Namitha Vankawala (born 10 May 1981) is a state executive member of the
Bhartiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's Bharatiya Jana Sangh. Since 2014, ...
(BJP) in
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...
. She started her career initially as an actress and model who predominantly works in
Tamil
Tamil may refer to:
People, culture and language
* Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia
**Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka
** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...
and
Telugu cinema along with a few films in
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 ...
and
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 ...
.
Career
Starting her career as a beauty pageant contestant, Namitha was crowned Miss Surat during the year of 1998 at the age of 17. She went on to participate in the 2001 Miss India pageant and ended up as the third runner-up, while
Celina Jaitley was crowned Miss India. The publicity she garnered during the competition prompted her to move to
Mumbai
Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...
and subsequently she did a number of TV commercials such as Himani cream and hand soap,
Arun Ice Creams, Manikchand Gutka, and Nile Herbal Shampoo early in her career. Unable to make a breakthrough into the Hindi film industry, she enrolled in an English Literature course and then considered returning to Surat but chose to later accept an invitation to audition for a Telugu film. After being selected, she consequently made her acting debut in
Sreenu Vaitla
Srinu Vaitla (born 24 September 1972) is an Indian film director and screenwriter known for his work in Telugu cinema, particularly in the action comedy genre. He has received several accolades, including five Nandi Awards—three for Best Sc ...
's coming-of-age romantic film, ''
Sontham'' (2002). Her next film,
Saran's big budget action film ''
Gemeni'' (2002) opposite
Venkatesh, garnered her further attention and her portrayal of a Marwardi girl won critical acclaim. She had also briefly given herself the stagename of "Bhairavi" for the film, but later reverted to her original name.
In the mid-2000s, she quickly became popular in Tamil language films with her mature look and tall frame prompting film makers to cast her opposite ageing actors such as
Vijayakanth
Vijayaraj Alagarswami (25 August 1952 – 28 December 2023), known by his stage name Vijayakanth, was an Indian actor, filmmaker, philanthropist and politician. He worked in Tamil cinema in a career spanning four decades. He ventured into politi ...
,
Sathyaraj
Rangaraj Subbiah (born 3 October 1954), known professionally as Sathyaraj, is an Indian actor, film producer, film director and a media personality who appears predominantly in Tamil films. He also appears in works in Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam ...
,
Arjun,
Parthiban,
Sundar C
Vinayagar Sundar Vel (born 21 January 1968), known professionally as Sundar C, is an Indian actor, filmmaker, and playback singer who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. He has directed over 30 films and received the Kalaimamani#2009, Kalaim ...
and
Sarathkumar
Ramanathan Sarathkumar (born 14 July 1954) is an Indian actor, politician and former bodybuilder who works predominantly in Tamil cinema in addition to Telugu cinema, Telugu, Malayalam cinema, Malayalam, Kannada cinema, Kannada and Hindi cinema ...
. She appeared in a series of commercial action films opposite such actors, including roles in ''
Aai'' (2005), ''
Chanakya
Chanakya (ISO 15919, ISO: ', चाणक्य, ), according to legendary narratives preserved in various traditions dating from the 4th to 11th century CE, was a Brahmin who assisted the first Mauryan emperor Chandragupta Maurya, Chandragup ...
'' (2005) and ''
Aanai'' (2005). Likewise, she was regularly cast in comedy films with senior actors too, making appearances in
Siddique's ''
Engal Anna'' (2004) and six of
Sakthi Chidambaram
Sakthi N Chidambaram (born Dinakar), is an Indian film director and screenwriter, who directs Tamil cinema, Tamil films.
Career
His real name is C. Dhinakaran. He first wrote the dialogues for the films ''Kottai Vaasal'' (1992), ''Veettai Paar ...
's comedy dramas. During the period, she appeared in her first Hindi film ''
Love Ke Chakkar Mein'', worked on a Kannda film titled ''Namitha I Love You'' and shot for an English film, ''Maya'', which was later released in 2008 as ''Kamasutra Nights''. In 2007, she had the opportunity to work with two leading actors from Tamil cinema, respectively appearing with
Vijay in the
A. R. Rahman
Allah Rakha Rahman (; born A. S. Dileep Kumar; 6 January 1967), also known by the initialism ARR, is an Indian music composer, record producer, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and philanthropist known for his works in Indian cinem ...
-musical ''
Azhagiya Tamil Magan
''Azhagiya Tamil Magan'' () is a 2007 Indian Tamil language, Tamil-language action film directed by Bharathan (Tamil director), Bharathan, written by S. K. Jeeva and produced by Swargachitra Appachan. The film stars Vijay (actor), Vijay in th ...
