KAVYA MADHAVAN-THE MOLLYWOOD'S GIRL NEXT DOOR

Kavya Madhavan born in 9September 19, 1984 in Kasargod,Kerala, India.)is a popular Malayalam cinema actress . Though she normally does regular unimportant heroine roles, she has proved her ability in handling serious roles as well.Kavya Madhavan belongs to the Shaliya community who are traditionally engaged in weaving. Born in the village of Nileshwaram in Kasaragod district, Kerala, India to P. Madhavan and Shyamala. She started to learn dance while studying in Nileswaram Rajas High School. She was the kalathilakam (A title bestowed to the artist who proves her skills in most artistic fields during a Sub District youth festival.) in Kasargod.Kavya entered the industry as a child artist in the film Pookkalam Varavayi (1991) doing the role of a School Girl. She came to public attention when she did the childhood part of the heroine character in Kamal's Azhakiya Ravanan (1996). Since then, she has acted in over 25 films in Malayalam and a few in Tamil. She is noted for having retained her rural Nileshwaram accent. She is not allowed to dub for her movies because her voice does not fit the usual "sweet and soft" voice of typical dubbers. However, she recently has begun to dub for some of her roles, such as Perumazhakkalam.

MEERA JASMINE-THE SOUTH HEROINE SANS PAR

Jasmine Mary Josephy - or more popularly known as Meera Jasmine was born on 15 February 1984. Born and brought up in Kuttappuzha, Thiruvalla, Kerala. She has not family background neither she is from the family of actors! She was not a model or participated in beauty pageants like Trisha or Namitha. She was not known to anybody until she was introduced by Lohithadas in Malayalam movie Soothradharan in 2001. Though film bombed, but she got noticed.

She accepted movies offers despite opposition from her father. Meera joined the film industry without much expectation. Meera was ready to return to her studies if her films fails. Despite her debut failure she was noticed and offered movies after Soothradharan. And she went to receive National Award - apart from 4 Filmfare Awards - Best Female Debut (Run, Tamil) 2002, Best Actress (Malayalam) in 2003, 2006 and 2008.

Meera also received several Kerala State Awards. She has acted in a dozen Malayalam films. She is simple, but good looking actress. Never acted in glamour roles! Nation Award for Best Actress was given to her for excellent portrayal of a 15-year-old Muslim girl married to an older man. She was pitted against contenders like Aishwarya Rai and Sushmita Sen. She has paired against all big stars in Malayalam - Mohanlal, Dileep, Mammootty etc.

She gave some successful Tamil movies as well. After the success of Run in 2002, she worked with Mani Ratnman's Aayudha Ezhuthu. Mercury Pookkal was another successful movie. She has acted with Dhanush, Vijayakant, Bharath.

She is famous in Telugu film industry too. Her debut film was dubbed from Tamil, Run. Later in 2004 she gave some good films in Telugu as "Ammayi Bagundi" and "Gudumba Shankar". She also worked in Kannada film industry... co-starring with Puneet Rajkumar in Maurya. Her another Kannada film Arrasu is also a hit. Bhadra (Telugu) with Ravi Teja is the biggest hit in Telugu. Her other Telugu films are Raraju, Maharadhi, Yamagola Malli Modalaindi, Gorintaku and Maa Aayana Chantipilladu, in which she is paired for a second time with Sivaji.

She is in love with U. Rajesh, a mandolin artist and they planning to marry soon.

She draw ire from devotees of Lord Raja Rajeshwara Temple in Kerala when she prayed and bowed to the Lord. Here non-Hindus are prohibited. The controversy sparked off a protest by devotees. Later she paid ten thousand as penalty to temple authorities

MAMMOOTTY-THE MALLU MEGASTAR OF MOLLYWOOD

Mammootty is the mega star of Malayalam cinema. He is an actor in all senses of the word. It was his childhood dream to act in a movie and become a great star. Mammootty's father, Mr.Ismail is an Agriculturist and his mother, Mrs. Fathima is a housewife. He has a daughter, Surmi and a son, Dulquar Salman

Although a lawyer by qualification, Mammootty always wanted to be an actor. His entry into filmdom was rather late. As bad luck would have it, his first film, Devalokam ('World of Gods'), never saw the light of the day. None other than the colossal figure in Malayalam cinema M. T. Vasudevan Nair discovered him and it was veteran director K. G. George who brought Mammootty's career graph is dotted with highs and lows. His career saw a spectacular rise after the release of Joshi's New Delhi. This film was based on the story, "Almighty" by Irving Wallace. It heralded the arrival of Mammootty the super star. His performance as a victimized journalist, who systematically took revenge on politicians who beguiled him, caught the imagination of many in the film world.Then came his Oru CBI Diary kurippe ('A CBI diary entry'), which was a sort of a landmark, in Malayalam cinema. It brought to fore a new concept of villainy and a refreshing idea of a hero. Without even a single song or dance number, Oru CBI Diary kurippe went on to create box-office history in Kerala. For all these, major credit goes to Mammootty for his enactment of the role of an upright CBI officer .The film made such an impact that two more films Jaagratha, Sethurama Iyer CBI and Nerariyan C.B.I starring Mammootty as Sethurama Iyer, the CBI officer, were made and received very well. This in itself is a record of sorts in the Malayalam film industry, with four movies with the same lead character.

