Indian actresses profile list series(V)

Vasundhara Das

Biography / Biodata

Name	Vasundhara Das
Alternative Names	Vasundhra Das / Vasundara Das
Nick Name	Shakalaka baby
Date of Birth	1977
Birth Place	Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Nationality	Indian
Height	5′6″
Eye colour	Grey eyes
Hair colour	Brown
Father	CEO of a MNC, Bangalore
Mother	Nirmala Das, Scientist
Music Teacher	Pandit Parameshwara Hegde, Keherwana Gharana
Education	B.A, Economics & Math
College Days	Mount Carmel College, Bangalore, Karnataka
Hobbies	Travelling, Adventure Sports, Nature Sports, Camping
Mother tongue	Kannada
Languages worked	English, French, Tamil, Kannada and Hindi
Languages Known	English, Hindi, Kannada, Tamil, Spanish, Telugu
Genre	Western and Hindustani classical
Instruments She plays	Guitar
Her Musical band name	“Arya” with Roberto Narain
Her band’s first performance	Festival La Mar de Musicas, in Spain,2003
Favourite Actor	Kamal Hassan
Favourite Music director	A.R Rahman
Favourite singer	“Aziza Mustafa Zadeh”  Arabic singer
Dream person	Ricky Martin
Favourite music	Western, Hindustani Classical, Jazz, Pop
Favourite Book	The Fountainhead
Favourite Dress	Fusion clothes
Hindi Acting debut movie	Hey Ram (1999)
Tamil Acting debut movie	Hey Ram (1999)
Malayalam Acting debut movie	Ravana Prabhu [2001]
Kannada Acting debut movie	Lankesh Patrike [2002]
Singing Tamil debut	Mudhalvan, 1999, [Shakalaka Baby]
Singing Hindi debut	Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India, 2001 [O Rey Chhori]
First Album	“Meri Jaan”
Profession	Indian actress, singer, Model

Vani Vishwanath

Veena

Vidya Balan

Biography

Vidya Balan is a Tamilian from Kerala. She is from the Iyer community. She comes from a middleclass family from Palghat, on the border of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.  Vidya did her schooling from St Antony's School and later on joined St Xavier's College from where she graduated in sociology.  When she was doing her MA from Mumbai University, she was offered a role in a Malayalam film titled Chakram with Mohanlal, one of Vidya’s favorite actors. However, the project was shelved mid-way and Vidya had to wait for few more years to make her movie debut.  She made her debut as a model in a Surf Excel advertisement in 1998. She has acted in scores of ad films, most of which were directed by Pradeep Sarkar. A couple of months later, she featured in three music videos (again directed by Sarkar) for ‘Euphoria’, Shubha Mudgal and Pankaj Udhas.  Vidya Balan started work as an actress in the Malayalam movie Chakram, paired against Mohanlal, however the film was abandoned mid-way through production. After making her debut in television advertising as a model for a Surf Excel advertisement in 1998, she proceeded to do over 25 TV ads, (mostly directed by Pradeep Sarkar), followed with a variety of acting stints in music videos (Euphoria, Shubha Mudgal and Pankaj Udhas), Hindi TV soap operas (Hanste Khelte and Hum Paanch) and a Bengali movie, Bhaalo Theko, for which she won the Best Actress Anand Lok Puraskar award in Kolkata.Hanste Khelte and Ektaa Kapoor's Hum Paanch. In the meantime, she acted in Bengali movie Bhalo Theko with actor Joy Sengupta. She even won the ‘best actress’ Anand Lok Puraskar in Kolkata for her performance in the movie. It was in Mumbai, during a pop concert, when filmmaker Vidhu Vinod Chopra approached her to play the female lead in his movie Parineeta, to be directed by Pradeep Sarkar. Vidya had to go through 40 screen tests and 17 make-up shoots before she was finally chosen for the lead role in the film. Vidya has a very traditional Indian look in contrast to most of today's Bollywood starlets. She is associated with AmFar (Americans for AIDSResearch) and Hale House, a home for children born with HIV and those affected by Drug Addiction. She also involves herself with the Harvard AIDS Institute, by Hosting Forums and participating in events throughout the year. No wonder that Vidya Balan is one of the most talked about names in Bollywood today.   Date of Birth : January 1, 1982   Education : St. Antony's School and St. Xavier's College   Family : Father - P R Balan (Vice-President of ETC   channel), Mother (House maker), Elder Sister.   City : Palghat, Kerala   Occupation : Bollywood actress and Fashion Model   Debut Film : Parineeta   Languages : Tamil, Hindi, English, Malayalam, Bengali   Awards : Star Screen Award Most Promising Newcomer - Female, Parineeta (2005), Filmfare Best Debut Award, Parineeta (2005) Zee Cine Award Best Female Debut, Parineeta (2005) IIFA Award Best Female Debut, Parineeta (2005) Stardust Superstar of Tomorrow - Female, Parineeta (2005).

Vidya Sinha

Vijayashanti (Telugu Lady Superstar, Hindi, Tamil)

Biography

Vijayashanti is an actress who has starred in over 165 movies in 7 languages including Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi. She was born in Andhra Pradesh, India on June 24, 1964. She is credited as The Lady Superstar and The Action Queen of Indian Cinema. At the peak of her career, she was among the highest paid movie stars in India.

