Radha 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 100 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).
Radha is an Indian actress popular in the 80s and early 90s. She was popular in the both Tamil and Telugu film industry for more than a decade. She has acted in numerous movies with top actors of the South Indian cinema heroes from Chiranjeevi, Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Sathyaraj, Prabhu, Vijayakanth to Karthik, Suresh, Mohan, Mohanlal, Super Star Krishna, Venkatesh etc. She has acted in over 200 movies in 5 Indian languages (Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi).
Radha hails from Kallada a small village in kollam/qulion Kerala. She is married to a successful hotelier Rajasekaran Nair and has three daughters and one son. Since her marriage she has settled in Mumbai and is into restaurant business with her husband. She pursues her undying passion for the Arts by continuing classical dance lessons alongside her eldest daughter. She has also recently performed at the famous Chidambaram Natarajar temple which she claims was her dream. Her sister Ambika is also a famous actress. Her daughter Karthika Nair started her career as an actress with Josh movie starring opposite to Naga Chaitanya.
Radha was spotted by director Bharathiraja and was cast as a young teenager, and cast in Alaigal Oivathillai in 1981 opposite then newcomer Karthik and named her Radha. The young heroine took everyone in her very first movie. Soon Radha became a hit started acting alongside heroes like Karthik, Mohan and Suresh.
Dubbed as the Saroja Devi of the 80s, between Payum Puli and Rajathi Raja, Radha was the uncrowned Queen of Kollywood. And by the end of eighties, Radha had almost completed a decade of complete dominance in the South. But still, the tag of a great actress still evaded her and though she came up with some spirited performances in movies like Amman Kovil Kizhakale, the label of a glamour doll stuck with her.
After a string of movies where she co-starred with the second line heroes of Tamil movie industry, she was starting to get noticed. Gopurangal Saivathillai proved her acting talents. She played a powerful role as a second wife of Mohan and matched the national award winner Suhasini (who played the first wife) in this movie. Radha played a small role in Tik Tik Tik, a Kamal Haasan starrer, big budget movie. Tik Tik Tik, though was a small role, did Radha some good by taking her into big budget movies and played a significant role in her career. She then starred in a number of Kamal movies like Oru Kaithiyin Diary, Thoongathey Thambi Thoongathey, Kathal Parisu, Jappanil Kalyanaraman and many of them were super duper hits.
Her major break came from her mentor Bharathiraja. Radha was cast in the movie opposite the legendary Sivaji Ganesan. Muthal Mariyathai released in the year 1985. Radha’s striking performance matching Sivaji was a pleasant surprise of the movie. And needless to say, Radha pulled in the crowds and Muthal Mariyathai remains till date as one of the greatest late-pickup super hits in Tamil industry. After Muthal Mariyathai she got a number of challenging roles including movies like Nyaya Tharasu.
It was her senior friend and co-star Suhasini Maniratnam, who moulded her from a glamour idol to a character heroine. Radha still recalls Suhasinis contributions especially with her hair make-up and dialogue delivery.
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