Mammootty touched higher pinnacles of his career in Oru Vadakkan Veeragatha again a M T creation. His depiction of a 'Chekavan'(Usually a person of a warrior clan who would fight for a king or other nobles of the land) won him the top honors of the country, National Award for best acting. It was his acting talent, coupled with his willingness to go to any extent to rationally portray the roles, that helped enabled him to act in both offbeat and commercial movies and other in art movies. Mammootty became almost a regular face in Adoor Gopalakrishnan's films. He starred in three of his movies, Anantharam, Mathilukkal, and Vidheyan .The ease with which he acted as the protagonist in Mathilukkal was also instrumental in winning his first National award for best acting. His performance in a commercially off-beat movie, Ponthan Mada, and Adoor Gopalakrishnan's 'Vidheyan' won him the award for the second time. His performance in "Ambedkar", a Hindi movie by Jabbar Patel, won him the National award for a third time. He is also a recipient of Padma Shri, one of the topmost civilian awards in India.

K.J YESUDAS-THE MALLU MUSICAL MAESTRO

Padmashree Dr. Kattassery Joseph Yesudas


One of the greatest South Indian musicians of all times, was born in Fort Cochin, Kerala, India. His father Mr. Augustine Joseph Bagavathor, was a well known malayalam classical musician and stage actor of his time . His mother, Mrs. Alikkutty Joseph, devoted her time and energy in bringing up her children. In his childhood Yesudas had to face a great deal of hardships because of the meager financial resources of his parents. His father could recognize the boy’s musical talent at a very young age and decided to provide him musical education at any cost. Augustine Bhagavathor himself was his first music Guru. The boy was taught the fundamentals of Carnatic music at the tender age of five. Indian music world soon began to witness the appearance of a new bright star in the horizon. Later several music teachers in and around Cochin gave him valuable guidance he was seeking. It is his passion for music, hard work and dedication that created the musical legend we call Yesudas or more intimately "Dasettan".

Music came as divine grace and paternal inheritance to K.J.Yesudas, one of India’s foremost exponents of classical carnatic vocal music and leading playback singer in all-Indian languages. His classical concerts and film songs programs continue to captivate millions of listeners at home and abroad.

Kattassery Joseph Yesudas was born on January 10, 1940 in Fort Cochin, the ancient port city of Kerala. His father, Augustine Joseph was himself a well-known singer and stage actor who rode the Kerala stage like a colossus for over a quarter of a century. Eldest of the four sons and one daughter of the Joseph couple, Yesudas took to music at a very early age. His first Guru was his beloved father himself, who lovingly and painstakingly led little Yesudas through the basic precepts of Carnatic Music while he was hardly five years old. From there, the budding singer took lessons under several musical wizards in and around Cochin and nurtured his native talents with discipline, dedication and determination.

Yesudas is a reciepent of the Padmabhushan Award from the president of India and progress each day towards achieving musical knowledge through Classical Indian Music, Carnatic Music, Challenging Film and Independent compositions.

Role Models:

Shri.Narayana Guru’s great message, "One caste, One Religion and One God for all Humans", influenced young Yesudas in his dealings with his fellow men. He had his own heroes among the musicians too. Mohammed Rafi, Chembai Vaydhyanatha Bhagavathor and Bala Muralikrishna are the ones he admired the most.

Honors & Awards:

He has already sung more than 30,000 songs for thousands of Indian films in various languages. In 1965, he was invited by the Soviet Government to perform music concerts in various cities of the U.S.S.R. Yesudas is the recipient of The Kerala State Playback Singing Award 16 times since 1970. The President of India conferred on him the coveted title of Padmashree in 1973. Other titles and prestigious awrds he has received include, `Sangeetha Raja' in 1974, `Sangeetha Chakravarthy' in 1988 and `Sangeetha Sagaram' in 1989. He received the award for the best playback singer for the year 1988 from Tamil Nadu Government and Andhra Pradesh Government respectively. Annamalai University honored him with a Doctorate in 1989. The Government of Kerala and `The Sangeeta Nataka Akademi' conferred the title of `Aashtana Gayakan’ – to Yesudas in 1992. The Government of Madhya Pradesh gave the `Annual Latha Mangeshkar Award’ to Sri Yesudas in 1992. Yesudas is the receipient of the 1991 National Award for the best Playback singer. This is the 6th National award that Yesudas has received. The 1992 Tamil Nadu State Government award for the best playback singer was given to Yesudas. For his unique contribution in the field of Music, he was selected for the prestigious NATIONAL CITIZENS AWARD in 1994

