Iniya

Shruthi Sawant, better known by her stage name Iniya, is an Indian film actress, who works in the Malayalam and Tamil film industries.

Career

Iniya hails from Trivandrum, Kerala; she has two sibilngs, one brother and one sister.^[2] She acted in several Malayalam television series, short films and telefilms as a child artist.^[2][3] While studying in class four, she acted in the telefilm Koottilekku, which was followed by appearances in tele-serials Orma by K. K. Rajeev and Sree Guruvayoorappan by Vayalar Madhavan Kutty.^[4] Iniya won the Miss Trivandrum title in 2005, following which she did modeling and appeared in several television advertisments as well as a number of Malayalam award-winning art films, including Saira (2006), directed Dr. Biju, Dalamarmarangal (2009) and Umma (2011), both directed by Vijayakrishnan.^[4][5] She also played a pivotal role in Rajesh Touchriver's short feature The Sacred Face, which focusses on child abuse.^[4] directed by In 2010, she starred in a Tamil film Padagasalai and signed up four more Tamil films,^[6][7] all of which were cancelled or remain unreleased. She next played a supporting role as the sister to Cheran's character in Mysskin's mystery thriller Yuddham Sei.^[8] Director A. Sarkunam signed her for the female lead character in his period piece Vaagai Sooda Vaa (2011), for which she changed her screen name to Iniya.^[9] Her portrayal of a tea stall owner was lauded by critics. Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff wrote that she was a "welcome find", describing her as "natural, appealing, and very expressive".^[8] She is currently filming for two Tamil films; Mouna Guru, starring Arulnidhi, which features her in the role of a medical student,^[10] and Annakodiyum Kodiveeranum directed by Bharathiraja, who roped her in, being impressed with her performance in Vaagai Sooda Vaa.^[11]

Filmography

References