Actor Madhan Bob has passed away, his son Archith has confirmed. He was 71. Born S Krishnamoorthy and known professionally as Madhan Bob, the actor had been battling cancer in the recent past.
The actor is fondly referred to as 'Punnagai Mannan' (King of Smiles) for his distinctive comedic style, including a trademark laughter that induced chuckles all around and amusing expressions. Reportedly, he had appeared in more than 600 films, including mostly Tamil films. He made his debut in Vaaname Ellai (1992), directed by K Balachander.
Some of his notable credits are Diamond Babu in Thenali (2000) and Manager Sundaresan in Friends (2000). His other films are Thevar Magan (1992), Sathi Leelavathi (1995), Chandramukhi (2005), and Ethir Neechal (2013). In an old interview with TNIE, Madhan had shared that Sivaji Ganesan appreciated his performance in Thevar Magan.
Madhan's filmography also includes a title each in Hindi and Telugu, Chachi 420 (1997) and Bangaram (2006), respectively, as well as the Malayalam films Bhramaram (2009) and Celluloid (2013).
Beyond acting, he also had a career as a musician, having gotten trained in Western Classical and Carnatic music by the likes of S Ramanathan, ‘Vikku’ Vinayakaram, and Harihara Sharma. He is also regarded as a music guru to AR Rahman.