Richard Rishi is an Indian actor who predominantly appears in Tamil and Telugu films and few Malayalam and Kannada films. He is known for Koottu, A Film by Aravind and his subsequent movies with director Mohan G, namely Draupathi and Rudra Thandavam.
Career
Richard made his acting debut with Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari which was released in 1990. He was cast as a child artiste in the Tamil film Anjali in the same year. He first appeared as an adult actor in Kadhal Virus in 2002, playing the lead opposite Sridevi Vijaykumar. The film was released after some delay and fared poorly at the box office.
Despite a relatively high-profile launch through Kadhal Virus, Richard found it difficult to experience further success in the following years. After that he acted in the Malayalam film called Koottu (2004), which tells the story of two college buddies. The songs were a hit. Films such as Thiru 420 by director duo Sekar Kumar and Sengattuvan, where he starred opposite former Miss India contestant Swetha Vijay, were stalled after production began.
In 2005, Girivalam, a remake of the Bollywood film Humraaz, was released. The movie A Film by Aravind (2005) made him noticeable and gave him the stage name Rishi. In 2006, the Tamil movies Naalai and Yuga were released. Richard had a lesser role to play in the latter film, and the film received mixed reviews. Bhagyalakshmi Bumper Draw, a Telugu film was released in 2007. It was the remake of Bollywood film Malamaal Weekly. It also had Rishi playing a side role. Then came the movie Bangaru Konda (2007) with actress Navaneet Kaur. Maharajasri, is another movie for 2007. In 2008, came Veedu Mamoolodu Kadu with Rishi portraying as negative role, then Geetha, a remake of the Hollywood film Phone Booth and Three in which Rishi was reunited with the director Sekhar Suri. In 2009, he acted in Tamil movie Thamizhagam. In 2010, he appeared in Telugu movie Dammunnodu. His next movie Pen Singam (2010) failed at the content of story. In 2011, Uppukandam Brothers Back in Action (2011) was received negative reviews. Then came the movie Endukante... Premanta! (2012) where Rishi was in again in a small side role but the film was a commercial hit. The film Uu Kodathara? Ulikki Padathara? (2012) was a Telugu socio-fantasy with Rishi in a small role. In 2013, the only film that came was Kannada action comedy film Benki Birugali, where Rishi was in the lead.