Medha Raghunath is a former Indian model, video jockey and socialite from Chennai. She began her career by hosting Tamil television shows before competing in beauty pageants and working as a model.

Career

Medha began her career in the entertainment industry as a video jockey through Sun TV's dance show ''Thillana Thillana'' and also hosted ''Ilayaganam'' on the Sri Lankan channel,

Shakthi TV In Hinduism, especially Shaktism (a theological tradition of Hinduism), Shakti (Devanagari: शक्ति, IAST: Śakti; lit. "Energy, ability, strength, effort, power, capability") is the primordial cosmic energy, female in aspect, and rep ...

. Her appearance on the show led her to being cast in

Mani Ratnam Gopala Ratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, and producer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and few Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films. Ratnam has won six Nat ...

's romantic drama ''

Alaipayuthey ''Alai Payuthey'' ( ) is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written, co-produced and directed by Mani Ratnam, starring Madhavan (in his Tamil debut) and Shalini. The film explores the tensions of married life between two young pe ...

'' (2000), where she featured as a software engineer and friend of the character portrayed by

Madhavan Madhavan may refer to: People * James Madhavan (died 1973), Fijian politician * Kavya Madhavan (born 1985), Indian actress * Mahesh Madhavan (born 1963/64), Indian businessman, CEO of Bacardi * N. S. Madhavan (born 1948), Indian writer * O. Madh ...

. In 2000, Medha participated and finished second in the

Miss Chennai Miss Chennai was a city beauty pageant in Chennai, India, which operated under the parent organization VIBA between 1999 and 2009. The competition's first winner was Trisha Krishnan, and several of the participants from the pageant went on to mak ...

beauty pageant, finishing behind winner Pooja Nair. As a 20-year-old, Medha took part in the Miss India 2002 contest and ended up in top 13, and was notably featured as one of the lead interviewees in the British documentary ''Bitches & Beauty Queens: The Making of Miss India'' (2002). Medha then participated as India's representative in the 2003

World Miss University World Miss University is an international beauty contest held annually in Seoul, Korea since 1986, with an average of about 70 contestants every year. The event is to select World Miss University Peace Corp Representatives. This event was organi ...

held in

Daegu Daegu (, , literally 'large hill', 대구광역시), formerly spelled Taegu and officially known as the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; it is ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. Medha finished the competition in third place after the representatives from Miss Nepal and Miss Maldives, while also winning the title of Miss Health. For her stage performances, she performed yoga, the dance form of

Bharatanatyam 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 S ...

and the martial art form

Kalari A kalari is a gymnasium or training space primarily associated with the martial art of Kalaripayattu. The word ''kalari'' comes from Malayalam. In the past, village schools in Kerala, typically run by the traditional astrologer families, were k ...

. Soon after her appearance on the pageants, Medha proceeded to take part in fashion shows in India and abroad. She was involved in a litigation case against the organisers of an event in London during 2003, who had allegedly attempted to assault her. In the mid-2000s, Medha signed up to portray a leading role in R. K. Selvamani's police drama film ''

Pulan Visaranai 2 ''Pulan Visaranai 2'' is a 2015 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by R. K. Selvamani and produced by Ibrahim Rowther. It stars Prashanth, Karthika in lead roles with R. K. and Pyramid Natarajan playing pivotal roles. The film, which ...

'' opposite

Prashanth Prashanth Thiagarajan (born 6 April 1973), known professionally as Prashanth, is an Indian actor and businessman, known for his works predominantly in Tamil cinema. Besides Tamil films, he has also appeared in few Telugu, Hindi and Malayalam fi ...

. However, owing to production delays, there was a change in the cast and Medha eventually did not feature. She continued work as a print model, notably featuring in a bikini shoot for two Tamil magazines,

Ananda Vikatan ''Ananda Vikatan'' is a Tamil-language weekly magazine published from Chennai, India. History and profile ''Ananda Vikatan'' was started by Late Pudhoor Vaidyanadhaiyar in February 1926 as a monthly publication. The issue for December 1927 wa ...

and

Kumudham ''Kumudham'' is a 1961 Indian Tamil-language film, directed by Adurthi Subba Rao and written by K. S. Gopalakrishnan. The film stars S. S. Rajendran, Vijayakumari and Sowcar Janaki. It was released on 29 July 1961 and became a commercial succe ...

. She later returned to work as a video jockey on Tamil television, notably appearing on

Kalaignar TV Kalaignar is an Indian general entertainment satellite television channel based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The channel was launched on 15 September 2007 as Kalaignar in respect of former Chief minister of Tamil Nadu M. Karunanidhi. Malaysia ...

in the late 2000s. Medha quit the entertainment and fashion industry after her marriage to doctor Deepu Rajkamal Selvaraj, the son of gynecologist Kamala Selvaraj and grandson of actor

Gemini Ganesan Ramasamy Ganesan (17 November 1920 – 22 March 2005), better known by his stage name Gemini Ganesan, was an Indian actor who worked mainly in Tamil cinema. He was referred to as the ''Kaadhal Mannan'' (King of Romance) for his romantic roles ...

References

Living people Female models from Tamil Nadu Actresses from Chennai Actresses in Tamil cinema Female models from Chennai Indian beauty pageant winners Year of birth missing (living people) {{Asia-pageant-bio-stub