Ophelia Santhaselvi, popularly known as Imsai Arasi ("Queen of Mischief") and RJ Ophelia (RJ Ophe for short), is an Indian

radio jockey A radio personality (American English) or radio presenter (British English) is a person who has an on-air position in radio broadcasting. A radio personality who hosts a radio show is also known as a radio host, and in India and Pakistan as a rad ...

and television show host based 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 ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. She is best known for her unique voice and Tamil slang, humour and rapid speaking rate. She has worked at 92.7 BIG FM and at 94.3 Radio One. Though mainly a radio jockey, she is also active in other fields such as emceeing, television, social media,

films A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

and Supported

Independent music Independent music (also commonly known as indie music or simply indie) is music that is produced independently from commercial record labels or their subsidiaries, a process that may include an autonomous, do-it-yourself approach to recording a ...

and

ians Like hip hop tamizha and

Rap Rakesh Sethulingam Rap Rakesh Sethulingam (born 11 January 1999) better known as Rap Rakesh, is the Pioneer of Music " YouTuber" in Tamilnadu who started the first Independent Artist YouTube Channel and Released two Official songs before the start up of YouTube Cha ...

, and is regularly involved in various social causes.

Early life

Ophelia was born in a

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 ...

middle-class family in

Chennai, Tamil Nadu Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Tamil Nadu, the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and territories of India, Indian state. The largest city ...

. Her father wanted to give her a "rare name" and named her after

Ophelia Ophelia () is a character in William Shakespeare's drama ''Hamlet'' (1599–1601). She is a young noblewoman of Denmark, the daughter of Polonius, sister of Laertes and potential wife of Prince Hamlet, who, due to Hamlet's actions, ends up in ...

, the character from

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

's ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Set in Denmark, the play depicts ...

''. Her father is a retired Traffic Manager of Metropolitan Transport Corporation, while her mother works for

Bharat Petroleum Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited (BPCL) is an Indian central public sector undertaking under the ownership of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India. It operates three refineries in Bina, Kochi and Mumbai. BPCL is In ...

. She has a younger brother. Ophelia did her schooling at Holy Angels Convent,

T. Nagar Thyagaraya Nagar, commonly known as T. Nagar, and historically known as East Mambalam, is a very affluent commercial and residential neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. It is surrounded by Nungambakkam in the North, Teynampet in the Ea ...

and graduated in commerce from Stella Maris College. During her college days, the joy of performing on stage for cultural events and

plays Play most commonly refers to: * Play (activity), an activity done for enjoyment * Play (theatre), a work of drama Play may refer also to: Computers and technology * Google Play, a digital content service * Play Framework, a Java framework * Pla ...

made her realize she wanted to be in media, and she went on to do her

post-graduation Postgraduate or graduate education refers to academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by post-secondary students who have earned an undergraduate (bachelor's) degree. The organization and struc ...

mass communication Mass communication is the process of imparting and exchanging information through mass media to large segments of the population. It is usually understood for relating to various forms of media, as its technologies are used for the dissemination o ...

from

M.O.P. Vaishnav College for Women M.O.P. Vaishnav College for Women (Autonomous) is an arts and science college located in Chennai, Tamil Nadu in southern India. It is affiliated with the University of Madras. The current principal is Dr. Lalitha Balakrishnan who is a member o ...

. She has said that even then she was afraid of talking to strangers, and it was her internship at the

Indian Express ''The Indian Express'' is an English-language Indian daily newspaper founded in 1932. It is published in Mumbai by the Indian Express Group. In 1999, eight years after the group's founder Ramnath Goenka's death in 1991, the group was split betw ...

that helped overcome the fear. In 2006, she was one of four radio jockeys selected by the then upcoming 92.7 BIG FM after a two-month audition process of thousands of candidates.

Career

Radio

Ophelia worked at BIG FM for seven years since June 2006. She hosted the afternoon and later the morning shows, during which time she gained popularity as RJ Imsai Arasi for her humor and style of speech. Her lively afternoon radio shows were markedly different from other placid shows in the same time-band and changed the perception that noon shows were supposed to be calm and mild. After quitting Big FM, she moved to 94.3 Radio One in 2013 and hosted their evening prime-time show for two years. Currently, she works as a freelancer.

Emcee

Ophelia has compered several of Big FM's press meets, award ceremonies and other on-ground events; soundtrack release functions of films including Pichaikkaaran and Osthi; and various other events of corporate companies (including Samsung &

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications industry, telecommunications, technology company, information technology, and consumer electronics corporatio ...

NGOs A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

and government bodies.

Television

In 2012, Ophelia started her television career anchoring School Savari, a weekend kids show on

Chutti TV Chutti TV is a 24-hour Tamil cartoon television channel from the Sun TV Network in India. The target audience are children aged between 3 and 17. It was launched on 29 April 2007, making it Sun TV Network's first ever television channel for kids ...

. In 2013, she hosted Studio 6, a weekly celebrity interview show on

Zee Tamil Zee Tamil is an Indian Tamil language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. The channel started broadcasting on 2008 and is available internationally. The channel broadcasts from Guindy, Chennai, T ...

. Later that year, she moved on to host Comedyil Kalakkuvathu Eppadi, a weekly skit-based comedy show on

Star Vijay Star Vijay is an Indian Tamil language general entertainment pay television channel owned by Disney Star (formerly Star India), a subsidiary of Asianet Star Communications. The channel's headquarters is in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Star Vijay change ...

. She has also anchored several standalone shows of prominent Tamil television channels, and also appeared as a guest or participant in various chat and game shows.

Awards

Ophelia was recognized as the Best Female RJ for the years 2009 and 2012 in the annual Vikatan Awards given by ''

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 ...

'', a leading

weekly Magazine. She has won the RJ of the Year (Tamil) award at the Indian Excellence in Radio Awards (IRF) in 2009 and 2010; her show ''Jill Jill Neram'' was also named the Best Programme Broadcast after 11 am (Tamil) in 2010.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ophelia, RJ Living people Indian radio presenters Television personalities from Tamil Nadu Year of birth missing (living people)