Asha Kelunni Nair (born 8 July 1966), better known by her

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

Revathi, is an Indian actress and director, known for her works predominantly in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

and

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

cinema - in addition to

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

Hindi Modern Standard Hindi (, ), commonly referred to as Hindi, is the Standard language, standardised variety of the Hindustani language written in the Devanagari script. It is an official language of India, official language of the Government ...

and

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

films. She was one of the most successful leading actresses of South Indian cinema and has won several accolades, including three

National Film Awards The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...

, and seven

Filmfare Awards South The Filmfare Awards South are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Telugu cinema, Tamil cinema, Malayalam cinema and Kannada cinema. They are presented by ''Filmfare'' magazine of The Times Group. When it was intr ...

. She also won the

Kerala State Film Award The Kerala State Film Awards are the film awards for a cinema of kerala, motion picture made in Kerala. The awards started in 1969 by the Department of Cultural Affairs (Kerala), Department of Cultural Affairs, Government of Kerala and sin ...

for her performance in ''

Bhoothakaalam ''Bhoothakaalam'' () is a 2022 Indian Malayalam-language psychological horror film written and directed by Rahul Sadasivan, starring Shane Nigam and Revathy. The film is produced by Anwar Rasheed under the banner Plan T Films in association wi ...

'' (2022).

Early life

Revathi was born as Asha Kelunni Nair to Kelunni, a major in the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

, and Lalitha Kelunni in

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

, Kerala. When she was in school, she took part in a fashion show. Group photos were taken during the show and a photo was chosen to be the cover of a popular Tamil magazine. This happened to be her photo, which was seen by the director

Bharathiraja Bharathiraja ( born 17 July 1941) is an Indian film director, producer, screenwriter, and actor who works mainly in the Tamil film industry. Making his debut in 1977 with ''16 Vayathinile'', he is known for realistic and sensitive portrayals of ...

, who at that time was on the lookout for a new heroine for his latest venture, ''

Mann Vasanai ''Mann Vasanai'' () is a 1983 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by Bharathiraja. The film stars Pandiyan and Revathi, with Vinu Chakravarthy, Gandhimathi, and Y. Vijaya in supporting roles. It was released on 16 September ...

''.

Career

She made her acting debut with the Tamil film ''

'' in 1983. The film was a silver jubilee hit and she was rewarded with a

Filmfare Special Award – South The Filmfare Special Jury Award is given by the '' Filmfare Magazine'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards South for South Indian films. It was decided on 17th Annual Filmfare Awards and started from 20th Annual Filmfare Awards held in 1973. I ...

. She then made her Malayalam film debut with the movie titled ''

Kattathe Kilikkoodu ''Kattathe Kilikkoodu'' () is a 1983 Indian Malayalam-language drama film directed by Bharathan and written by T. Damodaran from a story by Nedumudi Venu. The film was produced by P. V. Gangadharan and stars Bharat Gopy, Mohanlal, Srividya ...

'' in 1983. This film too hit the gold at the box office and was among her biggest hits of the 1980s. . She was introduced to Telugu film industry with 1984 films, ''

Seethamma Pelli ''Seethamma Pelli'' () is a 1984 Indian Telugu-language drama film directed by Bapu. A remake of the 1978 Tamil film ''Mullum Malarum'', it stars Mohan Babu, Murali Mohan, Mucherla Aruna and Revathi in her Telugu film debut. The film was release ...

'' by director Bapu and '' Manasa Veena''. Revathy went on to play a blind, rape-survivor Seetha in Tamil in Mahendran’s ''

Kai Kodukkum Kai ''Kai Kodukkum Kai'' () is a 1984 Indian Tamil-language film written and directed by Mahendran, starring Rajinikanth and Revathi. It is an extended version of ''Munithayi'' written by Eeswarachandra – the third segment of the 1976 Kannada a ...

'' (1984) opposite

Rajinikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 170 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, ...

