his disciples like Khushboo have become very popular in film industry.

Salangai Oli and Punnagai Mannan were a few hit movies of Raghuram. He had worked in number of films including those of superstars Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan.

Many celebrities have expressed their condolences on Twitter. "(We) lost a great choreographer, a fantastic guru and a wonderful human being Raghu master just a few minutes back. (He was) such a humble soul. RIP Masterji. I have lost my guru in Raghuram master," Khushbu posted on her Twitter page.

"He taught me the finer nuances of dance. Above everything else he was a family. (We have) so many memories. (I) lost the count of how many times we must have spent the night at his place as a gang. Brinda, his daughters and (a) bunch of cousins," she added.

Vedhika, who had recently worked with him for a song from upcoming Tamil period-romance Kaaviya Thalaivan, said she was heartbroken.
"In shock on hearing the news that Raghuram master is no more! (I) had the privilege of working under him for a song in 'Kaaviya Thalaivan'. Heartbroken," she tweeted.

Venkat Prabhu, Lakshmi Rai, Dhayanidhi Azhagiri, Shantanoo Bhagyaraj and many others shared their condolences on the micro-blogging site too.

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The last rites of Raghuram, who is survived by his wife and two daughters, will be performed here Sunday.