Suvaluxmi is an Indian former actress who mainly appeared in Tamil films. She also appeared in Bengali, Telugu,

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 ...

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. Portraying homely characters , she is well known of her characters in ''

Aasai ''Aasai'' () () is a 1995 Indian Tamil-language romantic thriller film, written and directed by Vasanth and produced by Mani Ratnam. The film stars Ajith Kumar, Suvaluxmi and Prakash Raj, with Rohini, Poornam Viswanathan, Nizhalgal Ravi ...

'' (1995), '' Gokulathil Seethai'' (1996), '' Love Today'' (1997), '' Nilaave Vaa'' (1998) and ''

Nadhi Karaiyinile ''Nadhi Karaiyinile'' () is a 2003 Indian Tamil-language drama film, written and directed by Ponvannan. Based on the Kannada novel ''Chandragiriya Theeradalli'' by Sara Aboobacker, The film, which had an initial release at international film f ...

'' (2003) which all the commercially successful films.

Career

As a child, Suvaluxmi was passionate about Indian classical and folk dance forms and performed the art forms across regional shows. Her performance on stage was noticed by film director

Satyajit Ray Satyajit Ray (; 2 May 1921 – 23 April 1992) was an Indian film director, screenwriter, author, lyricist, magazine editor, illustrator, calligraphy, calligrapher, and composer. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest and most influ ...

, who cast her as the female lead in the film adaptation of his story '' Uttoran'' (1994). The film, which was completed by his son

Sandip Ray Sandip Ray (born 8 September 1953) is an Indian film director and music director who mainly works in Cinema of West Bengal, Bengali cinema. He is the only child of the famous Indian director Satyajit Ray and Bijoya Ray. Life and education San ...

following Satyajit Ray's demise, won the National Film Award for Best Screenplay in 1994 and was screened in film festivals around the world, including at Cannes. Alongside graduating with a degree of Bachelor of Laws from the

University of Calcutta The University of Calcutta, informally known as Calcutta University (), is a Public university, public State university (India), state university located in Kolkata, Calcutta (Kolkata), West Bengal, India. It has 151 affiliated undergraduate c ...

in 1998, Suvaluxmi acted as the female protagonist in several movies in South Indian languages. She made her debut in Tamil films with ''

'' (1995), a romantic thriller film directed by

Vasanth Vasanth is an Indian director well known in Tamil cinema, Tamil language films for directing films such as ''Keladi Kanmani'' (1990), ''Aasai'' (1995), ''Nerrukku Ner'' (1997), ''Rhythm (2000 film), Rhythm'' (2000) and ''Satham Podathey'' (200 ...

and produced by

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 ...

. Suvaluxmi portrayed Yamuna and paired opposite

Ajith Kumar Ajith Kumar Subramaniam (born 1 May 1971) is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Tamil cinema. To date, he has starred in over 63 films, and won four Vijay Awards, three Cinema Express Awards, three Filmfare Awards South and three Ta ...

, with her character being vigorously pursued by her brother-in-law, portrayed by

Prakash Raj Prakash Raj (born Prakash Rai; 26 March 1965) is an Indian actor, film director, producer, television presenter, and politician. Known for his works in Telugu language, Telugu, Tamil language, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, English language, Engl ...

. Upon release, the film won positive reviews and performed well at the box office, with all three lead actors getting a boost in their career. Balsekaran's '' Love Today'' (1997) opposite Vijay, also performed well commercially. Despite the success of these two films, Suvaluxmi's subsequent films failed to expand her initial popularity and she felt that the rise of glamorous roles for female actors in Tamil films, meant that she found it difficult to find apt characters to portray and was typecast as a homely girl. In the late 1990s, she appeared in several Tamil films, though her roles and the performance of her films failed to get acclaim. In 2001, she opted to quit films and pursue a career as a lawyer and finally signed up to appear in

Ponvannan Ponvannan (born Shanmugam; 23 September 1964) is an Indian actor and director who has worked in Tamil cinema and television. After beginning his career as an artist (painter), Ponvannan apprenticed as a director and writer under Bharathiraja. H ...

's critically acclaimed film ''

'' (2003), for which she won positive reviews, with

The Hindu ''The Hindu'' is an Indian English-language daily newspaper owned by The Hindu Group, headquartered in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. It was founded as a weekly publication in 1878 by the Triplicane Six, becoming a daily in 1889. It is one of the India ...

noting she gave a "heartrending enactment". She was a leading actress from 1994 till 2001 and successfully completed 8 years in silver screen. After her marriage, in 2007 she turned down an offer from Mohan Raja to portray a supporting role in '' Santosh Subramaniam'' (2008) and restated her retirement from films. Since her departure from the film industry, Suvaluxmi practices as a natural artist and graduated with a degree of Masters of Fine Arts in Illustration during 2013 from the

Academy of Art University The Academy of Art University (AAU, or ART U), formerly Academy of Art College and Richard Stephens Academy of Art, is a private for-profit art school in San Francisco, California. It was founded as the Academy of Advertising Art by Richard S. ...

in San Francisco.

Personal life

She married Professor Swagato Banerjee in 2002 and lived in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

and then in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

and then in

Louisville Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeast, and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States. By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city; however, by populatio ...

Filmography

Television

* 2001-2002 ''Soolam'' as goddess

Parvati Parvati (, , IPA: /Sanskrit phonology, pɑɾʋət̪iː/), also known as Uma (, , IPA: Sanskrit phonology, /ʊmɑː/) and Gauri (, , IPA: /Sanskrit phonology, gə͡ʊɾiː/), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the Devi, ...

References

External links

* {{authority control Living people Tamil actresses Year of birth missing (living people) Actresses in Tamil cinema Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners Actresses from Kolkata Academy of Art University alumni Actresses in Bengali cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema Actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses in Telugu cinema 20th-century Indian actresses 21st-century Indian actresses Actresses in Tamil television