Gautami

Gautami Tadimalla (born 2 July 1968) is an Indian actress, social worker, politician and Deputy Propaganda Secretary of All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. She has worked mainly in Tamil and Telugu cinema, in addition to Malayalam, Hindi, and Kannada films. She was one of the leading South Indian actresses from 1987 to 1998. She is also a television actress, television host, the founder of Life Again Foundation and a costume designer in films.Rediff On The NeT, Movies: An interview with Gauthami
. Rediff.com (1999-06-12). Retrieved on 2012-07-11.

Personal life

Gautami was born into a Telugu-speaking family from Srikakulam, Andhra Pradesh, to T. R. Seshagiri Rao and Vasundhara Devi. Her father was a radiation oncologist, while her mother was a pathologist and diagnostician. She studied at Bishop Cotton Girls' School in Bengaluru. During her childhood, she also lived in Visakhapatnam and Kerala.

Gautami married Sandeep Bhatia, a businessman, in 1998, and the couple have a daughter, Subbulakshmi born in 1999. They later got divorced in 1999.

Gautami was in a relationship with actor Kamal Haasan from 2005 till 2016. In 2016, Gautami announced on her blog that she had ended her relationship with him. Gautami wrote on her blog: "It is heartbreaking for me to have to say today that I and Mr. Haasan are no longer together. After almost 13 years together, it has been one of the most devastating decisions that I have ever had to make in my life".

She was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 35, and recovered later.

Film career

Gautami attended GITAM University in Visakhapatnam to pursue engineering. She made her film debut with the Telugu film ''Dayamayudu'' (1987), which was produced by her cousin. She later appeared in films such as ''Gandhinagar Rendava Veedhi'' and ''Srinivasa Kalyanam'' (both 1987).

She was then introduced to Tamil cinema with ''Guru Shishyan'' (1988), starring Rajinikanth and Prabhu. Gautami was most active in Tamil cinema between 1987 and 1998.

Her notable performances in Malayalam films include '' His Highness Abdullah'' (1990) with Mohanlal, '' Daddy'' (1992) with Arvind Swami '' Dhruvam'' (1993) with Mammootty and '' Ayalathe Adheham'' (1993) with Jayaram. Her role in '' Sukrutham'' (1994) was penned by the writer M. T. Vasudevan Nair. She has acted also in Kannada films '' Elu Suttina Kote'' (1987), '' Chikkejamanru'' (1992), '' Cheluva'' (1997), and in the Hindi movies, '' Pyar Hua Chori Chori'' (1991), '' Aadmi'' (1993), '' Janta Ki Adalat'' (1994), '' Trimurti'' (1995), '' Dhaal'' (1997) and ''Haiwan'' (1998).

Her notable Tamil movies was '' Apoorva Sagodharargal'' (1989), '' Raja Chinna Roja'' (1989), '' Panakkaran'' (1990), '' Ooru Vittu Ooru Vanthu'' (1990), '' Namma Ooru Poovatha'' (1990), '' Dharma Durai'' (1991), '' Nee Pathi Naan Pathi'' (1991), '' Rickshaw Mama'' (1992), ''Thevar Magan'' (1992), '' Honest Raj'' (1994), '' Nammavar'' (1994), '' Kuruthipunal'' (1995) as well as Mani Ratnam's '' Iruvar'' (1997).

She made a guest appearance in the song "Chikku Bukku Railu" with Prabhu Deva in the film ''Gentleman'' (1993). Her film '' Sasanam'', featuring Arvind Swami, released in 2006, but it was shot in 1996. She played the lead in the Tamil serial ''Indira''. She had hosted a talk show in Sun TV titled ''Anbudan''. She acted in the serial '' Abirami'' which was telecast on Kalaignar TV. She made a comeback to the film industry in the late 2000s as a costume designer for films starring her partner Kamal Haasan. She went on to style several of her other films, including '' Vishwaroopam'' (2013) and '' Uttama Villain'' (2015).

After sixteen years, she returned to acting, by starring in the Tamil film '' Papanasam'' (2015), in which she was paired with her partner Kamal Haasan, remake of the original Malayalam film, '' Drishyam''. She made comeback to Malayalam after 14 years in the horror thriller titled '' E'' (2017) playing the lead role.

Political career

BJP (1997 - 2023)

Gautami was a member of the BJP from 1997 to 2023. She was BJYM vice president. She joined the party in 1997 under the leadership of LK Advani. She extensively campaigned for Atal Bihari Vajpayee during that period in Andhra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. She took a break from politics after her daughter was born. She is back into BJP in 2017. In 2021, she was appointed as in-charge of the Rajapalayam Assembly constituency. On 23 October 2023, She quit BJP, claiming that the party's senior members have been helping a person who has swindled her off her properties.

AIADMK (2024 - present)

On 14 February 2024, She joined the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in the presence of its general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami. On 21 October 2024, She was appointed as the Deputy Propaganda Secretary of the AIADMK.

Charity work

Gautami founded Life Again Foundation (LAF) to help cancer patients. Life Again Foundation has conducted more than 360 motivational camps for cancer patients, cancer awareness campaigns, and food drives. It also conducts Yoga and Alternative Therapy programs. It also periodically conducts health camps to conduct tests that screen for cancer and overall health. LAF also runs 2 Mobile hospitals. It also sponsors under-privileged students for higher education. It runs Supplementary Education Centres and Vocational Training Centres.

Awards and honours

Filmography

References

External links

*

{{authority control

Actresses in Telugu cinema
Actresses from Andhra Pradesh
Actresses in Tamil cinema
Indian film actresses
Indian costume designers
Living people
Actresses in Malayalam cinema
Filmfare Awards South winners
Telugu actresses
20th-century Indian actresses
21st-century Indian actresses
Actresses in Kannada cinema
People from Srikakulam
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners
Indian women comedians
Indian women fashion designers
Indian fashion designers
21st-century Indian designers
21st-century Indian women artists
20th-century Indian designers
20th-century Indian women artists
Indian television actresses
Actresses in Tamil television
Actresses in Malayalam television
Actresses in Hindi cinema
1968 births
Tamil Nadu politicians
All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam politicians
Nandi Award winners