Shweta Konnur Menon (born 19 July 1979), known by her

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

Malavika, is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

films and a few

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode ...

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

and

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 ...

films.

Personal life

Malavika's birth name is Shweta Konnur. She was born to Aishwarya and Brigadier Jayvibhav Konnur in

Bengaluru Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

. Malavika married Sumesh in March 2007. The couple have a son, born in 2008.

Career

Malavika shot to fame at the age of 19, with her debut in the 1999 Tamil movie ''

Unnai Thedi ''Unnai Thedi'' () is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by Sundar C. The film stars Ajith Kumar and Malavika, while an ensemble supporting cast includes Karan, Vivek, Sivakumar, and Srividya. Some of the scenes are sim ...

'' with

Ajith Kumar Ajith Kumar (born 1 May 1971) is an Indian actor who works predominantly in Tamil films. To date, he has starred in over 60 films. His awards include four Vijay Awards, three Cinema Express Awards, three Filmfare Awards South and three Tami ...

directed by

Sundar C. Vinayagar Sundar Vel (born 21 January 1966), known professionally as Sundar C., is an Indian film director, actor and producer. He has directed over 34 films in Tamil and acted in 17 movies as the protagonist. His notable films include '' Ul ...

The film went on to become a major blockbuster. She again was cast alongside Ajith in the film ''

Anandha Poongatre ''Anantha Poongatre'' () is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film written and directed by Raj Kapoor. The film stars Ajith Kumar and Meena, with Karthik in a guest appearance. The film is based upon how respect can be mistaken as lov ...

''. She showed her acting skills in the film ''

Rojavanam ''Rojavanam'' () is a 1999 Indian Tamil-language romantic drama film directed by Selva. The film stars Karthik, Laila and Malavika in lead roles. The film's score and soundtrack were composed by Bharathwaj. Plot Muthu ( Karthik) is the favo ...

'', which established her as an actress and left her with three hits from three films. However, her fame was short lived as the film '' Pooparika Varugirom'' flopped, although the cast included

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001) was an Indian actor and producer. He was active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji G ...

. From 2000 to 2003 all her film failed at the box office except ''

Vetri Kodi Kattu ''Vetri Kodi Kattu'' () is a 2000 Indian Tamil-language drama film written and directed by Cheran. The film stars starring Murali, Parthiban, Meena, and Malavika, while Vadivelu, Manorama, Anandaraj, Vijayakumar, and Charle play supporting ...

'' and '' Seenu''. She returned with

Suriya Saravanan Sivakumar (born 23 July 1975), known by his stage name Suriya, is an Indian actor, producer, television presenter and a philanthropist. He primarily works in Tamil cinema where he is one of the highest paid actors. He received numer ...

in ''

Perazhagan ''Perazhagan'' () is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Sasi Shanker, starring Suriya and Jyothika with both playing dual roles. The supporting cast includes Vivek, Manorama and Manobala. The movie's score and soundtrack ...

'' in a song. In 2004, she starred alongside

Kamal Haasan Kamal Haasan (born 7 November 1954) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, screenwriter, playback singer, television presenter and politician who works mainly in Tamil cinema and has also appeared in some Telugu, Malayalam, Hindi, Kannada and Bengali f ...

in ''

Vasool Raja MBBS ''Vasool Raja MBBS'' () is a 2004 Indian Tamil-language comedy drama film directed by Saran. It is a Tamil remake of the 2003 Hindi film ''Munna Bhai M.B.B.S.'', which is inspired by the 1998 American film ''Patch Adams''. The film stars Kamal ...

''. She was cast in the film ''

Chandramukhi ''Chandramukhi'' () is a 2005 Indian Tamil-language comedy horror film written and directed by P. Vasu. A remake of Vasu's Kannada film '' Apthamitra'' (2004), which itself loosely based on the Malayalam film '' Manichitrathazhu'' (1993), the ...

'' (2005). Later in that year, she ventured into Bollywood again and acted in ''C U at 9''. She gave her best performance in the Tamil film '' Thiruttu Payale'' in 2006. She was also a part of

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

's stage show, '' Netru Indru Naalai''. In 2007, she appeared in supporting roles such as ''

Vyapari ''Viyabari'' () is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language science fiction comedy film directed and produced by Sakthi Chidambaram. The film stars S. J. Suryah in a dual role as a businessman and his clone. It also stars Tamannaah, Prakash Raj, Namitha, ...

'', ''

Thirumagan ''Thirumagan'' is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language drama film directed by Ratnakumar. The film stars S. J. Suryah, Meera Jasmine, Malavika, Lakshana and Preethi Varma. Vijayakumar, Radha Ravi, Ranjith, Saranya Ponvannan, and Manivannan play suppo ...

'', ''

Sabari ''Sabari'' is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by Suresh. It stars Vijayakanth as the title character with Jyothirmayi, Malavika and Pradeep Rawat in supporting roles. The film was released on 16 March 2007 to mixed reviews. ...

'', ''

Manikanda ''Manikanda'' is a 2007 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by Selva. Arjun plays a dual role, that of father and son. The film, which began production in 2002, went through more production, and was finally released in 2007, was promoted ...

'' and '' Naan Avanillai''. Since then, she has mostly seen in guest appearance roles in ''

Kuruvi ''Kuruvi'' () is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language superhero comedy film written and directed by Dharani. Produced by Udhayanidhi Stalin, the film stars Vijay in the titular role with Trisha and Suman in other prominent roles. Vivek, Ashish Vidy ...

'' (2008), ''

Aayudham Seivom ''Aayudham Seivom'' is a 2008 Indian Tamil-language action film written and directed by Udhayan and produced by Pyramid Saimira. The film stars Sundar C and Anjali, while Vivek, Manivannan, Napoleon, and Vijayakumar play supporting roles. T ...

'' (2008) and ''Aarupadai'' (2009). In 2022, Malavika returned to the film industry nearly after a decade with the film ''Golmaal'', directed by

Pon Kumaran Pon Kumaran (also credited as P. Kumar) is an Indian film writer and director working predominantly in Kannada and Tamil films. He made his directorial debut with the blockbuster Kannada film ''Vishnuvardhana'' (2011) which got rave reviews and ...

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Malavika Indian film actresses 1981 births Living people Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses from Bangalore Actresses in Telugu cinema 21st-century Indian actresses Actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema