Cine South Actress Biography
Udaya Chandrika, better known by her screen name Radha (Malayalam: രാധ; born 3 June 1967)[1] is an Indian actress[2] popular in the 80s. She was a top mainstream actress over a decade of the years from 1981 to 1991. She has acted in numerous movies with top actors of the South Indian cinema in 1980's. She has acted in over 200 movies in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi. Not only that, She was a Judge in STAR Vijay Jodi Number One Season 6 Reality Dance program and she also continues with Season 7.Personal life[edit]
Radha was born as Udaya Chandrika on 3 June 1967 hails from Kallara Village near kilimanoor in Thiruvananthapuram District in Kerala. She has two elder sisters Ambika and Mallika. She has also two younger brothers Arjun and Suresh Nair. Her Sister Ambika is also an actress.
Radha got married to a business man, Hotelier Rajasekaran Nair in 1991 and have settled in Mumbai. She has 3 children's, son Vignesh Nair, Daughters Karthika Nair and Thulasi Nair. For the past 23 years they have owned a chain of restaurants in Mumbai and two hotels called UDS in Kovalam at Kerala, which have won the best coastal beach resort award. They also own a restaurant in the UK named "Rock and Role Kitchen" (RRK).
Her daughter Karthika Nair started her career as an actress with the Telugu film Josh. Her another daughter Thulasi Nair started her career as an actress with the Maniratnam film Kadal (2012 film).
Career[edit]
Radha started her acting career at the age of 14. She was spotted by director Bharathiraja and was cast as a teenager in Alaigal Oivathillai in 1981 opposite newcomer Karthik. Her name Udaya Chandrika was changed to a screen name Radha by director Bharathiraja. She was studying in 9th standard when she acted in that film. She was started her Telugu film with Sobhan Babu in Mr. Vijay in 1983. She was at peak in her film career in both Tamil and Telugu films and become as one of the Top heroines from 1981 to 1991.
Tamil cinema[edit]
Radha started her career in the age of 14 starring as the protagonist in director Bharathiraja's Alaigal Oivathillai alongside debutant Karthik in 1981. The movie was a runaway hit and is regarded as a cult classic by many. The on-screen chemistry that she shared with Karthik was highly successful and led to many movies like Pakkathu Veetu Roja, Valibamey Vaa Vaa and Ilanjodigal. In the same year Radha played a small role in the movie Tik Tik Tik which also starred Kamal Haasan. Tik Tik Tik played a significant role in her career. Later she starred alongside Kamal Hassan in movies like Oru Kaithiyin Diary, Thoongathey Thambi Thoongathey, Kadhal Parisu and Jappanil Kalyanaraman.
Her sister Ambika is also a very popular actress. Both of them acted together in films like Enkeyo Ketta Kural, Vellai Roja, Idhaya Kovil, Kadhal Parisu and Anna Nagar Mudhal Theru. The two sisters were at the zenith of their fame when they acted in Kadhal Parisu in which they played the roles of very glamorous, highly desirable women. Ambika and Radha managed their careers very carefully and after attaining success they were very selective about taking up roles in Tamil movies and only performed with top actors and directors. It was very rare to see both the sisters in the same movie after their early years in the Tamil film industry.
Her last film in Tamil was Marupakkam with Sivakumar and Jayabharathi, where she played a small role called "Avayam" released in October 1991.
Telugu cinema[edit]
She acted in her first Telugu film with Sobhan Babu in Mr. Vijay in 1983. Her notable films in Telugu include Yamudiki Mogudu, State Rowdy, Lankeswarudu, Raamudu Bheemudu, and Agni Parvatam. She has acted in around 16 films with Chiranjeevi, three films with Balakrishna and worked with all major heroes like NTR, ANR, Krishna, Shoban Babu and many more. Her glamour roles were brought out by K. Raghavendra Rao and A. Kodandarami Reddy. Her last Telugu film was Kodama Simham starring with Chiranjeevi, Sonam, Mohan babu reelased in 1990.
Kannada cinema[edit]
Radha has done only 4 Kannada films. She acted with veteran Vishnuvardhan and actress Lakshmi in Soubhagya Lakshmi, a remake of the Hindi film Maang Bharo Sajana. It in turn is a remake of a Telugu movie. She acted in Saavira Sullu with Ravichandran. In 1991, she did the movie Ranachandi with co-actors Sharat Babu, Ramesh Bhat, Mukhyamantri Chandru and Sudhir. In the film, she played a cop with Sharat Babu as her husband and Mukhyamantri Chandru as the villain. She had many stunts and fight sequences. It was a big hit in Kannada and is still remembered by Kannada movie-goers.
Malayalam cinema[edit]
Radha acted only in 6 Malayalam films, the most notable being K. G. George's state award-winning film Irakal (1986). Her performance as Nirmala is widely regarded as one of the best in her career. She produced the Malayalam film Ayitham (1987) in which she played the lead role. She played significant roles in Sathyan Anthikad's Revathikkoru Pavakkutty (1986) and her last film by P. G. Viswambaran's Innathe Programme in (1991).
