Kanaka Vijayalakshmi, known by her stage name Madhavi is an Indian actress known for her works in

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 wa ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of North India, northern, Central India, centr ...

, Tamil 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 ...

films. In a career spanning of almost 2 decades she has been featured in around 300 films and was hailed as one of the leading actresses of South Indian cinema in the 1980s.

Early life

Madhavi was born in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

, India to Sasirekha and Govindaswamy. She grew up with a sister and a brother, named Keerthi Kumari and Dhananjay respectively. She learnt

Bharat Natyam Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of ...

from Uma Maheswari and folk dance from Bhatt from an early age and gave more than a thousand dance performances. She attended Stanley Girls High School in Hyderabad, Abids Branch.

Career

Director Dasari Narayana Rao gave her a starring role in the

film ''Thoorupu Padamara'' when she was a teenager. The film became a huge hit. She acted in a number of films with Telugu actor

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, as well as some film ...

. Her first movie with Chiranjeevi was '' Intlo Ramayya Veedhilo Krishnayya'' in 1982. She acted again with Chiranjeevi in the movie '' Khaidi'' which was a massive hit. Her last movie in Telugu was '' Big Boss'' (another Chiranjeevi film). K. Balachander then cast her in a supporting role in his Telugu film '' Maro Charitra'' (1978). She reprised her role in its Hindi remake '' Ek Duuje Ke Liye'' (1981), which became the top-grossing film of 1981. In both films, she played a lonely wealthy woman who falls in love with Kamal Haasan's character. She earned a Filmfare Award nomination as Best Supporting Actress. K. Balachander introduced her to the Tamil film industry with '' Thillu Mullu'' (1981), opposite Rajinikanth. By the end of the decade, she starred opposite Amitabh Bachchan in the Hindi film '' Agneepath'' (1990). She appeared in many Malayalam films especially in those starring

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 appe ...

and

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 films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada ...

. She portrayed Unniyarcha in the National Award-winning movie '' Oru Vadakkan Veeragadha''. Her portrayal as a mother who dies of leukemia in ''

Akashadoothu ''Akashadoothu'' is a 1993 Indian Malayalam family drama film directed by Sibi Malayil and written by Dennis Joseph, with Madhavi and Murali in the lead roles. The film tells the tale of a woman suffering from leukemia. The plot of the film w ...

'' won her the Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actress and

Filmfare Award for Best Actress The Filmfare Award for Best Actress is given by ''Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films, to recognise the female actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role. The award was first given in 1954 ...

for 1993. Other films include '' Ormakkayi'', ''Changatham'', '' Novemberinte Nashtam'' and '' Nombarathi Poovu''. She has acted in many Kannada movies alongside

actors including Dr. Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan, Anant Nag and Ambareesh. With Rajkumar she acted in many movies including '' Haalu Jenu'', '' Bhagyada Lakshmi Baramma'', '' Anuraga Aralithu'', '' Shruthi Seridaaga'', '' Jeevana Chaitra'', '' Aakasmika'', '' Odahuttidavaru'', '' Haalu Jenu'' and '' Malaya Marutha''. Madhavi acted alongside Kamal Haasan in '' Raja Paarvai'', '' Tik Tik Tik'', '' Kaakki Sattai'', '' Sattam'', ''Ellam Inba mayam'' and '' Mangamma Sabadham''. Her films with Rajinikanth include ''

Garjanai ''Garjanai'' () is a 1981 Indian Tamil-language film directed by C. V. Rajendran starring Rajinikanth and Madhavi . Music was scored by Ilaiyaraaja. The film was simultaneously shot in Malayalam as ''Garjanam'' and in Kannada as ''Garjane''. Al ...

'', '' Thillu Mullu'', '' Thambikku Entha Ooru'', '' Un Kannil Neer Vazhindal'' and '' Viduthalai''. She was in ''Enga Oor Kannagi'', '' Neethi Devan Mayakkam'' and ''Nirabaraadhi''. Most of her author-backed roles were in Malayalam films. She has won three Kerala State Film Awards, one for Best Actress and two for Second Best Actress.

Personal life

In 1996, her Hindu spiritual teacher Swami Rama arranged her marriage to one of his followers, a pharmaceutical businessman named Ralph Sharma. Ralph first met Swami Rama at the age of 32 at the Himalayan Institute of Yoga Science and Philosophy., and Madhavi first met him in 1995. They were married on 14 February 1996. They have three daughters and live in

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York (state), New York; on the ea ...

Awards and honours

Partial filmography

In order of languages from most to fewest films

Telugu

Malayalam

Complete list of Madhavi's Malayalam Movies are available from the MSI Database.

Hindi

Tamil

Kannada

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Madhavi Living people Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses from Hyderabad, India Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema Kerala State Film Award winners Filmfare Awards South winners Actresses in Odia cinema Indian film actresses 20th-century Indian actresses Year of birth missing (living people)