. Revathy went on to play Seetha in '' Pudhumai Penn'' (1984) directed by

. The same year she also did ''

Vaidehi Kathirunthal ''Vaidehi Kathirunthal'' () is a 1984 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by R. Sundarrajan. The film stars Vijayakanth and Revathi as two villagers, Vellaisamy and Vaidehi, whose lives undergo a drastic turn when t ...

'', directed by

R. Sundarrajan R. Sundarrajan is an Indian film director, actor, comedian and writer for Tamil language films. Active primarily in the 1980s and the 1990s as a filmmaker, he appeared more often as an actor thereafter. Sundarajan is known for his silver jubil ...

She was versatile in her choice of roles and often played strong, relatable women characters. Her big break, the one that put her name high on the charts, was her portrayal of Divya, a very spirited and headstrong girl who transforms into a

woman A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or Adolescence, adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functi ...

through the course of the movie, in

Mani Ratnam Gopalaratnam Subramaniam (born 2 June 1956), known professionally as Mani Ratnam, is an Indian film director, film producer and screenwriter who predominantly works in Tamil cinema and a few Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. H ...

’s ''

Mouna Ragam ''Mouna Ragam'' ( ) is a 1986 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by Mani Ratnam, and produced by G. Venkateswaran. The film stars Mohan and Revathi, with Karthik in a guest appearance. V. K. Ramasamy, Ra. Sank ...

'' (1986). She was cast opposite

Kamal Haasan Parthasarathy Srinivasan (born 7 November 1954), known professionally as Kamal Haasan, is an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Considered as one of the most accomplished actors of Indian Cinema, Haas ...

in ''

Punnagai Mannan ''Punnagai Mannan'' () is a 1986 Indian Tamil-language musical romantic drama film written and directed by K. Balachander. The film stars Kamal Haasan and Revathi in the lead roles, with Srividya, Rekha, Delhi Ganesh, Sudarshan and Sundar Kri ...

'' in 1986. Revathi won several accolades for her role in the film. The film too was a huge hit and established her as one of the most sought after actress of Tamil film industry. She finally won her first Best Actress Award for her splendid performance in the Malayalam film ''

Kakkothikkavile Appooppan Thaadikal ''Kakkothikkavile Appooppan Thaadikal'' ( English: ) is a 1988 Indian Malayalam-language drama film produced jointly by Ousepachan Vaalakuzhy and Fazil, directed by Kamal and written by Fazil. The film is heroine-oriented, in which Revathi a ...

'' in 1988. She won her Best Actress Award for Tamil film industry with the film titled ''

Kizhakku Vaasal ''Kizhakku Vaasal'' () is a 1990 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed and co-written by R. V. Udayakumar. The film stars Karthik, Revathi and Khushbu. It was released on 12 July 1990 and ran for over 175 days in theatres. In 199 ...

'' in 1990. She gave hits after hits and gave one of her finest performance in

Priyadarshan Priyadarshan Soman Nair (born 30 January 1957) is an Indian film director and screenwriter. He has worked primarily in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam and Hindi cinema, Hindi cinema since 1982, directing over 90 films in multiple Indian languages, ...

’s Malayalam film ''

Kilukkam ''Kilukkam'' () is a 1991 Indian Malayalam-language comedy drama film directed by Priyadarshan and written by Venu Nagavalli. The story set in Ooty revolves around tourist guide Joji (Mohanlal) and photographer Nishchal (Jagathy Sreekumar). They ...

'' (1991). She made her debut in Hindi with

Suresh Krissna Suresh Krissna (born 25 June 1959) is an Indian film director who has directed Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi Language films. His first independent film as a director was '' Sathya'' (1988), with Kamal Haasan. He is well known for h ...

’s ''

Love Love is a feeling of strong attraction and emotional attachment (psychology), attachment to a person, animal, or thing. It is expressed in many forms, encompassing a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most su ...