In this Indian name, the name Prabhu is a patronymic, not a family name, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Samantha.
Samantha Ruth Prabhu
Samantha Ruth Prabhu at 60th South Filmfare Awards 2013.jpg
Samantha at 60th Filmfare Awards South (2013)
Born Samantha Ruth Prabhu
28 April 1987 (age 27)[1][2]
Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Nationality Indian
Other names Yasodha[3]
Citizenship Indian
Education B.Com[4]
Alma mater Stella Maris College, Chennai
Occupation Model, actress
Years active 2010–present
Home town Chennai
Parents Prabhu
Ninette Prabhu
Samantha Ruth Prabhu (born 28 April 1987) is an Indian film actress and model, who mainly works in the Telugu and Tamil film industries. Samantha was raised in Chennai and pursued a career in modeling during her late teens. Despite signing up to Ravi Varman's Moscowin Kavery in 2007, her first release was the critically acclaimed 2010 Telugu romance film, Ye Maaya Chesave directed by Gautham Menon. She went on to appear in several commercially successful Telugu films like Brindavanam, Dookudu, Eega and Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu. Her 2013 film Attarintiki Daredi is regarded as the highest grossing film in the history of Telugu Cinema establishing herself as one of the most sought after actresses of her time.
In 2013, Samantha became the second actress after Revathi to win both the Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actress and the Filmfare Award for Best Telugu Actress in the same year, for films Neethaane En Ponvasantham and Eega, respectively.
Early life and family[edit]
Samantha was born to a Malayali mother and a Telugu father on April 28, 1987 and was raised in Chennai, Tamil Nadu becoming fluent in Tamil language.[5] Despite her mixed ethnic background, Samantha has cited that she sees herself as a Tamil, as she was brought up speaking Tamil and English at home.[6][7] As part of her education, Samantha completed her schooling from St.Stephens Matriculation school, Pallavaram, Chennai and did her Higher secondary in Holy Angels Anglo-Indian Higher Secondary School, T.Nagar. She graduated with a commerce and obtained a B.Com degree from Stella Maris College, Chennai.[6]
Career[edit]
Debut in 2010[edit]
Samantha's first release was Indira Productions' Gautham Menon directed Telugu film, Ye Maaya Chesave. The film simultaneously made in Tamil as Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa, created much anticipation prior to release, primarily due to the first-time-collaboration between Gautham Menon and composer A. R. Rahman.[8] The actress was signed up for the project in mid August 2009 and completed schedules across India and the United States and the film was released in February 26, 2010.[9] The film portrayed Samantha as the lead character of Jessie, which was also the working title of the film; a Malayali Christian girl living in Hyderabad, whom the male protagonist, played by Naga Chaitanya falls in love with. Upon release, Samantha received very positive reviews for her portrayal, with film also garnering much critical acclaim.[10] Critics at Sify claimed that Samantha was the "scene-stealer" and her beauty "is alluring" adding that "she was the girl to watch out for".[10] Jeevi, from the Idlebrain reviews site, cited that "Samantha’s debut is one of the best heroine debuts in Telugu cinema" and that her "minute expressions she gave spoke volumes about her", whilst labelling the film as a "classic". Samantha, alongside her co-star, Naga Chaitanya, also appeared in a guest appearance in the Tamil version of the film.[11] Both films emerged as grand successes in Tamil and Telugu respectively, propelling Samantha to sign bigger projects.[12] She followed up her collaborations with Gautham Menon and A. R. Rahman by appearing in the music video for the World Classical Tamil Conference 2010 promotional song, Semmozhiyaana Tamizh Mozhiyaam, which Menon directed and Rahman composed.
