Meena (actress)

Meena started her career in 1982 as a child artist in the film Nenjangal, featuring Sivaji Ganesan in the lead role after Ganesan saw her at a birthday party.[8] Meena was still very young at that time. Her mother Rajamallika brought her to A.M. Ratnam's office for an offer. Even though she looked chubby, they felt she fitted the bill. She has acted in several films along with Dr. Sivaji Ganesan and Rajinikanth as a child artist.[8] Meena acted in Kollywood by appearing as a child artiste alongside Rajinikanth in the movie Anbulla Rajinikanth, in which she acted as a terminally ill child who warms up to Rajinikanth —that became a major pointer in her career growth. After the success of that movie, she became a child artist in South Indian movies. She says of Ganesan that "I feel extremely proud to have been discovered by the legend". She appeared in over 45 films as a child.[8]

Meena has been one of the top star pairing up with every big star down South .[9] She made her debut in Telugu beside Akkineni Nageswara Rao in Seetharamaiah Gari Manavaralu, where Meena played his granddaughter Seeta. The film was showcased among the Indian panorama section, at the 1991 International Film Festival of India. The film was made under the banner VMC Productions. She won Nandi Award for Best Actress from the Government of Andhra Pradesh for Seetharamaiah Gari Manavaralu.

While she made her debut as a leading lady in Tamil film Oru Pudhiya Kadhai and played heroine roles in more than three dozen films, and also starred in Malayalam and Kannada films, her first role in Malayalam that gained attention was in Sandhwanam directed by Sibi Malayil in 1991. She played Suresh Gopi's daughter in the film. Its success made her famous, which led to roles with senior Malayalam heroes. Meena has expressed a wish to do more films in Malayalam.[8] She says of her transition from being a child star to being a heroine that "Memories as a child are fabulous and I still cherish them. And it is still more special as that phase is over. Now, I am enjoying my stint as a heroine."[8] She made her Bollywood debut opposite Chunky Pandey in the comedy film Parda Hai Parda (1992).

She has played the role of the leading heroines in Telugu and Tamil films since the early 1990s, often playing characters with unidimensional personality with no negativity or gray shades. She has generally avoided glamorous roles though she has acted in a few like Maaman Magal in Tamil opposite Sathyaraj and She was part of Successful movies Like Putnanja, Swathi Mutthu in Kannada.She has worked with Ravichandran, Vishuvardhan in Kannada Cinema. In the Kannada remake of Autograph as My Autograph, were directed, produced and enacted by Sudeep. In this film, Meena starred Sneha's role of Divya.

Meena has the unique distinction of starring opposite legendary actors of different generations across various languages. She has acted with Rajinikanth, Dr. Kamal Haasan, Dr. Mohanlal, Dr. Mammootty, Chiranjeevi, Dr. Vishnuvardhan, Krishna, Balakrishna, Ravichandran and other stars like Vijayakanth, Akkineni Nagarjuna, Venkatesh, Vijay, Ajith Kumar, Sathyaraj, Prabhu Deva, Sarathkumar, K. Bhagyaraj, Jayaram, Suresh Gopi, Prashanth,Harish Kumar, Kichcha Sudeep, Raviteja. She had hits with the films Nattamai film directed by K. S. Ravikumar. It starred Sarath Kumar, Meena and Kushboo . The film was successful and completed a 175-day run at the box office (1994). She just grabs the continuous offer and the opportunity to act in films like Avvai Shanmughi (1996) with Kamal Haasan, Porkkaalam with Murali (1997), Bharathi Kannamma (1997) with Parthiban and so on. Telugu audience remembers her for a variety of roles that called for mature acting that seemed tailor-made for her. The peppy girl who wins over her unrelenting grandfather with her endearing ways in Seetharamaiah Gari Manavaralu, the protected sister in Chanti the innocent housewife in Sundarakanda, the renowned poet and devotee ‘Tarigonda Vengamamba’ are but just few of the many characters she played with relative ease and subtle charm. The combo of Victory Venkatesh and Meena is said to be one of the most successful combinations in Tollywood. They have 5 Blockbuster hits to their credit.[10] Another excellent performance in the movie Rhythm (2000). This movie makes the most impact on multiple viewings. Meena was an exceptionally brilliant performance in each scene. Strangely enough, she looks the best in this movie in terms of makeup and this movie had her in her best performance to date. While she picked up Best Actress at the Cinema Express Awards.

Meena has acted both as a child and as an adult opposite Rajinikanth. Her first hit with Rajinikanth was Yejaman, where she plays the role of Vaitheeswari, a simple village girl. She always played the quiet, serious woman. In one Interview Meena said that Rajinikanth was shocked to see her fan following in Telugu after the release of her film Chanti. When Meena and Rajinikanth were shooting for Yejaman in Andhra, she was surrounded by a huge number of fans- mostly female- which shocked Rajnikanth. In one interview in 1992 Rajinikanth himself said that Meena is a superstar in Telugu[11] In her follow-up movie with Rajini, Veera, Meena again dazzled. Romantic-comedy film. Rajinikanth, Meena and Roja (actress) in the lead role. This film was controversial for its climax but went on to become one of the highest-grossing films in 1994. But the film that brought her true recognition and fame was Muthu, one of Rajini's biggest hits. The movie was successful across Japan. Ranganayaki as the talkative, cheeky street theatre actress won the hearts of the audience. The film was directed by K. S. Ravikumar and produced by K. Balachander, and became the first Tamil film to be dubbed into Japanese, as Mutu: Odoru Maharaja.[47] [48] The film grossed a record $1.6 million in Japan in 1998 and was responsible for creating a large Japanese fan-base for Rajinikanth and Meena. Following the release of Muthu in Japan and its commercial success, Meena's popularity rose in Japan.