'' (1991), co-starring

Salman Khan Abdul Rashid Salim Salman Khan (; born 27 December 1965) is an Indian actor, film producer, and television personality who predominantly works in Hindi films. In a career spanning over three decades, his awards include two National Film Awa ...

. She then won a

National Film Award The National Film Awards are awards for artistic and technical merit given for "Excellence within the Cinema of India, Indian film industry". Established in 1954, it has been administered, along with the International Film Festival of India ...

under the category of Best Supporting Actress for her Tamil film ''

Thevar Magan ''Thevar Magan'' ( or ) is a 1992 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language Drama (film and television), drama film directed by Bharathan, and written and produced by Kamal Haasan. It stars Sivaji Ganesan, Haasan, Revathi, Gautami and Nassar (acto ...

'' in 1992. She was at the peak of her career in the early 1990s. She also gave occasional appearance in Telugu and Kannada films as well. Revathy again won the

Filmfare Award The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Indian cinema.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were introduced by Filmfare magazine of The Time ...

Balu Mahendra Balanathan Benjamin Mahendran (20 May 1939 13 February 2014), commonly known as Balu Mahendra, was a Sri Lankan Tamil cinematographer, director, screenwriter and film editor who worked in various Indian film industries, primarily in Tamil ...

’s ''

Marupadiyum ''Marupadiyum'' () is a 1993 Indian Tamil-language drama film written, filmed and directed by Balu Mahendra. The film stars Revathi, Nizhalgal Ravi, Arvind Swamy and Rohini. A remake of the 1982 Hindi film '' Arth'', it focuses on Thulasi, a w ...

'' (1993). The golden run lasted until the end of the 1990s, after appearing in some of her most well-regarded films in that decade '' Anjali'' (1990), ''Thevar Magan'' (1992), '' Magalir Mattum'' (1994) were already behind her. She has also won the

Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize Recipients Here is a list of the award winners and the films for which they won. * The year mentioned refers to the year in which the films released. This is the list of Winners of Jury's Special Award See also * Tamil cinema * Cinema of Indi ...

for ''

Thalaimurai ''Thalaimurai'' () is a 1998 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by Saravana Pandian and produced by M. K. Hari Shankar. The film stars director K. S. Adhiyaman in leading role along with Rajkiran, Kanaka, Bhanupriya, Revathi and Rajkapo ...

'' in 1998. Abhishekh Bachchan Revathi and Amithabh Bhachchan still3

Hindi audiences have savoured Revathi in ''

Margarita with a Straw ''Margarita with a Straw'' is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Shonali Bose. It stars Kalki Koechlin as an Indian teenager with cerebral palsy who relocates to America for her undergraduate education and comes of age follow ...

'' (2014) and '' 2 States'' (2014). She has appeared in the Tamil films ''

Pa Paandi ''Pa Paandi'' (also known as ''Power Paandi'') is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film written, directed and produced by Dhanush, in his directorial debut. It stars Rajkiran in the titular role, alongside Revathi, Prasanna, Chaya Sing ...

'' (2017), '' Jackpot'' (2019), and in the Malayalam ''

Virus A virus is a submicroscopic infectious agent that replicates only inside the living Cell (biology), cells of an organism. Viruses infect all life forms, from animals and plants to microorganisms, including bacteria and archaea. Viruses are ...

'' (2019). She was seen in the bilingual Telugu and Hindi film ''

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

'' (2022), where she portrayed

Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan, AC (15 March 1977 – 28 November 2008) was an Indian Army officer, who was serving in the 51 Special Action Group of the National Security Guard on deputation. He was killed in action during the 2008 Mumbai attacks ...

's mother, Dhanalakshmi. In addition to acting, Revathi has directed two features (''

Mitr, My Friend ''Mitr, My Friend'' is a 2002 Indian English-language drama film directed by Revathi in her directorial debut, and written by V. Priya and Sudha Kongara. The film stars Shobana, Nasir Abdullah and Preeti Vissa. Set partly in India and the US the f ...

