Jaishankar

Jaishankar was a South Indian actor who worked in the Kollywood film Industry. He was born on 12th July 1938 in Chennai, where he died on 3rd June 2000. He was also known by the onscreen name Makkal Kalingar Jaishankar and Thennagathu James Bond or South Indian James Bond for his roles in detective movies like Vallavan Oruvan in 1966 and CID Shankar in 1970. He was also known as Friday Star because his films hit the screen very often, sometimes every week.

Jaishankar’s birth name is Subramanium Shankar. His father was a magistrate. He attended school at PS High School in Chennai. He earned an honours degree from The New College in Chennai. He joined Cho’s Viveka Fine Arts where he performed small roles. Not satisfied with his roles, he left the group and joined Koothabiran’s Kalki Fine Arts where he earned recognition as a lead character in Kalki’s Amara Thara.

Jaishankar made his debut in the Tamil film industry with the feature film Iravum Pagalum directed by Joseph Thaliath Jr Joseph Thaliath Jr. was a producer and Indian film >> Read More... . He played the lead role, Rajasekar in the movie. The crime thriller flick hit the big screens on 14th January 1965. During the era of Sivaji and MGR, Jaishankar created his mark in the Kollywood film industry with roles in crime, suspense, thriller and action flicks like Yaar Nee? in 1966, Neelagiri Express in 1968, Nil Gavani Kadhali in 1969 and many others.

He is also well known for his roles as modernized characters. After the entry of stars like Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan, Jaishankar started portraying father and negative characters in movies like Murattu Kalaal in 1980, Apoorva Sagodharargal in 1989 and Thalapati in 1991 among many others. Jaishankar made his last onscreen appearance in the Tamil movie Poo Vaasam written and directed by Sree Bharathi. The drama flick hit the silver screen on 19th March 1999. The production of the film was over long before the release date and it was supposed to release much earlier but got delayed.

In 2000, Jaishankar succumbed to a heart attack at the age of 61 leaving behind his wife and sons. Despite receiving film offers from several filmmakers, his son Dr. Vijay Shankar Vijay Shankar is a Telugu actor who has been worki >> Read More... became a surgeon. Jaishankar was known for his quiet philanthropy. Keeping true to Jaishankar’s philanthropic endeavours, Dr. Vijay performs fifteen eye surgeries every year free of cost on his father’s birth anniversary.

Jaishankar Family Tree (Infographic Family Tree)