Meena agreed to appear in as herself in the K. S. Ravi – directed film Shahjahan starring Vijay (actor). She has acted with almost all leading actors in South India. A role in Kadha Parayumbol and in its Tamil and Telugu remakes, Kuselan and Kathanayakudu respectively, were well received by audiences. Meena has expressed regret about Kuselan, after her part was overshadowed.[12]

Meena has said that her favorite roles were in Bharathi Kannamma and Shock in Tamil, Seetharamaiah Gari Manavaralu in Telugu, Sandhwanam in Malayalam and Swathi Muthu in Kannada, "though every film of mine is close to my heart."[8] Meena became heroine in 1990 and even 2020, she has the highest-grossing movies as lead heroine in Malayalam, and making her most promising heroine after 30 years also.[13]. No other heroine has that credit in the history of Indian cinema.

Meena's releases in 2009 were Mariyadhai with Vijayakanth, directed by Vikraman, who earlier directed hits like Poove Unakkaga (1996) and Vanathai Pola (2000).[14] and Katha, Samvidhanam: Kunchacko with Sreenivasan.[15] She played in Telugu as Saint Vengamamba in Tarigonda Vengamamba, directed by Uday Bhaskar.[16]

In 2011, she played the role of Narain's sister in the film Thambikottai, in which Poonam Bajwa is the pair for Narain. Other actors in this movie include Prabhu and Santhanam. Her role in this movie was very good and well accepted.[17][18][19]

After marriage, she paired with Ramesh Aravind in the film Hendtheera Darbar, which was a remake of Varavu Ettana Selavu Pathana that starred Nassar, Radhika, Goundamani, Senthil, Vadivelu and Kovai Sarala.

In 2012, Udaya Bhaskar made a film titled Sri Vasavi Vaibhavam with Meena playing the Goddess' role in the film which also stars Suhasini, Priyahassan, Suman, Saikiran, Kannada Sridhar, Raghunatha Reddy, and others. Meena plays the lead role in this Telugu devotional film. This marks her re-entry to films after a long period. After being a mother, we will get to see the sizzling Meena in this one. There are many graphic-significant episodes. The film has music by Arjun Sharma. Cinematography is by Raman Ji. Directed by Uday Baskar. The film is said to be released around mid-August.[20]

Meena, all-time favorite actress of actor Vijay, was rumored to have been roped into a movie name Sattam oru iruttarai, which was a remake of the movie under the same name by his father and director, S. A. Chandrasekhar. The movie is said to be produced by actor's Vijay new launched production house, Ghilli Productions. But since Meena refused the offer, Reema Sen was finalized to play the role of a Police Officer in this film and the sister to the hero.[21] [22][23]

The actress was approached by a Mollywood director to play Lal's wife with a woman-centric film with several actresses, including Rima Kallingal. "It had an interesting subject, but I wanted something more for my character. There were a lot of women in the film and everybody's got a story. I was more interested in a story focussing on a single woman character and that's why I haven't signed up for the movie," she says.[24] Meena who had taken a temporary break from acting will be facing the arc lights once again. It seems she has agreed to star in an ad film, and she is currently shooting near Kovalam with Prakash Raj. The commercial is being directed by producer Siva. Meanwhile, Meena is currently in a Telugu film, Sri Vasavi Vaibhavam. She had played a cameo in J.K. Bharavi's Jagadguru Adi Shankara-devotional film lastly and did justice to her roles.[25] [26]

After a brief hiatus, Meena returned to Malayalam cinema and will be seen playing the role of wife to Mohanlal in Drishyam (2013). Directed by Jeethu Joseph, she will be portraying the role of a mother of two daughters, of which the elder is pursuing her plus two. The actress will also be seen in Pramod Payyanur's much-awaited movie, Balyakalasakhi alongside Mammootty. The actress confirmed that she would be playing Drishyam's remake in Telugu with Venkatesh.[27] Meena will playing a leading role in Allari Naresh's upcoming movie Mama Manchu Alludu Kanchu.[28][29]

Meena has been a playback singer for some albums with actor Manoj. She sang a song for the Tamil film Kadhal Sadugudu.[30] Meena has composed music and sung and recorded two pop albums, 16 Vayathinile, and Kadhalism, which she began recording in 2001 with actor Vikram.[31][32] Meena has been a playback singer in the music of D. Imman in the movie sena and the song is "indru intha kalayil en nenjil echo aachu", a super hit song.

Meena dubbed for Cheran's movie Pokkisham. Meena has rendered voice for Padmapriya Janakiraman.[33]