Varalaxmi Sarathkumar (born 5 March 1985) is an Indian actress who appears 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 ...
,
Telugu films, also appeared in a few
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 ...
,
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 ...
films. She made her debut with the
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 ...
film ''
Podaa Podi'' (2012).
Early life and family
Varalaxmi was born to actor
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 ...
and Chaya on 5 March 1985 in
Bangalore
Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...
(Bengaluru),
Karnataka
Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...
, India.
Her stepmother is actress
Raadhika.
Varalaxmi did her schooling at St. Michael's Academy, Chennai. She is a graduate in
Microbiology
Microbiology () is the branches of science, scientific study of microorganisms, those being of unicellular organism, unicellular (single-celled), multicellular organism, multicellular (consisting of complex cells), or non-cellular life, acellula ...
from Hindustan Arts and Science college, Chennai with a Masters in Business Management from the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
. She honed her acting skills at
Anupam Kher's Acting School in Mumbai, before becoming a professional actress.
Personal life
On 2 March 2024, Varalaxmi Sarathkumar got engaged to Nicholai Sachdev, who is a gallerist based in Mumbai. They married on 3 July 2024.
Career
Varalaxmi auditioned for
Shankar's ''
Boys'' (2003) and was selected to play the lead role, before her father requested her to turn down the opportunity. Likewise, she also missed out on opportunities to act in
Balaji Sakthivel's ''
Kaadhal'' (2004) and
Venkat Prabhu
Venkat Kumar Gangai Amaren (born 7 November 1975), better known by his stage name Venkat Prabhu, is an Indian film director, actor and playback singer in Tamil cinema. In addition, he also worked in Telugu cinema, Telugu Cinema. After completing ...
's ''
Saroja'' (2008).
Varalaxmi signed on to star in
Vignesh Shivan's romantic drama film ''
Podaa Podi'' (2012) during June 2008, citing that the opportunity to portray a London-based dancer had excited her. The film went through a
protracted development, taking four years to make, before being released in October 2012. Co-starring
Silambarasan, Varalaxmi won critical acclaim for her performance. Rediff.com noted she was the "scene stealer" and added "she comes across as a genuine, warm person, able and willing to accept those around her for themselves, and rattles off her dialogues with such spontaneity and charm that she wins you over right away". Likewise, a critic from Sify.com wrote she "is the big surprise here as she makes a promising debut and brings alive her character with not just those smart lines, but with the kind of confidence and candour". The film performed moderately at the box office but performed well in the multiplexes.
In 2014, she embarked on her second venture, the Kannada film ''
Maanikya'' (2014), starring alongside actor
Sudeep
Sudeep Sanjeev (born 2 September 1971), also known as Kichcha Sudeepa, is an Indian actor, director, producer, screenwriter, singer and television presenter, who primarily works in Kannada cinema. He has also worked in Hindi cinema, Hindi, Te ...
. This film proved to be a major success and emerged as one of the highest-grossing Kannada films of that year.
In 2016, she announced on Twitter that she has been cast alongside
Mammootty
Muhammad Kutty Panaparambil Ismail (born 7 September 1951), known mononymously by the hypocorism Mammootty (), is an Indian actor and film producer who works predominantly in Malayalam-language films. He has also appeared in Tamil, Telugu, ...
in the
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 ...
film ''
Kasaba''. In her tweet, the actress said that the big opportunity to work alongside Mammootty came to her apparently due to her performance in the Tamil film ''
Tharai Thappattai
''Tharai Thappattai'' is a 2016 Tamil-language musical drama film written, produced and directed by Bala. The film features M. Sasikumar and Varalaxmi Sarathkumar in the leading roles, while Ilaiyaraaja composed the film's music based on ka ...
''. Varalaxmi was also committed to starring in ''Aakasha Mittaayee'', the Malayalam remake of the Tamil film ''
Appa'' but left, citing the behaviour of its producers whom she called "mannerless". In 2017, Varalaxmi appeared in ''
Vikram Vedha'', ''
Nibunan'', ''
Vismaya'', ''
Sathya'', ''
Kaattu'' and ''
Masterpiece
A masterpiece, , or ; ; ) is a creation that has been given much critical praise, especially one that is considered the greatest work of a person's career or a work of outstanding creativity, skill, profundity, or workmanship.
Historically, ...
''. Varalaxmi turned as Host for a TV show titled ''Unnai Arindhaal'' (2018) on
Jaya TV
Jaya TV HD is a Tamil language satellite television channel based in Chennai, India. Jaya TV HD is also broadcast to the expatriate Tamil community via various media partnerships. Hemant Sahai of HSA had Jaya TV HD as his first client. Jaya TV ...
. She played the antagonist's role in ''
Sandakozhi 2'' (2018) and ''
Sarkar'' (2018). She worked on her first Telugu film, ''
Tenali Ramakrishna BA. BL'' (2019).
Varalaxshmi Sarathkumar plays the lead role in ''
Velvet Nagaram'' (2020). She has played a role in ''
Danny'' (2020) in which she tried out the role of a cop. She has also starred in leading roles such as ''
Chasing'' (2021) and ''Singa Paarvai'' (2021).
She appeared in The Telegu film ''
Yashoda'' (2022) starred
Samantha Ruth Prabhu playing the title role, while Varalaxmi Sarath Kumar played the other important role. She playing a crazy character in
Nandamuri Balakrishna
Nandamuri Balakrishna (born 10 June 1960), also known as Balayya or NBK, is an Indian actor, film producer, politician and philanthropist known for his works in Telugu cinema. Balakrishna is an elected member of the Andhra Pradesh Legislative A ...
’s ''
Veera Simha Reddy'' (2023) as well as lead role in ''
Sabari'' (2024).
Varalaxmi worked on
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 ...
's masala film ''
Madha Gaja Raja'', alongside
Vishal
Vishal may refer to:
People
* Vishal (name), a common Indian given name
* King Vishal, emperor of the Mahabharata era who founded the ancient city of Vishalapura
* Vishal (actor) (born 1977), Indian film actor, producer and anti-piracy activi ...
, which was released 13 years later in January 2025 owing to financial difficulties.
Filmography
Films
Television
Awards
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sarathkumar, Varalaxmi
Actresses in Tamil cinema
Living people
1985 births
21st-century Indian actresses
Tamil actresses
Actresses in Kannada cinema
Actresses from Bengaluru
Indian film actresses
Actresses in Malayalam cinema
Female models from Chennai
Indian Tamil people
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Actresses in Telugu cinema
Actresses in Telugu television
Santosham Film Awards winners
South Indian International Movie Awards winners
IIFA Utsavam winners