Ambika is an Indian actress known for her works predominantly across the entire the southern film industry films and in several teleserials. She also did one English film (an Indo-American one), to date. She was one of the top south Indian heroines for more than a decade from 1978 to 1989. Her younger sister

Radha Radha ( sa, राधा, ), also called Radhika, is a Hindu goddess and the chief consort of the god Krishna. She is worshiped as the goddess of love, tenderness, compassion, and devotion. She is the avatar of goddess Lakshmi and is also de ...

was also an actress. They acted together in a number of south Indian films during the peak of their careers.

Personal life

Ambika was born to Karunakaran and Sarasamma at

Kallara Kallara is a small town in the Kottayam district in Kerala, India. Kottayam is located m south. History The name Kallara came from the word "kallukaludae Ara". The history of Kallara dates back to the first ever temple or devasthana c ...

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...

,( Kallara, Thiruvananthapuram) located in Thiruvananthapuram district. Her mother Kallara Sarasamma was Mahila Congress leader during 2014. She has two younger sisters,

and Mallika, and two younger brothers, Arjun and Suresh. Ambika married an NRI, named Premkumar Menon in the year 1988. The couple have two sons and are settled at

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territor ...

. However, they have got divorced in 1996. Later, she got remarried to actor Ravikanth in 2000, which also ended in a divorce in 2002. She is currently settled 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 ...

along with her sons.

Career

Ambika started her career as a child artist and later starred as heroine acting in more than 200 South Indian films. Her career as a heroine started with the

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 ...

movie ''Seetha'', which only released very late in her career. But with films such as '' Neelathaamara'' (which was made again in 2009) and ''Lejjavathi'', she became a busy actress within a few years not only in Malayalam, but also in Tamil and Kannada. K. Bhagyaraj introduced Ambika in his movie '' Andha 7 Naatkal'' (1981). Ambika did many films with the leading actors of her time such as

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali l ...

Rajinikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor, producer and screenwriter. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 160 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, Kannad ...

Vijayakanth Narayanan Vijayaraj Alagarswami (born 25 August 1952), better known by his stage name Vijayakanth, is an Indian politician and former actor who has worked predominantly in Tamil cinema. He was the Leader of the Opposition in the Tamil Nadu Leg ...

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 ...

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 cinema, Malayalam films. He has also appeared in Tamil l ...

, Mohanlal, Dileep, Shankar, N. T. Rama Rao, Krishna, Krishnam Raju, Dr. Rajkumar, Ambareesh and Chiranjeevi. In 1986, she acted in the superhit Malayalam movie '' Rajavinte Makan'', which starred Mohanlal. She also acted with him the following year in another massive hit movie '' Irupatham Noottandu''. In Tamil, Ambika shot to fame with '' Kaakki Sattai'' (1985). At the zenith of her career she costarred with her sister

in ''

Kadhal Parisu ''Kadhal Parisu'' () is a 1987 Indian Tamil-language film directed by A. Jagannathan, starring Kamal Haasan, Ambika and Radha. The film was released on 14 January 1987, Pongal day and became commercial success. Plot The movie starts with Moh ...

'' (1987), where both actresses demonstrated their acting prowess in the roles of two sisters, both with strong but conflicting personalities. After getting divorced, she returned to India from U.S.A. Later in the year 1997, she started acting again in films ''

Periya Manushan ''Periya Manushan'' is a 1997 Tamil-language comedy film directed by Guru Dhanapal. The film stars Sathyaraj and Ravali . The film, produced by G. Seethalaxmi, had musical score by Deva and was released on 30 October 1997. as one among Deep ...

'', opposite

and '' Simhada Mari'', '' Maa Nannaku Pelli'' with Krishnam Raju. She acted in Vikraman's project '' Mariyadhai'' (2009), in which

played a double role of father and son. Unlike Ambika, her younger sister

never returned to movies after marriage and got completely engrossed with supporting her husband's business in different locations, across all Indian cities. She has acted in many advertisements. She is a designer too. She has judged many reality shows also. In a film called ''Medulla Oblangatta '' (2014) she has done lyrics work too.

Awards

* Mirchi Music Awards - Female Icon Award (Malayalam) * Edison Awards for Best Character Role Female 2010 - Mariyadhai * Realistic Awards 2020 - Lifetime Achievement Award * Galatta Wonder Woman Awards - Fan Favourite of 80's

Filmography

In order of languages in which she acted the most to fewest films.

Malayalam

Tamil

Kannada

Telugu

Television

Serials

Shows

References

External links

*
Ambika at MSN
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ambika Indian film actresses Living people Actresses from Thiruvananthapuram Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema 20th-century Indian actresses 21st-century Indian actresses Year of birth missing (living people) Indian television actresses Actresses in Malayalam television Actresses in Tamil television Actresses in Kannada television Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Telugu television Child actresses in Malayalam cinema