Urvashi (actress)

Last updated

Urvashi
Urvashi kollam.jpg
Born
Kavitha Ranjini

25 January 1969 (Age 55)
Kollam, Kerala, India
Spouses
  • ​
    ​
    (m. 2000;div. 2008)​
  • Shivaprasad
    ​
    (m. 2013)​
Children2
Relatives

Urvashi (born Kavitha Ranjini [1] 25 January 1969) [2] 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. [3] 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. [4] [5]

Contents

Urvashi was a prominent lead actress of the 1980s and 1990s, primarily in Malayalam Films. She has written the films Ulsavamelam and Pidakkozhi Koovunna Noottandu , the latter was also produced by her. She won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Achuvinte Amma (2005), which was her comeback movie after a period of 6 years. [6] She has won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress, with a record five times, which includes three consecutive wins from 1989 to 1991. She has also received two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards including Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize for Magalir Mattum and Tamil Nadu State Film Honorary Kalaivanar Award.

Early and personal life

Urvashi was born to popular drama actors Chavara V. P. Nair and Vijayalakshmi in Kollam district, has resettled in Thiruvananthapuram. Her elder sisters are actors Kalaranjini and Kalpana. [7] Her two brothers, Kamal Roy and Prince had also acted in few Malayalam movies. Prince (Nandu of Layanam fame) committed suicide at the age of 26. [8] She had her primary education from Fort Girl's Mission High School, Thiruvananthapuram, until fourth grade and later at Corporation Higher Secondary School, Kodambakkam until ninth grade, when the family shifted to Chennai. [9] Firstly, Urvashi was cast by director K.Bhagyaraj in his village based film Mundhanai Mudichu . The film was successful and declared super hit at box office. She could not continue her studies since she had become busy with her movie career by then.

Urvashi married film actor Manoj K. Jayan on 2 May 2000. They have a daughter, Teja Lakshmi born in November 2001. However, they got divorced in 2008. Urvashi then married Chennai based builder Sivaprasad in November 2013. The couple had a boy, Ishaan Prajapathi in August 2014. [10]

Career

She acted in around 702 films in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi. She started her acting career as a child artist, at the age of 10, in a Malayalam movie Kathirmandapam, released in 1979, as Jayabharathi's daughter. She acted as Srividya's dance student in the movie Digvijayam, released in 1980, she plays Krishna in the song sequence Madhumaasa Nikunjathil, where her sister Kalpana plays Radha. [11] She has also acted as a child artist in Ninaivukal Maraivathillai, a Tamil movie, in 1983, but it was never released. Then she acted as a heroine, at the age of 13, to Karthik in the movie Thodarum Uravu, which completed shooting in 1983, but released in 1986. [6]

Her first released film as heroine was Munthanai Mudichchu (Tamil, directed by K. Bhagyaraj) in 1983, making her debut movie. Ethirppukal (Malayalam, 1984) was one of her earlier films in Malayalam. During the peak of her career, she starred in M. P. Sukumaran Nair's award-winning film Kazhakam in 1995, without taking a single penny as remuneration. She was awarded Best Actress for this role. She has acted in some advertisements, and has participated in many stage shows also.

She has acted in successful movies with Kamal Haasan which became super hit blockbuster in Tamil cinema. She also hosted Kannada Show Krazy Couple on Zee Kannada

Filmography

Awards and nominations

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shobana</span> Indian dancer and actor (born 1970)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meena (actress)</span> Indian actress (born 1976)

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Meera Jasmine</span> Indian actress

Jasmine Mary Joseph, known professionally as Meera Jasmine, is an Indian actress who appears primarily in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada language films. Meera made her debut in 2001 with the Lohithadas film Soothradharan. She went on to star in various commercial and critically successful films in south Indian languages making her one of the successful actresses of the 2000s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">K. Bhagyaraj</span> Indian actor

Krishnasaamy Bhagyaraj is an Indian director, actor, screenwriter, music director, producer and politician active mainly in Tamil films. He has also written and directed Hindi films and TV serials. As an actor, he has worked in more than 75 films and has directed more than 25 films. He won a Filmfare Best Actor Award for Mundhanai Mudichu (1983). He received Lifetime Achievement Award in SIIMA (2014). He is the editor of weekly magazine Bhagya and has also written several novels.