Samantha's next release was the Sathya Jyothi-produced romantic drama, Baana Kaathadi, opposite Adharvaa, which was actually the third Tamil film signed by her, but released first due to delay of the other two projects.[13][14] Following terms agreed in early 2009, the film continued shoot for a year and after several postponements finally released in August 2010 to positive response.[14][15] In the film, Samantha plays a student of National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), the first such role in Tamil cinema.[16] Her next release, was Ravi Varman's Moscowin Kavery, initially her very first acting assignment, which began in August 2007, with Samantha, then briefly known as Yasodha, joining the team later in the year.[17] The film introduced a host of new actors, with music carried out by Thaman, then making his debut in music composing. In an interview, much prior to release in 2008, Ravi Varman mentioned that he had decided that Samantha would be the lead actress for his film within three minutes after viewing one of her commercial assignments.[18] In the interview, he went on to describe her as an actress with "intelligence" and "potential", whilst drawing comparisons with noted actress, Revathi.[18] However, due to Ravi Varman's date conflicts with his projects as a cinematographer, the film languished in development hell, eventually releasing in August 2010.[19] The film gained unanimously poor reviews from critics,[20] however Samantha's performance was labelled as one of the sole highlights that the film offered.[21] Samantha, during the making of the last three releases, had also signed up for the Narain starrer, Pookada Ravi in August 2008 to play the lead role of a modern girl.[22] Despite the film continuing schedules at regular intervals, the film was stalled throughout 2009 and is unlikely to be released.[23] Samantha went onto feature in Vamsi Paidipally's Telugu film Brindaavanam in which she had a supporting role alongside NTR Jr and Kajal Aggarwal.[24] Her role of Indu was well received despite being shorter in screen time than her previous roles and the film became her second successful Telugu film.[25]
2011 - 2014[edit]
In 2011, Samantha made a guest appearance as a mentally ill patient in Gautham Menon's Nadunisi Naaygal, before featuring in the big budget Telugu film, Dookudu, alongside Mahesh Babu. The film was a blockbuster. The film opened to positive review with critics from CNN-IBN labelling the film as "a treat for Mahesh's fans", adding that Samantha "looks good in song sequences"[26] The Times Of India also praised the film mentioning that "Samantha looks beautiful and has done a great job, though her role as Prashanthi isn't too lengthy".[27] The film took the largest ever opening for a Telugu film and grossed INR12.58 crores on the first day of its release. In 2012, Samantha made a guest appearance in Gautham Menon's Ekk Deewana Tha which was the remake of director's own films, Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa and Ye Maaya Chesave, repeating her role from Vinnaithaandi Varuvaayaa. She then featured in S. S. Rajamouli's live action Telugu-Tamil bilingual project Eega/Naan E[28] which was also dubbed in Hindi and Malayalam. The film was a blockbuster and Samantha was praised for her acting. She then signed on Gautham Menon's trilingual project,[29] playing the female lead in all three languages — Telugu, Tamil and Hindi and shooting all scenes thrice with different co-actors across languages.[30] The Telugu and Tamil versions titled Yeto Vellipoyindhi Manasu and Neethaane En Ponvasantham released in December 2012, while the Hindi version, Assi Nabbe Poorey Sau has been shelved.[31][32]
In the beginning of 2013, she appeared in Seethamma Vakitlo Sirimalle Chettu that featured Venkatesh and Mahesh Babu in the lead, marking her second film with Mahesh Babu. The film was critically and commercially successful and her performance was praised by critics along with the other female lead, Anjali.[33] Mahesh S Koneru of 123telugu.com commented on her performance stating "Samantha is beautiful and adorable in this movie. Her cute expressions and romantic scenes with Mahesh Babu make you want to root for her".[34] IBN Live too commented positively on her performance stating "Good to see Samantha shed her glamorous side and welcome performance-oriented roles, which she only handles with deftness and ease".[35] Later, in February, she played the lead role in Nandini Reddy's Jabardasth co-starring Siddharth. The film, which was an unofficial remake of the 2010 Hindi film Band Baaja Baaraat was commercially unsuccessful.[36] Oneindia Entertainment in their review commented "Samantha has good scope in the film and her bubbly characterisation is entertaining. The actress will surely impress you in both romantic and emotional sequences. Her belly dance in the song 'Meghamala' is very hot".[37] She then starred in Trivikram Srinivas' Attharintiki Daaredhi with Pawan Kalyan,[38] which released to positive reviews and is touted to become the highest-grossing Telugu film of the year. Samantha's next film Ramayya Vasthavayya directed by Harish Shankar, featuring NTR Jr [39] released to mixed reviews on October 11, 2013. Autonagar Surya opposite Naga Chaitanya under the direction of Deva Katta will be Samantha's first release in 2014.[40]
Upcoming projects[edit]
Samantha is simultaneously working on two high budget Tamil productions, Anjaan directed by N. Linguswamy,[41] and Kaththi directed by AR Murugadoss. She has been selected to portray the female lead in three Telugu films, V. V. Vinayak's next with Bellamkonda Suresh's son, Sai Srinivas,[42] Santosh Srinivas' next, tentatively titled Rabhasa [43] and Manam, in which she reportedly will be playing the role of a mother for the first time.[44]
Personal life[edit]
In an interview with The Times of India in 2012, Samantha revealed that she is deeply in love and quite happy in her relationship. She stated, "We are going very strong and I am very happy". But the actress refused to say the name of the person.[45]
Other work[edit]
Samantha has endorsed various brands like Coca Cola, Mayil Mark Rice, Chik Shampoo, Gokul Sandiva, Big C Mobiles, Saravana Stores, Odonil Room Freshening Gel and Dabur Vatika Hair Oil.[46][47][48] She has recently signed up to endorse Lux and Paragon.[49]
Samantha is associated with a campaign supporting the children suffering from the disease Hemophilia, since October 2012. She has been attending various awareness camps by the NGO to show her support for the same, since then on. In one such event, Samantha stated, "I'm upset for two months and took break from work due to a small skin related issue. I can understand how children diagnosed with hemophilia, a cureless genetic disease feels".[50] She is also associated with a NGO Pratyusha, a charity organization for children and women.[51]
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