Sheela Rajkumar (born 14 June 1992) is an Indian actress and

Bharatanatyam Bharatanatyam () is a major form of Indian classical dance that originated in Tamil Nadu. It is one of the eight widely recognized Indian classical dance forms, and expresses South Indian religious themes and spiritual ideas, particularly of ...

dancer who has worked predominantly in Tamil films.

Career

Sheela is a

dancer and a trainer. She joined the Chennai-based theatre group

Koothu-P-Pattarai Koothu-P-Pattarai is a prominent Tamil theatre group that has organised plays for 31 years. The group has its base in Chennai, Tamil Nadu in South India. It conducts speech training in a theatre speech laboratory and conducts workshops teach ...

where she was performing theatrical arts. Sheela also worked in short films for

Kalaignar TV Kalaignar is an Indian general entertainment satellite television channel based in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. The channel was launched on 15 September 2007 as Kalaignar in respect of former Chief minister of Tamil Nadu M. Karunanidhi. Malaysia ...

's reality show ''Naalaya Iyakunar''. In 2016, she played a small role in Arivazhagan's ''

Aarathu Sinam ''Aarathu Sinam'' () is a 2016 Indian Tamil-language slasher crime thriller film written and directed by Arivazhagan and produced by Sri Thenandal Films. A remake of Jeethu Joseph's Malayalam film ''Memories'' (2013), the film stars Arulnithi, ...

''. Her next film ''

To Let ''To Let'' is the debut studio album from Australian roots A root is the part of a plant, generally underground, that anchors the plant body, and absorbs and stores water and nutrients. Root or roots may also refer to: Art, entertainment, ...

'' was screened at numerous film festivals in 2017 and 2018, and was theatrically released on 21 February 2019. It won the

National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil The Indian Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil is one of the National Film Awards presented annually by the Directorate of Film Festivals, the organisation set up by Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, India. It is one of several aw ...

. She was then roped in her first Tamil serial as a leading role in ''

Azhagiya Tamil Magal Azhagiya Tamil Magal is a 2017 Indian Tamil-language soap opera starring Sathya Sai, Puvi, Subalakshmi and Anju Aravind. It premiered on Zee Tamil on 28 August 2017. The show ended on 14 June 2019 after 457 episodes. The story is of a village ...

'' telecasted in

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, ...

. In 2018, she appeared in the thriller film ''

Asuravadham ''Asuravadham'' () is a 2018 Indian Tamil-language revenge thriller film written and directed by Maruthupandian, and produced by Leela Lalitkumar. It is based on rural areas. Govind Menon scored the music for the film, and cinematography is h ...

''. The next year, she acted in ''

Namma Veettu Pillai ''Namma Veettu Pillai'' () is a 2019 Indian Tamil-language action comedy drama film written and directed by Pandiraj and produced by Kalanithi Maran under the banner Sun Pictures. The film stars Sivakarthikeyan and Aishwarya Rajesh, with a s ...

'' and in 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 ...

-language film ''

Kumbalangi Nights ''Kumbalangi Nights'' is a 2019 Indian Malayalam-language drama film directed by Madhu C. Narayanan. The directorial debut was written by Syam Pushkaran and jointly produced by Fahadh Faasil and Nazriya Nazim under their production house Fa ...

''. In 2020, she played the title role in '' Draupathi which'' was censured for its regressive take on

caste politics In India, a caste is a (usually endogamous) social group where membership is decided by birth. Castes often have related political preferences. Broadly, Indian castes are divided into the Forward Castes, Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes ...

. A year later, she was featured in the progressive political satire, ''Mandela'', which mocks

casteism Caste is a form of social stratification characterised by endogamy, hereditary transmission of a style of life which often includes an occupation, ritual status in a hierarchy, and customary social interaction and exclusion based on cultural ...

. Later she said she was not aware of ''Draupathi'''s politics.

Filmography

Television

WEB SERIES

Awards & Nominations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rajkumar, Sheela Living people Tamil actresses Tamil television actresses Actresses in Tamil television Actresses in Tamil cinema Indian film actresses People from Thanjavur Performers of Indian classical dance Bharatanatyam exponents 21st-century Indian actresses Indian female classical dancers 1992 births Actresses in Malayalam cinema