Jishnu Raghavan, 35, Malayam actor passes away after his battle with cancer

Mangalore Today News Network

Kochi, Mar 25, 2016: Malayalam actor Jishnu Raghavan passed away at the age of 35 after prolonged battle with cancer. Jishnu passed away on Friday morning at a hospital in Kochi. Jishnu was battling throat and lung cancer for quite some time and was undergoing treatment at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS). He breathed his last at 8.15 AM on Friday, a hospital spokesperson said.

Jishnu was diagnosed with cancer two years ago and had been completely cured of it. But his cancer relapsed last year and since then he had been undergoing treatment for the same.

Jishnu was the son of famous Malayalam actor Raghavan. He is survived by wife Dhanya Rajan, who is an architect by profession.

Sources close to the actor told IANS that the place and date of Jishnu’s funeral is yet to be decided. “His parents hail from Kannur and it’s not yet decided where the funeral will take place,” said the source who did not wish to be identified.

Even though the actor and his parents reside in the state capital, for the past several months the entire family had moved to Kochi to facilitate his treatment.

Jishnu had on March 8 also written a post on Facebook about his treatment.

Jishnu Raghavan had worked as a child artist in the film Kilipatt which released in 1987. But it was in 2002 that Jishnu made his acting debut as a male lead with Nammal in 2002, which was a major hit. His performance in the movie also earned him Kerala Film Critics Award for the Best Male Debut. In all, he acted in 21 films, including a Tamil and a Hindi film.

He was next seen in films like Choonda, Freedom, Parayam and then later in a supporting role in Nerariyan CBI, Pauran and Chakkara Muthu. He also took a brief sabbatical from movies but made a comeback with super hit film ‘Ordinary’.

He had also worked in four other Malayalam films including the blockbuster “Nammal”.

Jishnu’s co-actor in a few films Bhavana expressed shock at the news of his demise.

“He was very active in the social media and giving regular updates and expressed hopes that he will soon return to the industry. Now, see what has happened,” said Bhavana.

Ace character artiste Jagdish said Jishnu was probably one of the most well-behaved actors of his generation.

“Despite being the son of an actor, he never ever had any airs at all. He was so well behaved and even while he was battling cancer, he used to be a solace for actor Innocent (Lok sabha member from Chalakudy and president of the Association of Malayalam Movie Artistes) when he underwent cancer treatment. He was always positive and showed a strong sense of determination in the fight against cancer,” said Jagdish.