Family:

Dr. Yesudas is happily married to Prabha for more than 30 years. They have three sons, Vinod, Vijay and Vishal. The second son Vijay Yesudas, is a budding musician . The family is currently settled in Madras, India and visit Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA time and again for business reasons.

MOHANLAL-THE SUPER DUPER STAR OF MOLLYWOOD

Mohanlal is the superstar of Malayalam Cinema. Born on May 21, 1960, Mohanlal has completed 25 years in Malayalm film industry. Still he is the most popular actor in Kerala.

Beginning of the Great Actor
A B.com graduate from M.G. College, Thiruvananthapuram, Mohanlal started his acting career in the film Thiranottam. But his first released movie is Manjil Virinja Pookkal(1980), in which he played the role of a villain. The film directed by director Fazil was a superhit.

Popular Mohanlal Movies
Famous director Priyadarsan is his good friend and college mate. Mohanlal has worked in the maximum number of films with him. Most of them were major hits. He has acted in different roles in films like Sanmanassullavarkku Samadhanam, Nadodikkattu, Pattana Pravesham, Kilukkam, Poochakkoru Mookkuthi, Vellanakalude Naadu, TP Balagopalan MA, Gandhinagar Second Street, Mukundetta Sumithra Vilikkunnu,Chitram, Rajavinte Makan, Irupatham Noottandu, Devasuram, Sadayam, Kireedam, Chenkol, Ulsavappittennu, Kanmadam, Dasharatham, Rajasilpi, Thazhvaram, Manichitrathazhu, Mukham, Ulladakkam, Nirnayam,Yodha, Narasimham, Spadikam, Ravanaprabhu, Kilichundan Mambazham, Balettan and many others. Mohanlal acted in many music based films which include Bharatham, His Highness Abdullah and Aaram Thampuran.

Awards and Honours received by Mohanlal
He was conferred with Padma Shri in 2001. He bagged National Awards for the Best Actor twice in 1991 and 1999 for the fims Bharatham and Vanaprastham. Mohanlal has also won Jurys Special Award for Kireedam and Producer of Best Film for Vaanaprastham at National Level. He also won the Kerala State Film awards for five times in the Best Actor category for the films T .P. Balagopalan M.A, Ulladakkam, Kilukkam, Abhimanyu, Kalapani, Spadikam, Vaanaprastham and Thanmatra and also Jury Special Award in 1999. He was presented with International Indian Film Academy Awards (IIFA) for the Best supporting Actor for the film Company in 2003. He won FilmFare awards for 6 times and National Film Academy award for Best Actor in 2000 for the films Narasimham and Life is beautiful.

Recent Movies
His latest films are Madambi and Kurukshetra

Mohanlal's Family
Mohanlal is married to Suchitra and has two children Pranav (Appu) and Vismaya(Maya).

Mohanlal's roles in films includes the serious, comedy, romance and action. He is rated as one of the most talented actors in India.

He is also into Business. He has a Film Distribution company, Pranavam, a Film Production Company, Pranavam Arts and he is a Partner of Royal Marian Exports.

ACTRESS PRIYAMANI

PRIYAMANI-PROFILE

Name: Priyamani
Born: 1984
Birth Place: Palakkad
Debut film: Kangalal Kaithu Sei
Mother Tongue: Tamil
Favourites: Music, Ice creams, Chocolates
Priyamani is a model/actress who started her career with the film Kangalal Kaithu Sei, which was a flop at the box-office. Afterwards, she was paired with Dhanush in Balu Mahendra’s Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam, which flopped at the box-office as well.

BACKGROUND
Priyamani is a Tamil born in Palakkad in 1984. She was brought up in Banglore. She started her film career with her debut film in Kollywood called Kangalal Kaithu Sei alongside actor Vaseegaran. The film was a flop at the box-office and she moved on to Malayalam and Telugu films owing to a lack of offers in Tamil films. She made her Telugu debut in Pellaina Kothalo with Jagapati Babu. Priyamani rose to fame with this film. Priyamani has made her Tamil comeback with her film Paruthiveeran starring debutant Karthik Sivakumar. She has also signed on for another Tamil film in which she plays the lead role with actor Jeevan.Priyamani was born in Palakkad to Vasudeva Mani Iyer and Latha ManiIyer . She is the most notorious one in her school days and she has done modeling for Kancheepuram silks, Erode silks and Lakshmi silks. After her 12 th standard it was the famous Tamil Director, Bharathiraja who introduced her into this marvelous Film Industry. Priyamani has a great craze for acting and her favorite actors include Mammooty, Mohanlal and Dilip. Being as very smart talkative girl, she loves chatting with people and her hobbies include music and dance.

