Radha (actress)

Radha
Radha at 60th South Filmfare Awards 2013
Born	Udaya Chandrika (1965-06-03) 3 June 1965 Trivandrum, Kerala, India
Years active	1981 - 1991
Spouse(s)	Rajasekaran Nair (m.1991-present)
Children	Karthika Nair (b.1992) Vignesh (b. 1995) Thulasi Nair(b.1997)
Parent(s)	Kunjan Nair, Kallara Sarasamma
Relatives	Ambika (sister)
Awards	Kalaimaamani, Cinema express, film critics

Udaya Chandrika, better known by her screen name Radha (born 3 June 1965),^[1] is an Indian actress^[2] popular in the 80s and early 90s. She has acted in numerous movies with top actors of the South Indian cinema such as Dr.Vishnuvardhan, Ravichandran, Chiranjeevi, Kamal Haasan, Sivaji Ganesan, Balakrishna, Rajinikanth, Mohanlal, Venkatesh, Prabhu, Vijayakanth, Karthik Muthuraman, Karthik, Krishna and Sathyaraj . She has acted in over 200 movies in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi. Not only that, She is currently a Judge in STAR Vijay Jodi Number One Season 6 Reality Dance program.

Personal life

Radha hails from Kallara Village near Kilimanoor in Thiruvananthapuram District in Kerala.

Radha got married to Rajasekaran Nair on 10 September 1991. The couple have 3 childrens; Son Vignesh Nair and daughters Karthika Nair and Thulasi Nair have settled in Mumbai. For the past 25 years they have owned a chain of restaurants in Mumbai and two hotels called UDS in Kovalam at Kerala, which have won the best coastal beach resort award. They also own a restaurant in the UK named "Rock and Role Kitchen" (RRK).

Her sister Ambika is also an actress. Her daughter Karthika Nair started her career as an actress with the Telugu film Josh. Her other daughter Thulasi Nair started her career as an actress with the Maniratnam film Kadal (2012 film).

Career

Radha was spotted by director Bharathiraja and was cast as a teenager in Alaigal Oivathillai in 1981 opposite newcomer Karthik.

Tamil cinema

Radha started her career in 1981 starring as the protagonist in director Bharathiraja's Alaigal Oivathillai alongside debutant Karthik. The movie was a runaway hit and is regarded as a cult classic. The on-screen chemistry that she shared with Karthik was highly successful and led to many movies like Pakkathu Veetu Roja, Valibamey Vaa Vaa and Ilanjodigal. In the same year Radha played a small role in the movie Tik Tik Tik which also starred Kamal Haasan. Tik Tik Tik played a significant role in her career. Later she starred alongside Kamal Hassan in movies like Oru Kaidhiyin Diary, Thoongadhey Thambi Thoongadhey, Kadhal Parisu and Jappanil Kalyanaraman.

Her sister Ambika is also a very popular actress. They shared screen space in films like Enkeyo Ketta Kural, Kadhal Parisu, Anna Nagar Mudhal Theru, Idhaya Kovil and Vellai Roja. The two sisters were at the zenith of their fame when they acted in Kadhal Parisu in which they played the roles of very glamorous, highly desirable women. Ambika and Radha managed their careers very carefully and after attaining success they were very selective about taking up roles in Tamil movies and only performed with top actors and directors. It was very rare to see both the sisters in the same movie after their early years in the Tamil film industry.

Telugu cinema

She acted in her first Telugu film with Sobhan Babu in Mr. Vijay . Her notable films in Telugu include Yamudiki Mogudu, State Rowdy, Raamudu Bheemudu, and Agni Parvatam. She has acted in around 16 films with Chiranjeevi, 6 films with Balakrishna and worked with all major heroes like NTR, ANR, Krishna, Shoban Babu and many more. Her glamour roles were brought out by K. Raghavendra Rao and A. Kodandarami Reddy.

Kannada cinema

Radha has done 4 Kannada films. She acted with veteran Vishnuvardhan and actress Lakshmi in Soubhagya Lakshmi, a remake of the Hindi film Maang Bharo Sajana. It in turn is a remake of a Telugu movie. She has done films with Ravichandran. In 1991, she did the movie Ranachandi with co-actors Sharat Babu, Ramesh Bhat, Mukhyamantri Chandru and Sudhir. In the film, she played a cop with Sharat Babu as her husband and Mukhyamantri Chandru as the villain. She had many stunts and fight sequences. It was a big hit in Kannada and is still remembered by Kannada movie-goers. Radha and Vishnuvardhan tried their best to romance in a hot rain song in an attempt to outdo the magic created by Ambika and Vishnuvardhan, but scheduling conflicts prevented this from happening. As a result, Radha was forced to watching the hot rain songs with Vishnuvardhan and his heroines on the Midnight Masala TV program instead of watching her own hot rain song with Vishnuvardhan.

Malayalam cinema

Radha acted only in 5 Malayalam films, the most notable being K. G. George's state award winning film Irakal (1986). Her performance as Nirmala is widely regarded as one of the best in her career. She produced the Malayalam film Ayitham (1987) in which she played the lead role. She played significant roles in Sathyan Anthikad's Revathikkoru Pavakkutty (1986),she had acted in Umanilayam(1984) joshy's movie and P. G. Viswambaran's Innathe Programme (1991).

Selected filmography

Telugu films

Tamil films

Malayalam films

Hindi films

Kannada films

References

External links

• Radha at the Internet Movie Database