Bava Lakshmanan

Lakshmanan used to be called 'Bava' by his friends in Madurai and Chennai and hence the moniker was added to his name for his stage name. Thirumalai Mahalingam, the director of Madras to Pondicherry, asked him if he was interested in acting at the age of 7. Mahalingam was shooting for a movie titled Uyir Oviyam at the Meenakshi Amman Temple in Madurai starring Chinni Prakash and Lakshmi Kala. Mahalingam offered Lakshmanan the role of Chinni Prakash's friend. He was then introduced to Krupa Shankar, the director of Paruvathin Vasilae (1980). It was during this time that Bharathiraja was looking for a hero for his film Alaigal Oivathillai. He was declined the role of a hero in the film due to his young age and was replaced by Karthik. After being unable to star in the lead role, Lakshmanan left to Chennai and worked with his uncle as a building contractor. It was during this time that he met Rajendra Kumar, who was directing a film titled Sirayil Sila Raagangal. Kumar gave him a small role in the film in addition allowed him to be a manager of the film. Vikraman worked as an assistant director for that film. Lakshmanan later stayed with FEFSI Vijayan and learned fight sequence choreography. Lakshmanan's mother told him that being a fight master is risky. He played a small role in Vikraman's directorial film Pudhu Vasantham.[1]

• Bava Lakshmanan on IMDb