 |
| Radha |
|
|
|
Radha (Malayalam: രാധ) (born 1965) is an Indian actress popular in the 80s and early 90s. She was popular in the both Tamil and Telugu film industry for more than a decade. She has acted in numerous movies with top actors of the South Indian cinema heroes from Chiranjeevi, Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Sathyaraj, Prabhu, Vijayakanth to Karthik, Suresh, Mohan, Mohanlal, Super Star Krishna, Venkatesh etc. She has acted in over 200 movies in 5 Indian languages (Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi).
Career
Personal lifeRadha hails from Kallada a small village in kollam/qulion Kerala. She is married to a successful hotelier Rajasekaran Nair and has three daughters and one son. Since her marriage she has settled in Mumbai and is into restaurant business with her husband. She pursues her undying passion for the Arts by continuing classical dance lessons alongside her eldest daughter. She has also recently performed at the famous Chidambaram Natarajar temple which she claims was her dream. Her sister Ambika is also a famous actress. Her daughter Karthika Nair started her career as an actress with Josh movie starring opposite to Naga Chaitanya.
CareerRadha was spotted by director Bharathiraja and was cast as a young teenager, and cast in Alaigal Oivathillai in 1981 opposite then newcomer Karthik and named her Radha. The young heroine took everyone in her very first movie. Soon Radha became a hit started acting alongside heroes like Karthik, Mohan and Suresh.
Dubbed as the Saroja Devi of the 80's, between Payum Puli and Rajathi Raja, Radha was the uncrowned Queen of Kollywood. And by the end of eighties, Radha had almost completed a decade of complete dominance in the South. But still, the tag of a great actress still evaded her and though she came up with some spirited performances in movies like Amman Kovil Kizhakale, the label of a glamour doll stuck with her.
Tamil Cinema careerAfter a string of movies where she co-starred with the second line heroes of Tamil movie industry, she was starting to get noticed. Gopurangal Saivathillai proved her acting talents. She played a powerful role as a second wife of Mohan and matched the national award winner Suhasini (who played the first wife) in this movie. Radha played a small role in Tik Tik Tik, a Kamal Haasan starrer, big budget movie. Tik Tik Tik, though was a small role, did Radha some good by taking her into big budget movies and played a significant role in her career. She then starred in a number of Kamal movies like Oru Kaithiyin Diary, Thoongathey Thambi Thoongathey, Kathal Parisu, Jappanil Kalyanaraman and many of them were super duper hits.
Her major break came from her mentor Bharathiraja. Radha was cast in the movie opposite the legendary Sivaji Ganesan. Muthal Mariyathai released in the year 1985. Radha’s striking performance matching Sivaji was a pleasant surprise of the movie. And needless to say, Radha pulled in the crowds and Muthal Mariyathai remains till date as one of the greatest late-pickup super hits in Tamil industry. After Muthal Mariyathai she got a number of challenging roles including movies like Nyaya Tharasu.
It was her senior friend and co-star Suhasini Maniratnam, who moulded her from a glamour idol to a character heroine. Radha still recalls Suhasini's contributions especially with her hair make-up and dialogue delivery.
Tollywood careerIt was Suhasini who brought Radha to Telugu industry where she ruled along with Vijayashanti. She worked hard to climb the ladder and maintain success in Tollywood film cinema. She acted more movies in Tollywood. Radha costarred almost all the leading stars of Telugu in that period including Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna, Krishna, Nagarjuna and Venkatesh. Noted films were Yamudiki Mogudu, State Rowdy etc. In Telugu she had to face some serious competition from Vijayashanti. And Sridevi too dropped down once in a while from Mumbai to steal a hit or two. Despite this , Radha managed to act in the most number of movies opposite big heroes amongst the three. She was the only competitor for Chiranjeevi in dance those days. Recently her daughter also started career in Tollywood, movie name is Josh (it is her daughter first film).
Telugu Films:Chanda Sasanudu (1983)
Director : Rama Rao Taraka Nandamuri
Cast : Rama Rao Taraka Nandamuri, Sharada, Raogopalrao
Goonda (1984)
Director : Kodanda Rami Reddy A.
Cast : Chiranjeevi, Satyanarayana Kaikala, Raogopalrao
Naagu (1984)
Director : Prasad Tathineni
Cast : Chiranjeevi, Radha, Raogopalrao
Donga (1985)
Director : Kodanda Rami Reddy A.
Cast : Chiranjeevi, Radha, Satyanarayana Kaikala
Vintha Mogudu (1985)
Director : T.L.V. Prasad
Cast : Mohanbabu, Radha
Puli (1985)
Director : Raj Bharat
Cast : Chiranjeevi, Satyanarayana Kaikala, Radha
Raktha Sindhuram (1985)
Director : Kodanda Rami Reddy A.