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ambika (actress)</span> Indian film and television actress

Ambika is an Indian actress known for her work predominantly across the entire southern film industry and in several tele serials. She has also acted in an English film (Indian-American), to date. She was one of the top South Indian heroines for more than a decade from 1976 to 1989. Her younger sister Radha was also an actress. They acted together in a number of South Indian films during the peak of their career. The sisters runs a movie studio called 'ARS Studios', which they converted into a hotel complex in 2013.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kaviyoor Ponnamma</span> Indian Malayalam actress

Kaviyoor Ponnamma is an Indian actress who appears in Malayalam films and television. She began her career performing in theatre dramas before foraying into cinema. She has also acted in TV serials and commercials and has playback singing credits in few films. Ponnamma is a four-time Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actress winner. Her sister Kaviyoor Renuka was also an actress. Often called as the Mother to all actors, she has acted as mother of almost all actors in her career panning over decades. At the age of 20, she played the mother of Sathyan and Madhu in the 1965 movie Thommente Makkal. She gained critical acclaim for acting as the mother of the actor Mohanlal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Srividya</span> Indian actress

Srividya, was an Indian actress best known for her work predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films, along with few Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. In a career spanning for 40 years, she had acted in more than 800 films. In the latter part of her career, she concentrated on Malayalam films. In addition to acting, Srividya occasionally worked as a playback singer as well as carnatic singer. She was also a well trained Bharathanatyam dancer. She was best known for restraint and subtlety in portrayal of varied emotions. She used her own voice for dubbing almost in all movies in all languages. She died in 2006 after battling metastatic breast cancer.

<i>Achuvinte Amma</i> 2005 Indian film

Achuvinte Amma is a 2005 Indian Malayalam-language drama film directed by Sathyan Anthikad and written by Ranjan Pramod from a story by Rajesh Jayaraman. It stars Urvashi, Meera Jasmine and Narain. The music is composed by Ilaiyaraaja. It was also a comeback movie for Urvashi in Malayalam after a gap of six years. The film has won several awards, including the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress (Urvashi), Filmfare Award for Best Film - Malayalam, and Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Malayalam for Meera Jasmine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kalpana (Malayalam actress)</span> Indian actress (1965–2016)

Kalpana Ranjani, better known mononymously as Kalpana, was an Indian actress who appeared in South Indian films, predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil. Kalpana has acted in over 300 films in various South Indian languages. She won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Thanichalla Njan (2012) at the 60th National Film Awards. Kalpana started her career as a child artist in the late 1970s. Although she came into the industry with the intention of being a lead actress, she turned out to be popular among the audiences for her comic roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kalpana (Kannada actress)</span> Indian actress

Kalpana, born Sharat Lata, was an Indian actress who appeared in Kannada films. She was affectionately referred to as Minugu Taare among the film fraternity. She was widely recognised as one of the greatest actresses of Kannada cinema who enjoyed both fan following and critical acclaim. She made her screen debut as a lead actress in the 1963 release Saaku Magalu directed by veteran B. R. Panthulu. During a career that spanned from the early 1960s to the late 1970s, Kalpana appeared in numerous commercially successful as well as critically appreciated films, many of which featured her alongside actor Rajkumar. She worked in a few Tamil, Tulu and Malayalam films as well. Many of her successful films were female-centric, giving ample scope for her performance.

Sripriya is an Indian former actress, film director and politician from Tamil Nadu. She has acted in over 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sujatha (actress)</span> Indian actress

Sujatha was an Indian actress who performed and starred in a variety of unique characters in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films- in addition to few in Kannada and Hindi languages as well. The actress was best known for restraint and subtlety in portrayal of varied emotions. After starring in numerous Malayalam films in her mother-tongue, Sujatha later got introduced to the Tamil film industry by veteran director K. Balachander and producer P.R. Govindarajan as a protagonist in her first Tamil film, Aval Oru Thodar Kathai (1974). It was a critically acclaimed film and launched the actress's first commecrical breakthrough in her acting career. Whereas, her first Telugu picture happened to be a Telugu/Tamil bilingual titled as Guppedu Manasu (1979) in Telugu and was simultaneously shot as Nool Veli in Tamil of the same year. She died of a cardiac arrest on 6 April 2011 in Chennai.