'' and '' Phir Milenge'') and contributed an episode each to the anthology films ''

Kerala Cafe ''Kerala Cafe'' is a 2009 Indian Malayalam-language anthology film consisting of ten short film segments, directed by Ranjith, M. Padmakumar, Shankar Ramakrishnan, Shaji Kailas, Uday Ananthan, Anjali Menon, B. Unnikrishnan, Shyamaprasad, Anw ...

'' and the unreleased ''

Mumbai Cutting ''Mumbai Cutting'' is a 2008 Indian Hindi-language anthology film comprising eleven short films, telling eleven different stories based on life in Mumbai, which are directed by a host of eleven directors: Anurag Kashyap, Sudhir Mishra, Rahul Dho ...

''. She won

Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress The Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress is an award presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India since 1969 to an actress for the best performance within the Malayalam cinema, Malayalam film industry. Until 1997, the awards w ...

and Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress – Malayalam in ''

'' (2022).

Personal life

Revathi married cinematographer and director

Suresh Chandra Menon Suresh Chandra Menon is an Indian actor, cinematographer and film director who works in Malayalam and Tamil films. Personal life After meeting Revathi during a film shoot of '' Marumagal'' (1986), they fell in love and married in 1986 with the ...

in 1986. The couple did not have any children. However, following differences between them, they started living separately from 2002 and were granted divorce on 23 April 2013 by Chennai Additional Family Court. In 2018, she revealed that she has a five-year old biological daughter through

in vitro fertilisation In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is a process of fertilisation in which an ovum, egg is combined with spermatozoon, sperm in vitro ("in glass"). The process involves monitoring and stimulating the Ovulation cycle, ovulatory process, then removing ...

In the media

Revathi is a trained

Bharatanatyam ''Bharatanatyam'' is a Indian classical dance form that came from Tamil Nadu, India. It is a classical dance form recognized by the Sangeet Natak Akademi, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas of Hinduism and Jainism.< ...

dancer, having studied since the age of seven and performed her arangetram in

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

in 1979. She has been considered one of the all-time top actresses of Tamil cinema and South Indian cinema. She was one of the most successful leading actresses of South Indian cinema. Revathi was the only South Indian actress of 80s and 90s to win the Filmfare best actress award in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, including three consecutive wins in Tamil. Apart from films, Revathi has been involved in a variety of social organisations, the most notable being the Banyan, Ability foundation, Tanker foundation and Vidyasagar, and has also served as a member of several

film festival A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more movie theater, cinemas or screening venues, usually annually and in a single city or region. Some film festivals show films outdoors or online. Films may be of recent ...

s including the

Chennai International Film Festival The Chennai International Film Festival (CIFF) is a festival organised in the city of Chennai, India, by a film society, the Indo Cine Appreciation Foundation (ICAF), with the support of government of Tamil Nadu, The Government of Tamil Nadu, ...

and the

International Film Festival of India The International Film Festival of India (IFFI), founded in 1952, is an annual film festival currently held in Goa, on the western coast of India. The festival aims at providing a common platform for the cinemas of the world to project the excel ...

Awards

References

External links

* * * {{Authority control Living people Actresses in Tamil cinema 21st-century Indian people 20th-century Indian actresses Actresses from Kochi Actresses in Kannada cinema Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Telugu cinema Indian film actresses Indian women film directors Hindi-language film directors Actresses in Malayalam cinema Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners Filmfare Awards South winners Malayalam film directors Best Supporting Actress National Film Award winners Kerala Film Critics Awards winners Actresses in Malayalam television Indian television actresses Television personalities from Tamil Nadu 1966 births 21st-century Indian actresses Indian voice actresses Film directors from Kochi Television personalities from Kerala Actresses in Tamil television Actresses in Telugu television Women artists from Kerala Tamil television directors Tamil television writers