Cast : Chiranjeevi, Nutan Prasad, Satyanarayana Kaikala, Radha
Adavi Donga (1985)
Director : K. Raghavendra Rao
Cast : Chiranjeevi, Radha, Sharada
Ravana Brahma (1986)
Director : K. Raghavendra Rao
Cast : Krishnamraju, Radha, Satyanarayana Kaikala
Kondaveeti Raja (1986)
Director : K. Raghavendra Rao
Cast : Chiranjeevi, Satyanarayana Kaikala, Radha
Jebu Donga (1987)
Director : Kodanda Rami Reddy A.
Cast : Chiranjeevi, Bhanupriya, Radha
Jamadagni (1988)
Director : Bharathi Rajaa
Cast : Krishna Ghattamaneni, Radha
Donga Ramudu (1988)
Director : K. Raghavendra Rao
Cast : Mohanbabu, Radha, Allu Ramalingaiah
Yamudiki Mogudu (1988)
Director : Ravi Raja Pinisetty
Cast : Chiranjeevi, Vijayshanti, Radha
Two Town Rowdy (1989)
Director : Narayana Rao Dasari
Cast : Venkatesh, Radha, Naresh
Manchi Kutumbam (1989)
Director : G. Rammohan Rao
Cast : Krishna Ghattamaneni, Radha, Sharada
State Rowdy (1989)
Director : Gopal B.
Rudranetra (1989)
Director : K. Raghavendra Rao
Cast : Chiranjeevi, Brahmanandam, Nutan Prasad
Qaidi Dada (1990)
Director : T.L.V. Prasad
Cast : Brahmanandam, Radha, Suman
Kondaveeti Donga (1990)
Director : Kodanda Rami Reddy A.
Cast : Chiranjeevi, Vijayshanti, Amrish Puri
Kodama Simham (1990)
Director : K. Muralimohana Rao
Cast : Chiranjeevi, Sonam, Radha
Tamil Films:Alaigal Ooivathilai (1981)
Director : Bharathi Rajaa
Cast : Karthik, Radha, Silk Smitha, B. Thyagarajan
Tik Tik Tik (1981)
Director : Bharathi Rajaa
Cast : Kamal Hassan, Madhavi, Radha, Swapna
Valibamey Vaa Vaa (1982)
Director : Bharathi Rajaa
Cast : Karthik, Radha
Kanney Raadha (1982)
Cast : Karthik, Radha
Ilanjodigal (1982)
Director : Ramanarayanan
Cast : Karthik, Radha
Engeyo Ketta Kural (1982)
Cast : Ambika, Radha, Rajnikanth
Thoongathey Tambi Thoongathey (1983)
Director : Sp. Muthuraman
Cast : Kamal Hassan, Radha
Paayum Puli (1983)
Director : Sp. Muthuraman
Cast : Rajnikanth, Jaishankar, Radha, Manorama
Oru Kaidhiyin Diary (1984)
Director : Bharathi Rajaa
Cast : Kamal Hassan, Revathy, Radha
Naan Mahaan Alla (1984)
Director : S.A.Chandrasekar
Cast : Rajinikanth, Radha
Nalla Thambi (1985)
Director : Sp. Muthuraman
Cast : Karthik, Radha
Muthal Mariyathai (1985)
Director : Bharathi Rajaa
Cast : Shivaji Ganesan, Radha, Satyaraj, Vadivukkarasi
Idaya Kovil (1985)
Cast : Ambika, Radha, Mohan
Mela Thiranthathu Kadhavu (1986)
Director : R. Sundarajan
Cast : Amala, Mohan, M.N. Nambiar, Radha
Amman Koil Kizhakkaalae (1986)
Director : R. Sundarajan
Cast : Vijaykanth, Radha, Senthil
Ninaive Oru Sangeetham (1987)
Cast : Vijayakanth, Radha
Kaadhal Parisu (1987)
Director : A. Jagannathan
Cast : Kamal Hassan, Ambika, Radha
Raajadhi Raaja (1989)
Cast : Rajnikanth, Radha, Nadia
Jallikkattu (1987)
Cast : Shivaji Ganesan, Radha, Satyaraj
Anand (1987)
Director : C.V. Rajendran
Cast : Prabhu, Radha
Malayalam Films:Revathikkoru Pavakkutty (1986)
Director : Sathyan Anthikad
Cast : Gopi, Radha, Mohanlal
Ennathe Programme (1991)
Director : P.G. Viswambharan
Cast : Mukesh, Siddique, Sainuddin
