Radha(Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil)

Radha

(Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil)

Radha (born 1965) is an Indian actress popular in the 80s and early 90s. She was popular in the Tamil film industry for more than a decade. She has acted in numerous movies with top actors of the South Indian cinema heroes from Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Sathyaraj, Prabhu, Vijayakanth to Karthik, Suresh, Mohan, N. T. Rama Rao, Mohanlal, Chiranjeevi, Venkatesh etc. She has acted in over 200 movies in 5 indian languages (Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi).

Personal life

Radha hails from Kerala. She is married to a successful hotelier Rajasekharan Nair and has two daughters & a son. Since her marriage she has settled in Mumbai and is into restaurant business with her husband. She pursues her undying passion for the Arts by continuing classical dance lessons alongside her eldest daughter. She has also recently performed at the famous Chidambaram Natarajar temple which she claims was her dream. Her sister Ambika is also a famous actress.

Career

Radha was spotted by director Bharathiraja and was cast as a young teenager, and cast in Alaigal Oyvathillai in 1981 opposite then newcomer Karthik and named her Radha. The young heroine took everyone by storm in her very first movie. Soon Radha became a hit started acting alongside heroes like Karthik, Mohan and Suresh.

Dubbed as the Saroja Devi of the 80's, between Payum Puli and Rajathi Raja, Radha was the uncrowned Queen of Kollywood. And by the end of eighties, Radha had almost completed a decade of complete dominance in the South. But still, the tag of a great actress still evaded her and though she came up with some spirited performances in movies like Amman Kovil Kizhakale, the label of a glamour doll stuck with her.

Kollywood Career

After a string of movies where she co-starred with the second line heroes of Tamil movie industry, she was starting to get noticed. Gopurangal Saivathillai proved her acting talents. She played a powerful role as a second wife of Mohan and matched the national award winner Suhasini (who played the first wife) in this movie. Radha played a small role in Tik Tik Tik, a Kamal Haasan starrer, big budget movie. Tik Tik Tik, though was a small role, did Radha some good by taking her into big budget movies and played a significant role in her career. Shen then starred in a number of Kamal movies like Oru Kaithiyin Diary, Thoongathey Thambi Thoongathey, Kathal Parisu, Jappanil Kalyanaraman and many of them were super duper hits.

Radha starred along with super star Rajinikanth. Rajini and Radha too made a great screen pair and the duo acted in many movies like Nan Mahan Alla, Paayum Puli, Sivappu Suriyan, Engeyo Ketta Kural etc . The versatile producers AVM exploited this success formula to the core.

Her major break came from her mentor Bharathiraja. Radha was cast in the movie opposite the legendary Sivaji Ganesan. Muthal Mariyathai released in the year 1985. Radha’s striking performance matching Sivaji was a pleasant surprise of the movie. And needless to say, Radha pulled in the crowds and Muthal Mariyathai remains till date as one of the greatest late-pickup super hits in Tamil industry. After Muthal Mariyathai she got a number of challenging roles including movies like Nyaya Tharasu.

 Tollywood Career

It was Suhasini who brought Radha to Telugu industry where she ruled along with Vijayashanti. She also demonstrated her budding acting talents in very intense scenes in movies under Bharathiraja's tutelage. While she worked hard to climb the ladder and maintain success in Tamil film cinema, Tollywood (Telugu) was an entirely different story. She became the top actress without much efforts and hardworks. Radha costarred almost all the leading stars of Telugu in that period including Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna, Krishna, Nagarjuna and Venkatesh. In Telugu she had to face some serious competition from Vijayashanti. And Sridevi too dropped down once in a while from Mumbai to steal a hit or two. Despite this , Radha managed to act in the most number of movies opposite big heroes amongst the three.

Selected Filmography

 Tamil Films

Year	Film	Cast	Direction	Role
1989	Raajadhi Raaja	Rajinikanth, Nadiya Moidu
1987	Aanand	Prabhu	C.V.Rajendran
1987	Jallikkattu	Sivaji Ganesan, Sathyaraj
1987	Kaadhal Parisu	Kamal Haasan, Ambika	A.Jagannathan
1987	Ninaive Oru Sangeetham	Vijaykanth
1986	Raatshashan	Chiranjeevi, Annapoorna, Nagendra Babu	Kondanadarama Reddy.A.
1986	Amman Koil Kizhakkaalae	Vijayakanth	R.Sundarajan
1986	Mela Thiranthathu Kadhavu	Amala, Gundu Kalyanam	R.Sundarajan
1985	Idaya Kovil	Mohan, Ambika	Mani Ratnam
1985	Muthal Mariyathai	Sivaji Ganesan, Sathyaraj	Bharathi Raja
1985	Nalla Thambi	Karthik	Sp.Muthuraman
1984	Naan Mahaan Alla	Rajinikanth
1984	Oru Kaidiyin Diary	Kamal Haasan, Revathy	Bharahti Raja
1983	Paayum Puli	Rajinikanth, Manorama	Sp.Muthuraman
1983	Sivappu Sooriyan	Rajinikanth, Manorama, Saritha	V.Srinivasan
1983	Thoongathey Thambi Thoogathey	Kamal Haasan	Sp.Muthuraman
1982	Engeyo Ketta Kural	Rajinikanth, Ambika
1982	Gopurngal Sayvathillai	Suhasini, Mohan
1982	Ilanjodigal	Karthik	Ramanarayan
1982	Kanney Raadha	Karthik
1982	Valibamey Vaa Vaa	Karthik	Bharathi Raja
1981	Alaigal Ooivathilai	Karthik	Bharathi Raja
1981	Tik Tik Tik	Kamal Haasan, Madhavi	Bharathi Raja

