Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai is an Indian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer. She acts predominantly in Malayalam films along with Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Kannada and English films. She has won two National Film Awards, one Kerala State Film Awards, two Filmfare Awards South with 14 Nominations for Best Actress Category in three different south Indian languages, Tamil Nadu State's Kalaimamani Award in 2011 and numerous other awards. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Shobana has starred in 230 films across several languages predominantly in Malayalam, besides Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and English.
Meena Durairaj, known professionally as Meena, is an Indian actress who predominantly works in South Indian films as well as Hindi cinema. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. Meena has acted in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi films She is one of the most sought after actresses in the South Indian film industry. In addition to acting, Meena is also a playback singer, TV judge, and occasional dubbing artist. She has received numerous accolades, including two Filmfare Awards South, three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, two Nandi Award for Best Actress and Cinema Express Awards. In 1998, she was honoured with the Kalaimamani Award by Government of Tamil Nadu.
Navya Nair is an Indian actress who has appeared predominantly in Malayalam cinema along with a few Kannada and Tamil language films.
Sampath Kumar, known by his stage name Vishnuvardhan, was an Indian actor who worked predominantly in Kannada cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam language films. Vishnuvardhan has a prolific career spanning over four decades, during which he has acted in more than 220 films. A popular cultural icon of Karnataka, and holds the status of a matinée idol amongst the Kannada diaspora. He is popularly called as Sahasa Simha, Dada and The Angry Young Man of Kannada Cinema. Vishnuvardhan's contributions to Kannada cinema have been praised by his contemporaries in the Indian film industry. The Government of Karnataka honoured him with the Rajyothsava Prashasthi in 1990 and the Dr. Rajkumar Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 for his contributions to Kannada cinema. He was called The Phoenix of Indian Cinema. In 2008, a poll conducted by CNN-IBN listed Vishnuvardhan as the most popular star in the Kannada film industry.
Divyaa Unni is an Indian former actress and classical dancer of Indian origin who teaches various forms of dance such as Bharathanatyam, Kuchipudi and Mohiniyattom. As an actress, she mainly appeared in Malayalam language films, in addition to few Tamil, Telugu and Kannada language films too.
Saritha is an Indian actress who has acted in more than 500 films in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu languages. She was one of the popular and critically acclaimed lead actresses during the 1980s. She also appeared in a television serial, Selvi. She is also credited as a dubbing artist. She has dubbed her voice for Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu movies for actresses like Nagma, Vijayashanti, Tabu, Sushmita Sen, Ramya Krishnan and Soundarya in 1990s.
Padmapriya Janakiraman, better known mononymously as Padmapriya, is an Indian actress who mainly appears in Malayalam films. Padmapriya made her acting debut in the Telugu film Seenu Vasanthi Lakshmi in 2004.
Geetha is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Hindi films. She debuted in the Tamil film Bairavi. Since then she has acted in over 200 films in all major South Indian languages, and in a few Hindi films. She also appears in South Indian television serials. Geetha has won two Filmfare Awards South and Kerala State Film Awards, Karnataka State Film Awards each.
Urvashi is an Indian actress, dubbing artist, television host, scriptwriter and film producer known for her works in the Southern film industry, predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films also worked in Kannada and Telugu films. In a career spanning over four decades, she has won one National Film Award, five Kerala State Film Awards, two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and two Filmfare Award South respectively. Known for her distinct style of acting, she is widely regarded as one of the finest actors in Malayalam and Tamil cinema.
Yaragudipadi Venkata Mahalakshmi, known professionally as Lakshmi, is an Indian actress known for her works primarily in the South Indian film industry. She has also acted in some Hindi films. Her debut as a full fledged actress happened with the Tamil film Jeevanaamsam in 1968. In the same year, she acted in the Kannada film Goa Dalli CID 999 and Telugu film Bandhavyalu.
