Pinky Sarkar (born August 6, 1982) better known as Meenakshi, is an Indian actress, who appears 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, nativ ...

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 ...

and Malayalam language films. She is probably best known for her performance as Raasathi in her debut film ''

Karuppusamy Kuththagaithaarar ''Karuppusamy Kuththagaithaarar'' is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language masala film written and directed by A. Govindamoorthy. the song lyrics are penned by Yugabharathi and Vijay Sagar. It stars Karan, Meenakshi and Vadivelu. The film earned mixed r ...

''.

Career

Debut

Meenakshi first appeared in two Telugu ventures, the

historical fiction Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other ty ...

''Hanumanthu'' and the devotional film ''Sri Satyanarayana Swamy'', under her birth name Pinky Sarkar; the latter featured her as goddess

Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...

, with a reviewer from Indiaglitz.com writing that she "failed to emote well".

Breakthrough (2007–2010)

In 2007, she made her Tamil debut in ''

'', playing the role of Raasathi, a first year

medical student A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, MB ...

. She made an impression in the film and was subsequently flooded with similar

girl next door The girl next door is a young female stock character who is often used in romantic stories. She is so named because she often lives next door to the protagonist or is a childhood friend. They start out with a mutual friendship that later often ...

roles. Not wanting to becoming

typecast In film, television, and theatre, typecasting is the process by which a particular actor becomes strongly identified with a specific character, one or more particular roles, or characters having the same traits or coming from the same social or ...

, she rejected all roles, took a break from acting and completed her education before returning to Chennai. In 2009, she had her next Tamil release, ''

TN 07 AL 4777 ''TN-07 AL 4777'' is a 2009 Indian Tamil-language thriller drama film directed by A. Lakshmikanthan. The film stars Simran, Pasupathy, Ajmal Ameer, and Meenakshi. The film's soundtrack, composed by Vijay Antony was released on 12 December 2008. ...

'', which was a remake of the Hindi film ''

Taxi No. 9211 ''Taxi No. 9 2 11'' is a 2006 Indian Hindi-language comedy thriller film directed by Milan Luthria and produced by Ramesh Sippy. The film stars Nana Patekar along with John Abraham in lead roles. It released on 24 February 2006, received positi ...

''. She played the role of Pooja, a "rich extrovert and party loving cosmopolitan girl", for which she went in for a fashion makeover. That year, she starred in two more Tamil films, Sundar C.'s ''

Perumal Perumal (the 'Great One') is the name of a Hindu deity. It was also a medieval Indian royal title of: *Western Ganga dynasty Narayanan, M. G. S. ''Perumāḷs of Kerala''. Thrissur (Kerala): CosmoBooks, 2013. 171. **Sripurusha **Rajamalla **Nitim ...

'' and

Raghava Lawrence Lawrence Raghavendra is an Indian dance choreographer, actor, director, composer, dancer and playback singer. After making his debut as a dance choreographer in 1993, he began looking for acting opportunities. He began his career as an actor in ...

's '' Rajadhi Raja'', besides making a special appearance in a third, Vishal's ''

Thoranai ''Thoranai'' () or ''Pistha'' () is a 2009 Indian action drama film written and directed by Sabha Ayyappan, who previously worked as an associate director for ''Malaikottai'', and produced by Vikram Krishna under the banner G K Film Corporati ...

''; however all films were box office failures. The following year, she was seen in

Karu Pazhaniappan Karuppaih Palaniappan, credited on-screen as Karu Palaniappan, is an Indian film director, actor, and television host who works in the Tamil film industry. He has also hosted the show Thamizha Thamizha on Zee Tamil. Biography Palaniappan hails ...

's '' Mandhira Punnagai'' and ''

Agam Puram ''Agam Puram'' ( ''Two-sided'') is a 2010 Indian Tamil language action film written and directed by Thirumalai. The long-delayed film started production in early 2008 and film features Shaam and Meenakshi in the lead roles with Raja and Anand ...

'', after which she did not act for over three years as she was pursuing her MBA degree and taking care of her father who was not well.

Work after sabbatical (2014–present)

In 2014, she took up a lead role in ''Villangam'' and a supporting role in

Vetrimaaran Vetrimaaran is an Indian film director, screenwriter and film producer, who works in the Tamil film industry. As of 2021, he has won five National Film Awards, eight Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards, two Filmfare South Awards and the Amnesty Inter ...

's ''

Soodhadi Vetrimaaran is an Indian film director, screenwriter and film producer, who works in the Tamil film industry. As of 2021, he has won five National Film Awards, eight Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards, two Filmfare South Awards and the Amnesty Inter ...

'' besides agreeing to perform in a special song in

Ezhil Ezhilmaaran known as Ezhil is an Indian film director who works in the Tamil film industry. He has won 2 Tamil Nadu state awards. He made his directorial debut with the 1999 romantic film ''Thulladha Manamum Thullum'' starring Vijay and Si ...

's ''

Vellaikaara Durai ''Vellakkaara Durai'' () is a 2014 Indian Tamil-language romantic comedy film directed by Ezhil. The film stars Vikram Prabhu, Sri Divya, Soori, and John Vijay. The film commenced shoot from May 2014. The film opened to mostly mixed-to-negative ...

''.

Filmography

* ''All films are in Tamil; otherwise language noted.''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Meenakshi Actresses in Telugu cinema Indian film actresses Actresses in Tamil cinema Living people Bengali actresses Actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses from Kolkata 21st-century Indian actresses 1988 births