Most Malayalis, when asked which role of Captain Raju is more dear to them, they would mention his character from Nadodikaattu, or August 1, or Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha. When I first saw Pavanayi from Nadodikaattu, I thought that was the actor's actual voice. It was only later, when I saw his mafia don character in Samrajyam, that I realised that it was not. I preferred seeing him in bad guy roles more.
But Captain Raju was more interested in playing good/positive characters, says director Vinayan, with whom he worked on Kalyana Sougandikam (1996). "Apart from being a good actor, he was also a good human being. He was like an elder brother to me. He would come to our aid if some issue was troubling us. He loved the humorous character in Kalyana Sougandikam so much that he told me that from that point on he was only interested in substantial character roles. And his good looks and body language worked to his advantage. Though he was friendly with everyone, he was also very honest and clear about his stand on something. During the AMMA issue, he had no qualms about working with me," says Vinayan.
Director Fazil says, "Even though he was mostly seen in negative characters, there was nothing negative about him and his life. He proved that he was capable of doing strong character roles like the one in Siddique-Lal's Kabooliwala. That role was tailor-made for him. And, of course, no one has done a comical villain role like Pavanayi from Nadodikaattu."
Actor Jagadish also recalls some of his fond memories with the actor. "We became more close while we were shooting Thakshashila in Kullu Manali. It was a vacation time and I was with my family but he was not. He used to spend a lot of time with me and my family. After that we went to Delhi and we used to eat go shopping and dining together. He used to amuse my family with stories of military experiences and sing Hindi songs. In the initial phase of his career, he used to get tired of playing villain roles all the time. There was a time when he decided not to play negative characters anymore; but he later reversed that decision once he started getting good character roles. He felt that it was okay to play bad guys as long as there was a nice balance. He loved humour. There were occasions when he used to tell me that he regrets not doing more but then later he would say that he was proud of whatever he has accomplished so far."