Shobana

Shobana
Shobana performing Bharata Natyam dance
Native name	ശോഭന
Born	Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala
Occupation	Actress, dancer, choreographer, Mridangam player and stage performer
Children	Ananthanarayani (adopted)
Parents	Chandrakumar Pillai Anandam Chandrakumar

Shobana (born Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai) is an Indian film actress and Bharata Natyam dancer from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. She has acted in more than 200 films in several languages including Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada and English.^[1][2]

Shobana was a lead actress in a number of southern Indian films during the 1980s and 1990s. She has worked with directors such as Adoor Gopalakrishnan, G Aravindan, K Balachandar, AM Fazil, Mani Ratnam, Bharathan and Priyadarsan. She won the National Film Award for Best Actress twice, for her performances in the films Manichitrathazhu (1993) and Mitr, My Friend (2001). Consequent to the 1993 National Award, Shobana turned extremely selective about her films.^[3][4]

Shobana was trained under the Bharata Natyam dancers, Chitra Visweswaran and Padma Subrahmanyam. She emerged as an independent performer and choreographer in her twenties and currently runs a dance school, Kalarpana, in Chennai.^[5]

In 2006, the India honoured Shobana with the Padma Shri for her contributions towards the classical dance.^[6][7]

Personal life

Shobana was born to Anandam and Chandrakumar, in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. She did her schooling in Chennai at Sishya school, Adyar.

In 2010, Shobana adopted a baby girl and named her Ananthanarayani.

She is the niece of the Travancore sisters – Lalitha, Padmini and Ragini, all of whom were classical Indian dancers and actresses.^[8] The actress Sukumari is her paternal aunt. Malayalam actor Vineeth is her cousin.^[9]

Career

Film career

Shobana in a dance and theatre format musical in Bangalore

Shobana made her adult début in the 1984 Malayalam film April 18 directed by Balachandra Menon. Her realistic portrayal of a simple girl-next-door appealed to audiences instantly and she went on to work in numerous films. "Debut as heroine I was all of 13 and a half but I didn’t look that young. I was 5’8” and people around me thought I should act as an 18-year-old off the sets. It put me in a shell initially because I was straight out of school," she later explained. In the same year she entered the Tamil film industry and acted in Enakkul Oruvan directed by SP Muthuraman.^[10] "Acting with Kamal Haasan I was 14, if you ask me now I would say I was nervous. But then he was a star and I was stunned.", Shobhana remembered acting along with Kamal Haasan in her early career. Enakkul Oruvan didn’t do well at the box office and Shobhana's commercial landing was stalled and she went back into Malayalam films.^[11]

Her other major films include Kanamarayathu, Ithiri Poove Chuvanna Poove (1984), Yaathra, Rangam (1985), Anantaram, Vrutham (1987), Idhu Namma Aalu (1988), Siva (1989), Innale (1990), Thalapathi (1991), Manichitrathazhu (1993), Thenmavin Kombath (1994), Dance like a Man (2003), Mampazhakkalam (2004) and Makalkku (2005). From Aviduthe Pole Ivideyum to Upaharam, Shobana did twelve movies in a single year, 1985.^[12]

Shobana's also stars in the upcoming Tamil period film Kochadaiiyaan.^[13]

Shobana won her first National Film Award for Best Actress in 1994 for her performance in AM Fazil's Manichitrathazhu. Her portrayal of Ganga Nakulan and alter-ego Nagavalli in the film was described by critics as "spell binding".^[14] She received her second National award for best actress in 2001 for her role in the Indian English language film Mitr, My Friend, directed by Revathi. Consequent to the 1993 National Award, Shobana turned extremely selective about her films. "In films I think I did everything possible in dance. There were many people who were weaving scripts around me for my dancing acumen. In one of the films, I play a handicapped girl and yet there was a sequence in which I break into a dance. Probably, they had their reasons. That was when I got bored." says Shobhana, explaining the reason for a long sabbaticals in her career.^[15]

Classical dance career

Shobhana is an accomplished Bharata Natyam dancer.^[16] She did her dance training at the Chidambaram academy in Chennai, Tamil Nadu under Chitra Visweswaran. Shobhana danced Abhinaya, a pivotal element in Bharata Natyam.