Vijayashanti's given name was 'Shanti'. Her screen name was based her aunt Vijaya Lalitha, who was a veteran heroine in Telugu and Tamil films. She began her acting career in 1979 at the age of 15 as the leading lady in the Tamil film Kallukkul Eeram ('Stones Have Tears') directed by the legendary Tamil film-maker Bharati Raja. The same year, she debuted in her native Telugu with the movie Kilaadi Krishnudu ('Cunning Krishna'), pairing opposite superstar Krishna. For the first few years, she portrayed mostly glamour roles. Notable among them is her role in the Telugu film 'Satyam-Shivam' (1981), the cast of which included the two legends of Telugu Cinema - NTR and ANR. Vijayashanti's first break as a performer came in the 1983 Telugu film 'Neti Bharatam' directed by T. Krishna. The next few years saw her in performance-oriented roles (Desamlo Dongalu Paddaaru, Vandemaataram, Pratighatana, Repati Pourulu, Devalayam, etc), and in glamorous roles (Challenge, Desodhdhaarakudu, Pasivaadi Praanam, Muddula Krishnaiah, Agni Parvatam, etc). By 1985 she was exclusively acting in Telugu films. 

Viveka

Vyjayantimala (Now Vyjayantimala Bali)

Vyjayanthimala or Vyjayanthimala Bali  was born on August 13, 1936, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She is a major Indian actress of the 1950s and '60s, very prominently in Bollywood, and won a large number of awards for her acting and classical dancing achievements. Following her cinema career, she entered Indian politics, and became a Member of Parliament.

Early life

Born in Madras. She did her schooling at Sacred Heart Church Park Convent, Chennai. She trained in Bharatnatyam, a South Indian genre of classical dancing.

Career

Early career

At age 15, she got a break in an AVM (production house) Tamil movie, Vazhkai, which was produced by M. V. Raman, a family friend. The movie was a success, and was remade in Hindi as Bahaar (1951). She acted in a few more Tamil movies before moving on to a highly successful career in Bollywood Hindi movies. Her dance competition with Padmini in the Tamil film, Vanjikottai Vaaliban, received much acclaim.

Vyjayanthimala got her initial Hindi movie roles in Ladki and Nagin (1954). Hemant Kumar's music and her dance accompanying the song, Man Dole, Mera tan dole, in Nagin made the movie an enormous success, and the movie's success helped Vyjayanthimala break out of B grade movies. Bimal Roy cast her as Chandramukhi opposite Dilip Kumar in the critically acclaimed Devdas. She subsequently starred in four successful films opposite Dilip Kumar: Madhumati, Ganga Jamuna, Leader, and Naya Daur. The first two of those four roles earned her Filmfare Best Actress Awards. She also received a Filmfare nomination as Best Actress for portraying in Sadhana a tawaif (a courtesan) who eventually got rehabilitated in the society. She costarred with Raj Kapoor in Sangam which earned her the Filmfare Best Actress Award. (She denied rumors of an affair with Raj Kapoor during the production of Sangam, saying that it was a publicity stunt by Kapoor to boost his image[1].)

Vyjayanthimala starred in the 1966 historical epic, Amrapali, which was based on the life of the legendary Buddhist courtesan Amrapali. The movie was not a commercial success, and the commercial failure much disappointed her as she considered it the magnum opus of her career. Later, she said that she would like to see a remake of that movie, with Madhuri Dixit playing her role.[2]

She costarred with Dev Anand in Jewel Thief, with Rajendra Kumar in Suraj, with Shammi Kapoor in Prince, and with Kishore Kumar in his inane yet zany comedies,including the blockbuster New Delhi.

Vyjayanthimala's Tamil movies included Vanjikottai Valiban, Irumbuthirai, Then Nilavu, Vaazhkai, Penn, Parthiban Kanavu (old), and Baghdad Thirudan.

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Personal life

Vyjayanthimala married Dr. Chamanlal Bali. After marriage, she terminated her acting career and moved to Chennai. She has a son, Suchindra, by Dr. Bali. After she moved to Chennai, she entered politics as a member of Lok Sabha (lower house). Later, she got nominated as a member of Rajya Sabha (the upper house). In 2007, she published her autobiography, titled Bonding, with Jyoti Sabarwal as the co-writer.[3]

Filmography

Sangam

Awards

1956 - Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award, for a role in Devdas. Vyjayanthimala did not accept the award, her contention being that her role in that movie was that of the main actress rather than a supporting actress. (That was the first time a person had declined to receive a Filmfare Award.) [4]

1958 - Filmfare Best Actress Award, for a role in Madhumati

1958 - Filmfare Nomination for Best Actress, for a role in Sadhana[5]

1961 - Filmfare Best Actress Award, for a role in Ganga Jamuna

1961 - BFJA Award for Best Actress for her role in Ganga Jamuna [6]

1964 - Filmfare Best Actress Award, for a role in Sangam

1982 - Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, 1982 for Bharatanatyam[7]

1995 - Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award

2004 - "Legend of Indian Cinema" Award at Atlantic City (United States). [8]

2005 - Lifetime Achievement Award at the Bollywood Movie Awards [9]