Radha (actress)

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Radha

Radha at Paadal.com(Unofficial) Official website

Actress Radha was a top heroine from the eighties and reigned supremacy in the Tamil cine field for more than a decade. She has acted in numerous movies with the cream of the tamil cinema heroes from Rajinikanth, Kamalahaasan, Sathyaraj, Prabu, Vijayakanth to Karthik, Suresh and Mohan. She has also held her own against Sivaji Ganesan in Mudhal Mariyathai.

Initial Years

Hailing from Kerala along with her equally famous sister Ambika, Director Bharathiraja was the first one to spot the star in the young mallu teenager. He took her in his movie Alaigal Oyvathillai in 1981 opposite then newcomer Karthik and promptly named her Radha. The young heroine took everyone by storm in her very first movie. Her expressive eyes, the bubbly cheeks, the round and innocent face and promising acting skills all at once drew attention. Radha was also gifted with an innocent looking childish face but at the same time she was equally known for her sensual expressions. Needless to say, soon radha became a darling of the masses and she was soon acting in numerous movies alongside heroes like Karthik, Mohan and Suresh.

Despite having minimal training in classical dance during her school days, Radha was a natural dancer and her graceful dance movements with sensual expressions were a treat to watch in all the song sequences that she featured. One of her early super hits Kadhal Oviyam saw her don the Salangai and giving exceptional performances in Bharathanatyam. She also demonstrated her budding acting talents in very intense scenes in this movie under Bharathiraja's tutelage.

Rise to Stardom

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. The scene where she makes an outburst upon realising that her husband had already been married to Suhasini was par excellence. People were convinced that this lithe star from Kerala is blessed with both glamour and talent. However just when it looked like Radha would have to content herself with low budget movies and second rung heroes, her vital break was again given by none other than her mentor and guru Bharathiraja . Radha was called in to play a role in Tik Tik Tik, a Kamalahaasan starrer. For the first time Radha was playing a role in a big budget movie. She played one of the three beauty pageants in this movie. The other two were Madhavi and Swapna. Radha she did not play the heroine in the movie and was left to feature in just one song and there too she had to share it with the other two actresses. Nevertheless, Radha’s performance in Tik Tik Tik was memorable and was a turning point as it brought her Kamalahaasan's attention.

Radha’s ascent in the tamil industry was inevitable. 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. Kamal's producers began signing her for dates and the Kamal-Radha duo instantly struck a chord. She 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's success caught the attention of Superstar Rajinikanth too who immediately got his producers booking her for his major projects. 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 and Radha last co-starred with him in the mega musical hit Rajathi Raja produced by the Maestro Ilayaraja. At that time there was an adage in Kodambakkam that all you need to give a hit was to book Rajini, Radha and Silk and get Ilaiyaraja to give some great scores. You’ve got a hit in your hands. The versatile producers AVM exploited this success formula to the core.

Kollywood Queen of the 80s

Dubbed as the Saroja Devi of the 80's, between Payum Puli and Rajathi Raja, Radha was the uncrowned Queen of Kollywood racing ahead of her contemporaries like Madhavi, Nalini, Radhika, Nathiya, Revathi and even her sister Ambiga. 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. That was a time when actresses like Revathi and Suhasini were getting national recognition for their acting and Radha too longed for some recognition of her talent. Her immense acting talent was never really tested. Yet again , the major break came from her mentor Bharathiraja. When Muthal Mariyathai project was started, it was widely spoken that two giants, a giant actor and a giant director, were coming together and it was going to be a real challenge for the heroine. Radha was cast in the movie opposite the legendary Sivaji Ganesan.

Major Break

Muthal Mariyathai released in the year 1985. The audio cassette released much earlier and the songs with introduction rendered by Vairamuthu, created quiet a stir and proved the supremacy of Raja in village folk. But shockingly, the film did not get a grand opening. In fact, for the first two weeks, the response was very poor with the theatres not even managing 30 % occupancy. It was then that the producers had a close scrutiny on their promotional strategy. Most of the promos featured Sivaji and they highlighted the name of Bharathiraja. It seemed that they were thinking that just Bharathiraja directing Sivaji would bring in the crowds. But it did not. The promoters of Muthal Mariyathai changed tact. Alongside Sivaji, they added a still of a blouse-less Radha. The still where she carries two fish in her hands will be remembered by many even now. That did the magic for the movie. People thronged to see their glamorous doll in this new village outfit. But what they ended up seeing was an immensely mature performance of their glamour doll in a story which brilliantly portrayed the ageless romance of an old man with a young village belle. Ilayaraja’s songs, Sivaji’s master performance, Bharathiraja’s brilliant direction, Kannan’s camera were all appreciated even today. But it was Radha’s striking performance matching Sivaji that 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, nobody disputed the fact that Radha was equally great in screen histrionics and she got a number of challenging roles including movies like Nyaya Tharasu.

In Tollywood

While she worked hard to climb the ladder and maintain success in Tamil film cinema, Tollywood (Telugu) was an entirely different story. One rain song with Chiranjeevi was enough to catapult her instantly as the top star. Radha costarred almost all the leading stars of Telugu in that period including Balakrishna, Krishna, Nagarjuna and Venkatesh and gave other top heroines in telugu such as Vijayashanti a run for their money. In telugu she had to face some serious competition from Vijayshanti. 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.

In total Radha has acted in about 200 films in all the four south Indian languages. Her five favourites among her films are ... Alaigal Oyvadhillai [the first is always the best], Kadhal Oviyum, Mudhal Mariyathai [with Sivaji Ganesan], Ninaive Oru Sangeetham, and Amman Kovil Kizhakkale.

Even as big offers were coming her way, Radha made a graceful exit from Tamil filmdom following her marriage to a successful hotelier Rajasekaran Nair. Since her marriage she has settled in Mumbai and is into restaurant business with her husband and three children: Krithika, Vignesh, and the youngest Thulasi. 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.

Radha has stated that she doesnt mind doing meaningful roles in tamil movies if they come by. Her eldest daughter is currently being groomed to become a heroine in Tamil. In a couple of years we might see a kutty Radha adorning the silver screen as a reminescence of the talented beauty who stole many hearts in the yesteryears.