Nandini (born Kavitha; 30 December 1979), commonly known as Kausalya, is an Indian actress and model, who has starred mainly in

South Indian cinema The Cinema of South India refers collectively to the six distinct film industries based in Southern region of India namely Tamil, Telugu, Tulu, Kannada, Konkani, and Malayalam. Although these industries developed independently for a long ...

. She is known as

Nandini Nandini is a female given name. It is derived from the Sanskrit verbal root ''nand'', which means "to rejoice, delight". Literally, ''nandinī'' means a woman who brings joy. The name also specifically refers to a daughter, as a daughter brings ...

in Malayalam film Industry. After starting her career as a lead heroine, she has since gone on to portray supporting roles.

Career

Nandini was pursuing a modelling career, before she debuted in the 1996 Malayalam film ''April 19'' by

Balachandra Menon Balachandra Menon ( ml, ബാലചന്ദ്ര മേനോൻ) (born 11 January 1954) is an Indian actor, director and script writer. He made a number of films in the Malayalam films of the 1980s, 1980s and Malayalam films of the 1990s, ...

. The following year, she appeared in her first Tamil film ''

Kaalamellam Kadhal Vaazhga ''Kaalamellam Kadhal Vaazhga'' () is a 1997 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by R. Balu in his debut and produced by Sivasakthi Pandian. The film featured Murali alongside Kausalya, in her Tamil debut role, while Gemini Gan ...

'' (1997) with Murali and went on to star in several successful films in Tamil like ''

Nerukku Ner ''Nerrukku Ner'' () is a 1997 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written and directed by Vasanth and produced by Mani Ratnam. The film stars Vijay, Suriya, Simran, and Kausalya, while Raghuvaran, Shanthi Krishna, Baby Jennifer, Karan, ...

'' (1997), ''

Priyamudan ''Priyamudan'' () is a 1998 Indian Tamil-language romantic thriller film directed by Vincent Selva. The film stars Vijay in an antihero role and Kausalya as heroine, while Sujith Sagar plays a pivotal role. The story focuses on Vasanth, a you ...

'' (1998), ''

Sollamale ''Sollamale'' () is a 1998 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by Sasi, who made his directorial debut with the film. The film stars Livingston and Kausalya while Karan, Vivek, Anand, and Prakash Raj play supporting roles. T ...

'' (1998), ''

Pooveli ''Pooveli'' () is a 1998 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by Selva. An unofficial remake (with Indian twist) of ''A Walk in the Clouds'' (1995), the film stars Karthik, Abbas, Kausalya and Heera Rajagopal. The film's score and sound ...

'' (1998), ''

Vaanathaippola ''Vaanathaippola'' () is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by Vikraman. The film stars Vijayakanth in dual role. The supporting cast include Meena, Prabhu Deva, Livingston, Kausalya and Anju Aravind. Produced by Venu R ...

'' (2000) and '' Kutty'' (2001). She went on to appear in many Malayalam films including ''

Ayal Kadha Ezhuthukayanu ''Ayal Katha Ezhuthukayanu'' () is a 1998 Indian Malayalam-language comedy-drama film directed by Kamal and written by Sreenivasan based on a story by Siddique. The plot follows the travails of an eccentric and wasted pulp fiction writer, Saga ...

'' (1998), '' Karumadikkuttan'' (2001), '' Sundara Purushan'' (2001), '' Shivam'' (2002), ''Udayam'' (2004), '' Vajram'' (2004), ''

Maanikyan ''Maanikyan'' is a 2005 Indian Malayalam film, directed by K. K. Haridas. The film stars Kalabhavan Mani, Nandini, Jagathy Sreekumar and Siddique in lead roles. The film had musical score by Thej Mervin. Cast *Kalabhavan Mani as Maanikyan * ...

'' (2004) and '' Sooryan'' (2007). She had starred in over 30 films in Tamil and Malayalam, while securing a

Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil The Filmfare Best Actress Award is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for Tamil (Kollywood) films. The awards were extended to "Best Actress" in 1972. Film world, p 43 The year indicates the year of ...

for her performance in ''Pooveli''. She mostly acted in saree-clad and conservative roles. By the mid-2000s, she turned

character artiste A character actor is a supporting actor who plays unusual, interesting, or eccentric characters.28 April 2013, The New York Acting SchoolTen Best Character Actors of All Time Retrieved 7 August 2014, "..a breed of actor who has the ability to be ...

and went on to portray

supporting roles ''Supporting Roles'' ( es, Papeles secundarios) is a 1989 Cuban drama film directed by Orlando Rojas. The film was selected as the Cuban entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 62nd Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee.Ma ...

in films such as ''

Thirumalai ''Thirumalai'' is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language masala film written and directed by Ramana. The film stars Vijay and Jyothika, with Manoj K. Jayan, Avinash (in his Tamil debut), Vivek, Raghuvaran, Kausalya and Karunas in supporting roles. Prod ...

'' (2003) and ''

Santosh Subramaniam ''Santosh Subramaniam'' (spelt ''Santhosh Subramaniyam'' onscreen) is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by Mohan Raja and produced by Kalpathi S. Agoram. The film stars Jayam Ravi and Genelia while Prakash Raj, Geeth ...

'' (2008) and ventured into

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

with the series ''Manaivi'' which aired 436 episodes on Sun TV. In 2004, she attempted to make a comeback as a lead actress but unfortunately several of her projects became delayed. Films such as

Thiagarajan Thiagarajan Sivanandam (born 21 June 1946) is an Indian actor, director and producer in Tamil cinema. Beside Tamil, he has also acted in several Malayalam and Kannada films and a few Telugu films. He is the father of Tamil actor Prashanth and t ...

's ''Police'' which starred her alongside

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 ...

, ''Manadhil'' with Karthik, ''Vendumadi Nee Enakku'' and ''Rosappoo Chinna Rosappoo'' with

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 ...

, were readied but then stalled in quick succession. Kausalya returned to the Tamil industry after 6 years with the action film, ''

Poojai ''Poojai'' () is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by Hari, and produced by Vishal, who also played the lead role alongside an ensemble cast featuring Shruti Haasan, Sathyaraj, Raadhika, Mukesh Tiwari, and Soori. Yu ...

'' (2014).

Personal life

Kausalya was born in Bangalore, Karnataka state. Her father Shivashankar Siddalingappa, a Bangalorean, worked as a depot manager at

Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation - (Karnataka SRTC), is a state-owned public road transport corporation in the Indian state of Karnataka. It is wholly owned by the Government of Karnataka. It serves routes to towns and cities in ...

. Her mother is half Marathi and half Kannada, and was born and brought up in Sri Lanka. Her grandmother was from Sri Lanka. Kausalya remains unmarried.

Awards

;

Filmfare Award South Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassing f ...

* 1998 -

- ''

''https://archive.org/download/46thFilmfareAwardsSouthWinners/46th%20Filmfare%20Awards%20south%20winners.jpg

Filmography

Film

Television

Music video

Web series

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kausalya Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema 20th-century Indian actresses 21st-century Indian actresses Actresses in Telugu cinema Indian film actresses Indian television actresses Actresses in Malayalam television Actresses in Tamil television Actresses in Kannada television Living people Kannada actresses Actresses from Bangalore 1979 births Filmfare Awards South winners