Sumathi is an Indian actress from Madurai, Tamil Nadu. She started her career at the age of two. She starred in many Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi language films.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mallika Sukumaran</span> Indian actress (born 1954)

Mohamallika Pillai, better known as Mallika Sukumaran is an Indian actress and businesswoman, known for her works in Malayalam cinema. She debuted in 1974 with the Malayalam film Utharayanam by G. Aravindan. Since then, she has appeared in over 60 films. She won the Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actress for her role in the 1974 film Swapnadanam.

Sreeja Ravi is an Indian voice artist who has lent her dubbing voice to over 2000 films in total and also performed voices for numerous commercial ads. She started her dubbing career in the year 1975 for the movie Uttarayanam, directed by G. Aravindan. She is the winner of four time Kerala State Film Award, one Tamil Nadu State Film Award and two Kerala Film Critics Awards for dubbing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kavitha (actress)</span> Indian actress, politician

Kavitha Dasaratharaj, known professionally as Kavitha, is an Indian actress and politician who predominantly works in Telugu, Tamil and Kannada film industries, she also acted in few Malayalam movies as well. She is well known for her supporting roles in Telugu-language movies like Aada Paandavulu (2013), Chethilo Cheyyesi (2010), Meenakshi (2005), and Yugalageetham (2010). She hails from Andhra Pradesh and her mother tongue is Telugu. Her husband and her son died due to COVID-19 in 2021.

Sarath Das is an Indian actor and dubbing artist who works in Malayalam films and television. He is known for his role as Lord Krishna in the serial Sree Mahabhagavatham telecasted on Asianet. He has been in the screens for over twenty five years. He received the Kerala State Film Award for Best Dubbing Artist twice.

Kavitha Ranjini, known by the stage name Urvashi, is an Indian actress, dubbing artist, television host, scriptwriter and producer known for her works in the Southern film industry, predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films. She has acted in total 702+ films: Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films

References

  1. ↑ "Kavitha Ranjini is the real name of actress Urvashi". 7 June 2018. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  2. ↑ "Happy Birthday, Urvashi! Mithunam, Achuvinte Amma: 7 Movies of This Malayalam Actress Who Has Performed Varied Roles in Her Career". LatestLY. 25 January 2020. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
  3. ↑ "നായികമാര്‍ എന്തിന് ഭയക്കണം?, Interview - Mathrubhumi Movies". Mathrubhumi.com. 21 July 2010. Archived from the original on 15 October 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  4. ↑ "Urvashi, the mother of all roles". The Times of India. ISSN   0971-8257 . Retrieved 6 February 2023.
  5. ↑ "Why Malayalam Cinema's Usual Rules Do Not Apply To Urvashi". HuffPost. 8 February 2020. Retrieved 6 February 2023.
  6. 1 2 "ഏകാന്തതയുടെ കടല്‍ ഞാന്‍ നീന്തിക്കടക്കും - articles, infocus_interview - Mathrubhumi Eves". Mathrubhumi.com. Archived from the original on 15 October 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  7. ↑ "Popular siblings from the Malayalam film industry". The Times of India . 28 August 2015. Retrieved 18 June 2021.
  8. ↑ "Friday Review : The Urvashi formula". The Hindu . 20 March 2009. Archived from the original on 24 March 2009. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  9. ↑ PK Sreenivasan. "മുന്താണെ മുടിച്ചും പതിനാലുകാരി കവിതയും" (in Tamil). Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  10. ↑ "Actress Urvashi's Second Marriage with Sivaprasad". 30 March 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
  11. ↑ "Cinemaa Chirimaa with Kalpana and Manju Pilla: 22-9-2014". mazhavilmanorama. 22 September 2014. Retrieved 9 March 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.