Sangeetha Krish (née Adamalayan) is an Indian actress, dancer, television presenter and reality show judge who predominantly appears in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films in supporting roles to character roles. She is known as Rasika in Malayalam movie industry. Making her acting debut in the mid-1990s, Sangeetha is best known for her performances in the films Khadgam (2002), Pithamagan (2003), Uyir (2006), Dhanam (2008) and Masooda (2022).
Amala Akkineni is an Indian actress, Bharatanatyam dancer, and activist. She has predominantly worked in Tamil films, in addition to Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada-language films. She was a leading actress in the Tamil film industry from 1986 to 1992 and has appeared in many blockbusters in Tamil and other languages. She has won two Filmfare Awards South, namely Best Actress – Malayalam for the 1991 film Ulladakkam and Best Supporting Actress – Telugu for the 2012 film Life Is Beautiful. Amala is the co-founder of Blue Cross of Hyderabad, a non-government organisation (NGO) in Hyderabad, India, which works towards the welfare of animals and preservation of animal rights in India.
Bharathi Vishnuvardhan, also known mononymously as Bharathi, is an Indian actress known primarily for her work in Kannada cinema and television serials. She began her career in 1966, as a lead actress, with the Kannada movie Love in Bangalore though Dudde Doddappa was her first release. In a career spanning over 50 years, Bharathi has appeared in 150 films. Apart from 100 films in Kannada, she has also acted in a handful of Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. Through the course of her career, she became known for her portrayal of roles of mythological and historical characters, and also that of a student, a romantic and a rural belle. Her role in Sri Krishnadevaraya (1970) as Chennambike won her the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress. In 2017, she was honoured with the Padma Shri by the Government of India. She has the distinction of having paired with Dr.Rajkumar as a lead actress in all the 26 movies she acted with him and is also paired with him the most no. of times in those movies where he played multiple roles.
Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal is a 2000 Indian Malayalam-language family drama film written and directed by Sathyan Anthikkad from a story by C. V. Balakrishnan. It stars Jayaram, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, Kalidas Jayaram, Innocent and Kavya Madhavan. It marked the on-screen debut of Kalidas. The music was composed by Ilaiyaraaja. The film won two National Film Awards—Best Feature Film in Malayalam and Best Choreography.
Padmini Ramachandran was an Indian actress and trained Bharatanatyam dancer, who acted in over 250 Indian films. She acted in Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and Russian language films. Padmini, with her elder sister Lalitha and her younger sister Ragini, were called the "Travancore sisters".
Sindhu Menon is an Indian former actress, who has starred in Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam and Tamil films.
Aaptharakshaka is a 2010 Kannada horror film directed by P. Vasu and written by V. R. Bhaskar. The film stars Vishnuvardhan in his 200th Kannada film and posthumous film, along with an ensemble cast including Vimala Raman, Sandhya, Bhavana Ramanna, Avinash, Lakshmi Gopalaswamy, and Komal Kumar. The film is a sequel to the 2004 Kannada blockbuster film Apthamitra also directed by P. Vasu.
Praveena is an Indian actress and dubbing artist who predominantly appears in Malayalam television series and films in addition to a few Tamil series and films. She is known for portraying the role of Goddess Devi in popular series Devi Mahathmyam.
Nandini Ramanna, better known by her stage name Bhavana Ramanna, is an Indian actress who works predominantly in the Kannada film industry. A Bharatanatyam dancer, she has received three Karnataka State Film Awards and acted in Shanti, a film that entered the Guinness Book of Records. Bhavana Ramanna is the director of HomeTown Productions, a production house that conducts dance and music shows.
Kala, known professionally as Kala Master, is an Indian choreographer. She is the director of the Indian reality dance talent show, Maanada Mayilada – where she is one of the three judges. She was awarded the National Film Award for Best Choreography in 2000 for her folk dance sequences in the Malayalam film, Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal. She is also classically trained in dance forms such as Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi and Kathak.
