Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai is an Indian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer. She acts predominantly in Malayalam films along with Telugu and Tamil films with a few 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.
Meena Durairaj, known professionally as Meena, is an Indian actress who predominantly works in the South Indian film industry as well as Hindi cinema. Meena has acted in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi films. 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.
Diana Mariam Kurian, known professionally as Nayanthara, is an Indian actress and film producer who predominantly appears in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. She has also appeared in Hindi and Kannada films. One of the highest paid actresses in India; she was the only South Indian actress to be featured in the Forbes India "Celebrity 100" 2018 list, with her total annual earning credited at ₹15.17 crore. Nayanthara has starred in more than 80 films spanning two decades, and has won numerous awards. She is popularly addressed as the Superstar of Tamil cinema.
Asin Thottumkal, known mononymously as Asin, is a former Indian actress who appeared predominantly in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu films. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. She has received three Filmfare Awards. She began her acting career in the South Indian film industry, but later shifted her focus to Bollywood. She speaks eight languages.
Koduri Marakathamani Keeravani is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer and lyricist, who predominantly works in Telugu cinema. His accolades include an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a LAFCA Award, a Critics' Choice Movie Award, a National Film Award, eight Filmfare Awards and eleven Nandi Awards. In 2023, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri for his contributions towards Indian cinema.
Allu Aravind is an Indian film producer and distributor in Telugu cinema under his banner Geetha Arts. He co-owns the Indian Super League club Kerala Blasters FC.
Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassing four languages, namely, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada. They were introduced in 1954, around the films released in 1952-53 and Filmfare Awards initially recognizing the Hindi film industry. In 1964 awards were extended in Tamil, Telugu, Bengali and Marathi, around the films released in 1963. The inclusion of the Malayalam cinema in the awards came in 1967 while Kannada cinema was recognized in 1970. Each industry is given its own set of creative awards in annual ceremonies that have predominantly been held in Hyderabad and Chennai. Before 1976, the Awards ceremony was held in Mumbai along with Hindi awards. From 1976, Southern region film awards were separated from Hindi and moved to Chennai. Kamal Haasan and Uday Kiran hold the record for being the youngest to win the Best Actor award.
Pradeep Rawat is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Telugu, Hindi, and Tamil language films. Notable for playing villainous roles, Rawat's first appearance was in B.R. Chopra's Mahabharat as Ashwatthama. He appeared in Yug as a British police officer Marshal. He also played various roles in serial Jai Mata Di He was in memorable roles in Bollywood films such as Sarfarosh as Sultan, in Lagaan as Deva, in Ghajini (2005) as Ram and Lakshman, and in its Hindi remake Ghajini (2008) as the title character.
Yaragudipadi Venkata Mahalakshmi, known professionally as Lakshmi, is an Indian actress known for her works primarily in the southern film industry, along with some Hindi films. She made her film debut through a Tamil film Sri Valli in 1961. Her debut as an actress happened with the Tamil film Jeevanaamsam in 1968. In the same year, she also debuted in Kannada and Telugu films with Goa Dalli CID 999 and Bandhavyalu, respectively.
Asin is a former Indian actress who is known for her work in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi language films. She made her acting debut at the age of 15 in the Malayalam-language satirical comedy-drama Narendran Makan Jayakanthan Vaka in 2001. Asin had her first commercial success with the Telugu film Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi (2003). For her performance as a Tamil girl in the film, she received the Filmfare Best Telugu Actress Award. In the same year she won the Santosham Best Actress Award for her role in Telugu film Sivamani. In her next two Telugu releases: Lakshmi Narasimha (2004) and Gharshana (2004), Asin played the love interest of a police officer. Lakshmi Narasimha was a commercial success, while Gharshana received mixed reviews from critics but later gained a cult following.