Priya Mani made her debut in Tamil as heroine in Kangalal kaithu sei. Though directed by Bharathiraja the film did not do well and Priya Mani shifted over to Malayalam films. She is currently acting opposite Prithiviraj in Sathyam directed by Vinayan. Her second Tamil film is with Balu Mahendra’ Oru kana kalam with Dhanush as hero.

FILMOGRAPHY


YEAR FILM - CO-STARS - LANGUAGE - ROLE
2008 Chintakayala Ravi - Venkatesh - Telugu
2008 Sivavin Manadhil Sandhya - Jeeva - Tamil - Sandhya
2008 Panduranga - Balakrishna - Telugu
2008 Thotta - Jeevan - Tamil
2007 Malaikottai - Vishal - Tamil - Malar
2007 Nava Vasantham - Tarun - Telugu
2007 Yamadonga - Jr. NTR, Mamta Mohandas - Telugu - Maheswari
2007 Toss - Raja, Upendra - Telugu
2007 Paruthiveeran - Karthik Sivakumar - Tamil - Muthazhagu
2006 Madhu - Githan Ramesh - Tamil - Mercy
2006 Pellaina Kothalo - Jagapati Babu - Telugu - Lakshmi
2005 Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam - Dhanush - Tamil - Thulasi
2004 Satyam Prithviraj - Malayalam - Sona
2004 Kangalal Kaithu Sei - Vaseegaran - Tamil - Vidya
2002 Evare Atagaadu - Vallabha - Telugu Priya

ACTRESS SHOBANA -PROFILE

Shobana Chandrakumar
Born March 21, 1970 (1970-03-21)
Kerala, India
Awards won
National Film Awards
Best Actress, Manichithrathazhu (1994)
Best Actress, Mitr, My Friend (2002)

Shobana Chandrakumar (Malayalam: born March 21, 1970) is an exponent of the Bharatanatyam dance and a leading actress of South Indian motion pictures. She was born into a Malayalam speaking family from Kerala, India. Shobana is the niece of the Travancore sisters Lalitha, Padmini and Ragini, all of whom were renowned for their skill in classical Indian dance. She has acted in over 200 movies in 5 languages.

Shobana acted for the first time in a leading role in the Malayalam motion picture "April 18" in 1984, directed by Balachandra Menon. She also acted alongside the Malayalam actor Mammootty in the film Kanamarayathu (1984). Shobana won her first National Film Award for Best Actress from the government of India in 1994 for her performance in Fazil's movie Manichitrathazhu, which was a Mohanlal starrer. She bagged a second National award for best actress in the year 2001 for her role in an English language film Mitr, My Friend, directed by Revathi. Revathi is her very close friend, philosopher and guide.


As a Dancer
Shobhana is an accomplished dancer of Bharatanatyam. She did her dance training at the Chidambaram academy in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Her guru is the legendary Bharatanatyam dancerChitra Visweswaran Shobhana is famed for her Abhinaya, a pivotal element in Bharatanatyam.[citation needed] She performed in Kuala Lumpur before the King and Queen of Malaysia.[citation needed] Shobhana's skilled execution of dance movements and her extraordinary beauty has led many people to consider her as the most beautiful South Indian actress from the 1980s through the 1990s.[citation needed] She is often equaled to the curvaceous beauty of Indian sculptures.[citation needed] Shobhana has founded a school for classical Bharatanatyam dance in Chennai- kalarpana. She was also a part of Mani Ratnam's stage show, Netru, Indru, Naalai. In 1994, Shobana founded Kalarpana. The aim of Kalarpana is to organize annual festivals throughout India. Shobana is well recognized by her performance in the movie Rudra Veena(Telugu movie, 1988) with Chiranjeevi as a great dancer and Social reformer. This will include performances of nationally and globally known artistes to help raise funds that will be ploughed back into training talented artistes who are financially insecure. Under its umbrella, Kalarpana extend its support to the handicapped and the environmental movement.

In 2006 January, the Indian government honored Shobana with Padma Shri title for her significant contributions to cinema and Bharatanatyam.


Personal Life
Shobana is the daughter of a doctor, Anandam and the late Mr Chandrakumar- She is single and is involved in her school as well her creative pursuits full time.