Kavya Madhavan (born 19 September 1984) is an Indian former actress, who acted predominantly in
Malayalam films, and a few
Tamil films. She made her debut in 1991 as a child artist in ''
Pookkalam Varavayi''. Her debut role as one of the lead actresses (the other being Samyuktha Varma) was in
Lal Jose's ''
Chandranudikkunna Dikkil'' in 1999, when she was in the ninth grade. Its success established her status as one of the leading actress in the Malayalam industry during the 2000s. She has since acted in over 75 films. She has won the
Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress twice, for her performances in ''
Perumazhakkalam'' (2004) and ''
Khaddama'' (2010).
Early life
Kavya Madhavan was born on 19 September 1984 to P. Madhavan and Shyamala in
Nileshwaram,
Kasaragod, India. She has a brother Midhun Madhavan, who is a fashion designer. She completed her schooling at Rajah's Higher Secondary School in Nileshwaram. She began learning
classical dance whilst at school and participated in various dance competitions.
Acting career
Kavya first appeared as a child artist in Kamal's film ''
Pookkalam Varavayi'' (1991) at the age of six in a cameo role along the students in a bus. Subsequently, she was offered parts in other projects such as ''Pavam IA Ivachan'' (1994), ''Parassala Pachan Payyannur Paramu'' (1994) by
P. Venu and ''
Azhakiya Ravanan'' (1996), directed by
Kamal. She was offered one of the female lead in ''
Chandranudikkunna Dikkil'', also starring
Dileep, in 1999.
After the success of ''Chandranudikkunna Dikhil'', Kavya and Dileep became a popular pairing in Malayalam cinema, and they worked together in 21 movies. Some of their movies are ''
Thenkasipattanam'' (2000),''
Darling Darling'' (2000),
''Dhosth'' (2001), ''
Meesa Madhavan'' (2002) which was one of biggest grosser of the year and was directed by
Lal Jose, ''
Mizhi Randilum'' (2003) in which she played a double role, ''
Sadanandante Samayam'' (2003), ''
Thilakkam'' (2003) directed by
Jayaraj, ''
Runway
In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...
'' (2004) directed by
Joshiy, ''
Kochi Rajavu'' (2005), ''
Lion
The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...
'' (2006) again directed by
Joshiy, ''
Chakkaramuthu'' (2006), ''
Inspector Garud'' (2007), ''
Paappi Appacha'' (2010), ''
Vellaripravinte Changathi'' (2011) and ''
Pinneyum'' (2016). Most of their movies were in the romantic comedy genre.
She also acted in films with
Mammootty and
Mohanlal
Mohanlal Viswanathan (; born 21 May 1960), known mononymously as Mohanlal, is an Indian actor and filmmaker who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema, Malayalam cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hin ...
, and in movies with several stars, such as ''
Ee Pattanathil Bhootham'', ''
Christian Brothers'' and ''
China Town''.
She got critical acclaim for her performance of the role of Ganga in ''
Perumazhakkalam'' for which she won 2004
Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress and for the role of Ashwati in ''
Gaddama'' where she played a housemaid working in
Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in West Asia. Located in the centre of the Middle East, it covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula and has a land area of about , making it the List of Asian countries ...
. The movie was based on a feature by K. U. Iqbal, published in ''
Bhashaposhini''. The movie was directed by her mentor
Kamal, and she got her second
Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress for 2011. She won the 2011 Kerala Film Critics Awards for Best Actress, Amrita-FEFKA Film Awards for Best Actress, Best Actress-Malayalam cinema in
59th Filmfare Awards South and Best Actress in
Thikkurissy Foundation Awards. She was part of big grossers like ''Christian Brothers'' and ''China Town'' in 2011 and was selected as Top Star (Female) 2011 in Malayalam.
She was cast in
Adoor Gopalakrishnan's ''
Naalu Pennungal'' in which she played a supporting role.
Though she had many offers from
Tamil cinema
Tamil cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Tamil language, the main spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is nicknamed Kollywood, a portmanteau of the names Kodambakkam, a Ch ...
, she was very reluctant to act due to her busy schedule in Malayalam. Her first was ''
Kasi'' (2001) which was the remake of
Vinayans ''
Vasanthiyum Lakshmiyum Pinne Njaanum''. She went on to act in ''
En Mana Vaanil'' and ''
Sadhu Miranda'' and enjoyed moderate success.
She wrote lyrics for the song "En Khalbillulloru Pennaanu" for the film ''
One Way Ticket'' (2008) and for ''Akashavani'' (2016). She sang her first movie song for the Malayalam film ''
Matinee'' (2012). She has appeared in many advertisements, TV shows, short films and stage shows. She also sang songs for the movies ''Hadiya'' (2017) and ''
Daivame Kaithozham K. Kumar Akanam'' (2018).
From acting as a child to acting as an actress,
Sreeja has provided voice to her in many films.
Devi
''Devī'' (; ) is the Sanskrit word for 'goddess'; the masculine form is Deva (Hinduism), ''deva''. ''Devi'' and ''deva'' mean 'heavenly, divine, anything of excellence', and are also gender-specific terms for a deity in Hinduism.
The concept ...
,
Praveena,
Bhagyalakshmi and Vimmy Mariam George and Nithuna Nevil Dinesh have also lent their voices in some films.
Personal life
Kavya married Nishal Chandra on 9 February 2009, after which she moved to
Kuwait
Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia and the geopolitical region known as the Middle East. It is situated in the northern edge of the Arabian Peninsula at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to Iraq–Kuwait ...
. However, she returned home in June the same year and filed for divorce on 24 July 2009. Both Kavya and Nishal appeared before the court on 25 May 2011 and expressed their willingness for a mutual divorce. The divorce was granted on 30 May 2011. She married actor
Dileep on 25 November 2016 at Vedanta Hotel,
Kochi
Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...
. The couple have a daughter, Mahalakshmi born on 19 October 2018.
Kavya owns a textile shop named Laksyah. In April 2013,
Mathrubhumi Books published a collection of memoirs written by Kavya, titled ''Kathayil Alpam Kavyam'' which gives a glimpse into her childhood memories and the experiences of her school days and in the film industry. The book was released by writers
Subhash Chandran and
Deedi Damodaran at a function held in K. P. Kesava Menon Hall in
Kozhikode
Kozhikode (), also known as Calicut, is a city along the Malabar Coast in the state of Kerala in India. Known as the City of Spices, Kozhikode is listed among the City of Literature, UNESCO's Cities of Literature.
It is the nineteenth large ...
on 11 April.
"Kavya Madhavan's Memoirs Released"
. ''The New Indian Express''
Filmography
Short films
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
{{authority control
1984 births
20th-century Indian actresses
20th-century Indian singers
20th-century Indian women singers
21st-century Indian actresses
21st-century Indian singers
21st-century Indian women singers
Actresses from Kerala
Actresses in Malayalam cinema
Actresses in Tamil cinema
Film musicians from Kerala
Filmfare Awards South winners
Indian film actresses
Indian women playback singers
Kerala Film Critics Awards winners
Kerala State Film Award winners
Living people
People from Kasaragod district
Place of birth missing (living people)
Singers from Kerala
Women musicians from Kerala