 Telugu Films

Year	Film	Cast	Direction	Notes
1990	Kodama Simham	Chiranjeevi, Sonam, Mohanbabu	K.Muralimohana Rao
1990	Kondaveeti Donga	Chiranjeevi, Vijayasanthi, Amrish Puri	Kondanda Rami Reddy.A.	Srikanya
1990	Qaidi Dada	Brahmanandam, Suman	T.L.V.Prasad
1989	Lankeshwarudu	Brahmanandam, Chiranjeevi, Maheshbbau	Narayana Rao Dasari
1989	Rudranetra	Brahmanandam, Chiranjeevi, Nuthan Prasad	K.Raghavendra Rao
1989	State Rowdy	Chiranjeevi, Bhanupriya, Sathyanarayana Kaikala	Gopal.B.
1989	Manchi Kutumbam	Krishna Ghattamaneni, Sharada	G.Rammohan Rao
1989	Two Town Rowdy	Venkatesh, Naresh	Narayana Rao Dasari
1988	Marana Mrudangam	Chiranjeevi, Annapoorna, Brahmanandam	A.Kondandarami Reddy
1988	Yamudiki Mogudu	Chiranjeevi, Vijayasanthi, Sathyanarayana Kaikala	Ravi Raja Pinisetty
1988	Donga Ramudu	Mohanbabu, Allu Ramalingaiah	K.Raghavendra Rao
1988	Jamagagni	Krishna	Bharathiraja
1987	Jebu Donga	Chiranjeevi, Bhanupriya	A.Kondandarami Reddy
1986	Raakshasudu	Chiranjeevi, Annapoorna, Nagendra Babu	Kondanadarama Reddy.A.
1986	Kondaveeti Raja	Chiranjeevi, Sathyanarayana Kaikala	K.Raghavendra Rao
1986	Muddula Krishnaiah	Balakrishna, Vijayasanthi, Sharada	Kodi Ramakrishna
1986	Ravana Brahma	Krishnamraju, Sathyanarayana Kaikala	K.Raghavendra Rao
1985	Adavi Donga	Chiranjeevi, Sharada	K.Raghavendra Rao
1985	Raktha Sindooram	Chiranjeevi, Nuthan Prasad	Kondaandarama Reddy.A.
1985	Puli	Chiranjeevi, Sathyanarayana Kaikala	Raj Bharath
1985	Vinitha Mogudu	Mohanbabu	T.L.VPrasad
1985	Donga	Chiranjeevi, Sathyanarayana Kaikala	Kondanadarama Reddy.A.
1985	Agni Parvatham	Krishna, Sharada, Vijayashanti	K.Raghavendra Rao
1984	Naagu	Chiranjeevi, Raogopal Rao	Prasad Thathineni
1984	Goonda	Chiranjeevi, Sathyanarayana Kaikala	Kondanadarama Reddy.A.
1983	Chanda Sasanudu	Ramarao, Sharada	Ramarao

Malayalam Films

Year	Film	Cast	Direction	Role
1991	Innathe Programme	Mukesh, Siddique, Zainuddin	P.G.Viswambaran	Indumathi
1986	Revathikkoru Pavakutty	Bharath Gopi, Mohanlal, Menaka	Sathyan Anthikkad	Susanna
1983	Mortuary	Prem Nazir, Madhu, Srividya	Baby	Radhadevi

Hindi Films

Year	Film	Cast	Direction	Role
1995	Bewafa Sanam	Krishnakumar, Shilpa Shirodkar	Gulshan Kumar
1989	Trinetra	Brahmanandam, Chiranjeevi, Nuthan Prasad	K.Raghavendra Rao
1989	Vicky Dada	Nagarjuna, Juhi Chawla, Srividhya	A.Kondandarami Reddy	Savitri
1983	Faoladi Mukka	Rajinikanth, Manorama	Sp.Muthuraman
1966	Phool Aur Patthar	Meena Kumari, Dharmendra	O.P.Ralhan	Radhadevi