Rekhitha R. Kurup, better known by her stage name Bhamaa, is an Indian former actress who predominantly appeared in

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 ...

and

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 ...

-language films. She made her cinematic debut in 2007 with the Malayalam film ''Nivedyam'', directed by

A. K. Lohithadas Ambazhathil Karunakaran Lohithadas (10 May 1955 – 28 June 2009) was an Indian screenwriter, playwright, film maker, and producer who worked in the Malayalam film industry. In a career spanning over two decades, his films have won a Nationa ...

and had acted in over 41 films.

Early life and education

Bhama is the youngest daughter of Rajendra Kurup & Shylaja. She has two elder sisters, Reshmitha R. Kurup and Renjitha R. Kurup. Bhama did her schooling at St. Mary's Higher Secondary School, Manarcad and Infant Jesus Bethany Convent Girl's Higher Secondary School, Manarcad. She pursued a bachelor's in Sociology by correspondence course.

Career

Before she entered into the film industry, she was the host of a show on Surya TV titled ''Thaali''. She has also acted in a Christian devotional album. Director Lohithadas selected her as her first movie's lead heroine in Nivedyam. Her second film was ''Hareendran Oru Nishkalankan'', directed by

Vinayan T. G. Vinayakumar, professionally credited as Vinayan, is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer, and lyricist, who works predominantly in Malayalam cinema and occasionally in Tamil cinema. He has directed 40 Malayalam films and 4 Tami ...

, in which she was cast opposite

Manikuttan Thomas James, (born 2 March 1986) better known by his stage name Manikuttan, is an Indian actor who works primarily in Malayalam films. He is known for his role as Kayamkulam Kochunni in the 2004 television serial of the same title. He was al ...

. She paired with

Vineeth Sreenivasan Vineeth Sreenivasan (born 1 October 1984) is an Indian actor, director, producer, dubbing artist, screenwriter, playback singer and lyricist who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema. He is the eldest son of actor and screenwriter Sreeniva ...

in ''Cycle'' directed by

Johny Antony Johny Antony is an Indian film director and actor, known for making comedy films in Malayalam cinema. He is from Changanassery in Kottayam district, Kerala. He worked for about a decade as an associate to directors Thulasidas, Taha, Kamal an ...

. Bhama said that until 2011, she was getting the same kind of roles in Malayalam. She started taking up Kannada film offers, after which she started getting fresh and interesting characters in Malayalam. She acted in Sohanlal's '' Kadhaveedu'' in which she played the heroine in

M. T. Vasudevan Nair Madath Thekkepaattu Vasudevan Narayanan Nair (15 July 1933 – 25 December 2024) was an Indian author, lecturer, Screenwriter, screenplay writer and film director. He was a prolific and versatile writer in modern Malayalam literature, and was o ...

's segment, and her character was that of a modern girl, a media person, who is smart and energetic. She had a small but significant role in Vinod Vijayan's segment of '' D Company'', ''Day of Judgement'', featuring Fahadh Faasil where she played a psycho and wore no make-up. In 2014, she had five Malayalam releases. She played a Christian housewife in Rakesh Gopan's '' 100 Degree Celsius'' and was seen as a 15-year-old mother in Vinod Mankara's ''Ottamandaram''. In her only non-Malayalam release of the year, the Tamil-English biographical film '' Ramanujan'' based on the mathematician

Srinivasa Ramanujan Srinivasa Ramanujan Aiyangar (22 December 188726 April 1920) was an Indian mathematician. Often regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, though he had almost no formal training in pure mathematics, he made substantial con ...

, she played the role of Janakiammal, Ramanujan's wife.

Playback singing

Bhama has occasionally worked as a playback singer as well. She had reportedly sung the song "Kannil Kannil", composed by

Rahul Raj Rahul Raj is an Indian music composer. He has composed and produced Film score, scores and soundtracks predominantly for Malayalam language, Malayalam movies. He is an alumnus of the prestigious Berklee College of Music and holds a postgraduat ...

for a film titled ''Bike''; however, the film was canceled and the song remains unreleased. She lent her voice for the devotional album ''Maaya Madhavam'' (2009), and has sung the title song for the upcoming children's film ''Meow Meow Karimppoocha''. She did voice over for the short film named Pacha directed by Sarayu. She has sung a song in the movie 100 Degree Celsius along with other heroines Ananya,

Meghana Raj Meghana Sundar Raj Sarja is an Indian actress who primarily works in Malayalam and Kannada films along with a few Telugu and Tamil films. She made her acting debut in the 2009 Telugu film '' Bendu Apparao R.M.P''. She has won Karnataka State ...

, and

Shwetha Menon Shwetha Menon (born 23 April 1974) is an Indian actress, model, television anchor and beauty pageant titleholder. She has won '' Femina Miss India Asia Pacific 1994''. She has predominantly acted in Malayalam and Hindi language films, besides ap ...

Personal life

In January 2020 Bhama married Arun and in May 2024 announced she is a single-parent mother living with her daughter.

Filmography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bhama Living people Actresses from Kottayam 21st-century Indian actresses Actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema Actresses in Telugu cinema Indian film actresses Indian women television presenters Indian television presenters Television personalities from Kerala Actresses in Malayalam television Indian television actresses Year of birth missing (living people) St. Teresa's College alumni Kerala Film Critics Awards winners