Ambika is an Indian actress known for her works predominantly across the entire the southern film industry films and in several teleserials. She also did one English film (an Indo-American one), to date. She was one of the top south Indian heroines for more than a decade from 1978 to 1989. Her younger sister

Radha Radha ( sa, राधा, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is worshiped as the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. She is the avatar of goddess Lakshmi and is also de ...

was also an actress. They acted together in a number of south Indian films during the peak of their careers.

Personal life

Ambika was born to Karunakaran and Sarasamma at

Kallara Kallara is a small town in the Kottayam district in Kerala, India. Kottayam is located m south. History The name Kallara came from the word "kallukaludae Ara". The history of Kallara dates back to the first ever temple or devasthana c ...

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

Kallara, Thiruvananthapuram Kallara is a village and a Grama Panchayat in Thiruvananthapuram district in the state of Kerala, India. It is located near Karette, a junction in the MC road. Kallara is about 40 km away from Thiruvananthapuram city, 7 km distance from ...

) located in

Thiruvananthapuram Thiruvananthapuram (; ), also known by its former name Trivandrum (), is the capital of the Indian state of Kerala. It is the most populous city in Kerala with a population of 957,730 as of 2011. The encompassing urban agglomeration populati ...

district. Her mother Kallara Sarasamma was Mahila Congress leader during 2014. She has two younger sisters,

and Mallika, and two younger brothers, Arjun and Suresh. Ambika married an NRI, named Premkumar Menon in the year 1988. The couple have two sons and are settled at

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

. However, they have got divorced in 1996. Later, she got remarried to actor Ravikanth in 2000, which also ended in a divorce in 2002. She is currently settled in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

along with her sons.

Career

Ambika started her career as a child artist and later starred as heroine acting in more than 200 South Indian films. Her career as a heroine started with the

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

movie ''Seetha'', which only released very late in her career. But with films such as '' Neelathaamara'' (which was made again in 2009) and ''Lejjavathi'', she became a busy actress within a few years not only in Malayalam, but also in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nati ...

and

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

K. Bhagyaraj Krishnasaamy Bhagyaraj (born 7 January 1953) is an Indian director, actor, screenwriter, music director, producer and politician active mainly in Tamil films. He has also written and directed Hindi and Telugu films and TV serials. As an actor, ...

introduced Ambika in his movie '' Andha 7 Naatkal'' (1981). Ambika did many films with the leading actors of her time such as

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...

Rajinikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 160 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannad ...

, Vijayakanth,

Sathyaraj Rangaraj Subbiah (born 3 October 1954), professionally known as Sathyaraj, is an Indian actor, producer, director and a media personality who has predominantly appeares in Tamil cinema and Telugu cinema, Telugu Cinema. His 240 films also includ ...

Mammootty Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (; born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty (), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam films. He has also appeared in Tamil l ...

Mohanlal Mohanlal Viswanathan (born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor, film producer, playback singer, film distributor, and director who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeare ...

, Dileep,

Shankar Shankar may refer to: People * Shankar (name), including a list of people with the name * Sankar (writer) (Mani Shankar Mukherjee), Bengali writer * L. Shankar, Indian violinist *S. Shankar, Indian film director commonly credited as Shankar * San ...

N. T. Rama Rao Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao (28 May 1923 – 18 January 1996), often referred to by his initials NTR, was an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who served as Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh for seven years over three terms. He starred ...

Krishna Krishna (; sa, कृष्ण ) is a major deity in Hinduism. He is worshipped as the eighth avatar of Vishnu and also as the Supreme god in his own right. He is the god of protection, compassion, tenderness, and love; and is one ...

, Krishnam Raju,

Dr. Rajkumar Singanalluru Puttaswamaiah Muthuraj (24 April 1929 – 12 April 2006), better known by his stage name Dr. Rajkumar, was an Indian actor and singer who worked in Kannada cinema. Regarded as one of the greatest actors in the history of Indian ci ...

Ambareesh Malavalli Huchchegowda Amarnath (29 May 1952 – 24 November 2018), known by his screen name Ambareesh, was an Indian actor, media personality, politician from the state of Karnataka. Alongside Rajkumar and Vishnuvardhan, he is counted in ...

and

Chiranjeevi Chiranjeevi (born Konidela Sivasankara Varaprasad; 22 August 1955) is an Indian actor, film producer and former politician, who predominantly works in Telugu cinema. Chiranjeevi starred in over 150 feature films in Telugu language, Telugu, as ...

. In 1986, she acted in the superhit Malayalam movie ''

Rajavinte Makan ''Rajavinte Makan'' () is a 1986 Indian Malayalam-language gangster film directed and produced by Thampi Kannanthanam and written by Dennis Joseph. It stars Mohanlal as crime boss Vincent Gomes, and also features Suresh Gopi, Ratheesh, Ambika a ...

'', which starred

. She also acted with him the following year in another massive hit movie '' Irupatham Noottandu''. In Tamil, Ambika shot to fame with ''

Kaakki Sattai ''Kaakki Sattai'' () is a 1985 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by Rajasekhar, starring Kamal Haasan, Ambika, Madhavi, Sathyaraj, Rajeev and Thengai Srinivasan. The film, released on 11 April 1985, became a blockbuster at the b ...

'' (1985). At the zenith of her career she costarred with her sister

in ''

Kadhal Parisu ''Kadhal Parisu'' () is a 1987 Indian Tamil-language film directed by A. Jagannathan, starring Kamal Haasan, Ambika and Radha. The film was released on 14 January 1987, Pongal day and became commercial success. Plot The movie starts with Moh ...

'' (1987), where both actresses demonstrated their acting prowess in the roles of two sisters, both with strong but conflicting personalities. After getting divorced, she returned to India from U.S.A. Later in the year 1997, she started acting again in films ''

Periya Manushan ''Periya Manushan'' is a 1997 Tamil-language comedy film directed by Guru Dhanapal. The film stars Sathyaraj and Ravali . The film, produced by G. Seethalaxmi, had musical score by Deva and was released on 30 October 1997. as one among Deepava ...

'', opposite

and '' Simhada Mari'', ''

Maa Nannaku Pelli ''Maa Nannaku Pelli'' () is a 1997 Telugu-language drama film starring Krishnam Raju, Srikanth, Simran and Ambika. The film won two Nandi Awards. The film was a breakthrough for M. S. Narayana. Plot Balaraju ( Srikanth) is the only son of Rag ...

'' with Krishnam Raju. She acted in

Vikraman Vikraman is an Indian film director primarily working in Tamil cinema. Career 1990–1994 He worked as an assistant to actor and director R. Parthiban in ''Puthiya Pathai'' (1989), which was the latter's debut film as a director and an actor. ...

's project ''

Mariyadhai ''Mariyadhai'' () is a 2009 Indian Tamil-language drama film starring Vijayakanth in a dual role as father and son. Meena and Meera Jasmine are the heroines, while Ambika also plays a significant role. Directed by Vikraman, the film was released ...

'' (2009), in which Vijayakanth played a double role of father and son. Unlike Ambika, her younger sister

never returned to movies after marriage and got completely engrossed with supporting her husband's business in different locations, across all Indian cities. She has acted in many advertisements. She is a designer too. She has judged many reality shows also. In a film called ''Medulla Oblangatta '' (2014) she has done lyrics work too.

Awards

* Mirchi Music Awards - Female Icon Award (Malayalam) * Edison Awards for Best Character Role Female 2010 -

* Realistic Awards 2020 - Lifetime Achievement Award * Galatta Wonder Woman Awards - Fan Favourite of 80's

Filmography

In order of languages in which she acted the most to fewest films.

Malayalam

Tamil

Kannada

Telugu

Television

Serials

Shows

References

External links

*
Ambika at MSN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambika Indian film actresses Living people Actresses from Thiruvananthapuram Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema 20th-century Indian actresses 21st-century Indian actresses Year of birth missing (living people) Indian television actresses Actresses in Malayalam television Actresses in Tamil television Actresses in Kannada television Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Telugu television Child actresses in Malayalam cinema