Monisha

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Monisha

Birth name	Monisha Unni
Born	1971 Kerala,India
Died	1992 December 5 Alappuzha, Kerala
Years active	6
Notable roles	Nakhashathangal (1986) Perumthachan (1990) Kadavu (1991) Kamaladalam (1992)

Monisha (Kannada: ಮೊನಿಷ) (born: 1971 – death: 1992) was a South Indian cinema actress, who made her presence known with her very first film. She was only 15 years old when she won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her debut film Nakhashathangal (1986).^[1] That made her the only actor to get a National Award for the debuting film and the youngest actor to achieve the feat. Untimely death awaited this extra-ordinary personality in the form of a car accident, when she was just 21 and at the peak of her fame.

1 Early life
2 Career
3 Death
4 Filmography
5 Reference
6 External links

[edit] Early life

Monisha was born in Kerala in 1971 to Unni and Sreedevi. She had a brother, Sajith. Her father Unni, hailing from Panniyankara, Kozhikode was doing leather business in Bangalore, Karnataka. Monisha was brought up in Bangalore. Her mother, Sreedevi was a good dancer. Monisha started to learn dance since childhood and soon became an expert dancer. She did her first stage performance when she was 9. She won the Kaushika Award for winning in the Karnataka state level Bharatanatyam competition in 1985. She completed her schooling from St Charles High School, Bangalore and Bishop Cotton Girls School, Bangalore. She completed her degree in psychology from Mount Carmel College, Bangalore.^[2]

[edit] Career

Noted Malyalam novelist M. T. Vasudevan Nair, who is also a screenwriter and film director is a family friend of Monisha's. He was the person responsible for her film entry. She made a debut in film acting with Nakhashathangal(1986), which was written by M.T. and directed by Hariharan. The film portrayed a lovestory between two teenagers. Monisha was paired opposite another debutant Vineeth, who is a famous south Indian actor now. Monisha's portrayal of Gowri, the female protagonist won her the National Film Award for Best Actress in 1987.^[3] Monisha proved her performance in her first film was not a fluke with brilliant acting in Perumthachan(1990), Kadavu(1991) and Kamaladalam(1992). She also acted in Tamil films Pookkal Vidum Ithal (remake of Nakhashathangal) and Dravidan and in a Kannada film Chiranjeevi Sudhakar(1988) pairing with Raghavendra Rajkumar in the lead role.

[edit] Death

Monisha was working for the malayalam film Cheppadividya when she fell to death. On 1992 December 5, a car carrying her and her mother met with a mishap in a place near Cherthala, Alappuzha. Her mother escaped with minor bruises, but Monisha suffered a severe brain shock leaving her dead with minor external bruises.