Ramesh Khanna (also spelt as Ramesh Kanna) is an Indian actor and film director who has worked in Tamil cinema. He has acted in a number of supporting and comedian roles.

Early life

Ramesh Khanna was born on 30 November 1955 in Chennai and third child to the family. He acted in R. S. Manohar's drama troupe from the age of 5 as child artist of more than 1000 dramas up to his age of 10 and was appreciated by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, President of India at that time.

Career

He became assistant to directors Karaikudi Narayanan, Pandiarajan (Aan Paavam), Kodi Ramakrishna, Vikraman (Poove Unakkaga, Suryavamsam, Unnai Ninaithu and Priyamana Thozhi) and K. S. Ravikumar. Ravikumar was meant to remake the Telugu film Maavichiguru (1996) starring Jagapati Babu and Aamani into Tamil for Sridevi Movie Makers, but his busy schedule meant that he recommended Ramesh Khanna to the producers. The remake was initially titled as Maa Vilakku and was supposed to star Jayaram and Meena, but went through cast changes. The film was revived under new title Thodarum with new cast involving Ajith Kumar, Heera and Devayani. He later started working on a film titled Genius in 2000, but the project eventually was shelved. Only after, director Vikraman introduced him as a comedy friend to actor Karthik in Unnidathil Ennai Koduthen (1998). From that, he came to limelight with his comic timing. Khanna has acted in notable roles in films such as Padayappa (1999), Nee Varuvai Ena (1999), Friends (2001), Unnai Ninaithu (2002) and Villain (2002). He has also appeared in supporting roles in films such as Thulluvadho Ilamai (2002). Ramesh has written dialogues for Muni (2007) and Nam Naadu (2007) and written story of the film Aadhavan (2009). Ramesh Khanna is seen in a substantial role in the Ajith starrer Veeram (2014).

Filmography

Note: all films are in Tamil, unless otherwise noted.

As actor

Tamil films

Other language films

As writer

As director

As dubbing artist

Television