'' (2007) and
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 ...
in
Vishnuvardhan's gangster film ''
Billa'' (2007). By the end of the period, Namitha had developed a "cult following" in Tamil Nadu as a result of her glamorous appearances in films, with the media regularly looking to feature her in reports and Behindwoods.com labelled her "omnipotent and omnipresent".
However, by the turn of the decade, Namitha's popularity began to decline after several of her films failed to perform well and the South Indian film industry moved away from casting women in outright glamorous roles, a character that Namitha had become famed for performing. Film makers were also reluctant to cast Namitha opposite young male actors, as the older generation began to stop appearing in leading roles. She was relegated to increasingly smaller roles and guest appearances, while the big-budget horror film, ''
Jaganmohini'' (2009), where she played the title role performed poorly at the box office. She briefly prioritized her work in Kannada films in the early 2010s, while several of her films endured production delays including ''
Ilamai Oonjal'' (2016). After several years without any film releases, she announced plans of making a comeback in 2016.
In 2017, Namitha appeared on the Tamil reality television show, ''
Bigg Boss
''Bigg Boss'' is an Indian reality show franchise based on the Dutch reality show '' Big Brother''. It is produced by Endemol Shine India through JioStar Network. Subsequently, the various versions of the show are made internationally availabl ...
'' hosted by
Kamal Haasan
Parthasarathy Srinivasan (born 7 November 1954), known professionally as Kamal Haasan, is an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Considered as one of the most accomplished actors of Indian Cinema, Haas ...
. During her stint in the show, she was widely criticised for her harsh treatment of actress
Oviya. She also seen in the Horror movies such as ''
Pottu'' (2019) and ''Miya'' (2020). In 2021, she make a appearance in TV serial ''
Pudhu Pudhu Arthangal'' and then on the comedy show ''Kanni Theevu Ullasa Ulagam 2.0'' entertain the audience as a special guest.
In the media
At the height of her success in 2008, Namitha's devotee built her a temple near
Coimbatore
Coimbatore (Tamil: kōyamputtūr, ), also known as Kovai (), is one of the major Metropolitan cities of India, metropolitan cities in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is located on the banks of the Noyy ...
,
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...
. She became the second actress after
Khushbu
Khushbu Sundar (born Nakhat Khan; 29 September 1970) is an Indian politician, actress, film producer and television personality. She is known for her work predominantly in Tamil cinema, Tamil language films and in a few Telugu cinema, Telugu ...
in the state to be immortalised in such a fashion by her fan following. In October 2010, there was an attempt to kidnap her by a fan at
Trichy
Tiruchirappalli (), also known as Trichy, is a major tier II city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Tiruchirappalli district. The city is credited with being the best livable and the cleanest city of T ...
in Tamil Nadu. She has been an advocate of safe driving and in June 2012, she and Tamil actor Bharat promoted awareness of safe driving.
Politics
Namitha joined
AIADMK
The All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (; AIADMK, also abbreviated as ADMK), also shortened to Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, is an Indian regional political party with great influence in the state of Tamil Nadu and the union territory ...
on 24 April 2016 in the presence of party general secretary and Tamil Nadu chief minister
J Jayalalithaa in Trichy. In 2019, Namitha along with actor
Radha Ravi
Madras Rajagopalan Radhakrishnan Ravi mononymously called as Radha Ravi is an Indian actor and politician who played supporting roles throughout his career. He is the son of veteran actor M. R. Radha and the uncle of Vasu Vikram and half-brot ...
joined the
Bharatiya Janata Party
The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP; , ) is a political party in India and one of the two major List of political parties in India, Indian political parties alongside the Indian National Congress. BJP emerged out from Syama Prasad Mukherjee's ...
in the presence of party's national president
J. P. Nadda in
Chennai
Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...
. In July 2020, after 8 months of joining the BJP, Namitha was appointed as one of the state executive member of the BJP in Tamil Nadu.
Personal life
Namitha married businessman Veerendra Chowdary in Tirupathi in November 2017. The couple announced their pregnancy via Namitha's Instagram on her 41st birthday. She delivered twin sons in August 2022.
Filmography
Television
References
External links
*
*
*
{{authority control
Actresses from Gujarat
Indian film actresses
Female models from Gujarat
Living people
People from Surat
Gujarati actresses
Actresses in Tamil cinema
Actresses in Kannada cinema
Actresses in Telugu cinema
Actresses in Malayalam cinema
Actresses in Gujarati cinema
21st-century Indian actresses
1981 births