She has worked on collaborative ventures with the likes of tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, Vikku Vinayakram and Mandolin Srinivas. Her recitals abroad include those at the World Malayalee convention, in the United States in 1985 and 1995, in Kuala Lumpur before the King and Queen of Malaysia, numerous cities in the United States, Europe, South East Asia and Australia.^[17] Shobhana started performing in prestigious Soorya Music & Dance festival organised by Soorya Krishnamoorthy from the year 1994.^[18] In 1999, Shobhana along with Prabhu Deva and AR Rahman performed with a Tamil film dancing troupe at the "Michael Jackson and Friends" concert in Munich, Germany. She was also a part of Mani Ratnam's stage show, Netru, Indru, Naalai in 2000.

In 1994, Shobana founded a school for classical dance Bharata Natyam in Chennai – Kalarpana.^[19]

Awards

Shobana performing dance.

National Film Awards

• Best actress for Mitr, My Friend (2001)
• Best actress for Manichitrathazhu (1993)

Filmfare Awards South

• Best actress for Manichitrathazhu (1993)

Filmfare Awards South

• 1986: Best Actress- Rareeram
• 1989: Best Actress- Innale
• 1994: Best Actress- Thenmavin Kombath

Other Awards

• Best Child Artist Award for the Tamil movie Mangala Nayaki (1979)
• Best New Face Award for April 18 - Awarded by Film critics (1984)
• Nana Ganllipol Award for April 18 (1984)
• Best Actress for Rareeram Ayiram - Awarded by Cinema Express (1986)
• Best Actress for Kshamichu Ennoru Vakku (1986)
• Best Actress for Sasneham (1990)
• Best Actress for Innale (1990)
• Kumudam Lux Award for Manichitrathazhu (1993)
• Best Actress for Minnaram (1994)
• Woman of the year -1994
• Best Actress for Sindhoora Rekha - Awarded by Filmfans (1994)
• Best Actress for Mazhayethum Munpe - Awarded by Cinema Express (1994)
• Outstanding Contribution to the field of Cinema - Awarded by Malayali club (1995)
• Nana Popular Award - 1995
• TTK Prestige-Vanitha Film Awards - Best Actress (2014) - Thira^[20]
• Prem Nazir Award - 2014

Honours and titles in classical dance

• Natya Ratna - Awarded by the Deccan fine arts,Secundrabad (1992)
• Natya Jyothi - Awarded by the Indian fine arts, Australia (1994)
• Yuva Kala Bharthi - Awarded by Bharat Kalachar, Chennai (1995)
• Natya Mayuri - 1995
• Bharata Kalaratna - Awarded by Bharathalaya (1996)
• Nadana Mamani - Awarded by Karthik Fine Arts, Chennai (1997)
• Ugadi Purskhar - 1998
• Nritya Choodamani - Awarded by Sri Krishna Gana Sabha, Chennai (2007)
• Kalaimamani - Awarded by the Government of Tamil Nadu (2009)
• Nritya Kala Nipuna - Awarded by the Mylapore fine arts club, Chennai(2012)

Filmography

Malayalam

Telugu

Tamil

• Kochadaiyaan (2013)
• Podaa Podi (2012)
• Thalapathi (1991)
• Mallu Vetti Minor (1990)
• Siva (1989)
• Idhu Namma Aalu (1988)
• Enakkul Oruvan (1984)
• Mangala Nayaki (1980)
• Yenkitta Mothathey

Kannada

• Shiva Shankar (1990)
• Giribale (1985)

Hindi

• Mere Baap Pehle Aap (2008)
• Apna Asmaan (2007)

English

• Dance Like a Man (2003) (as Shobhana)
• Mitr, My Friend (2002)

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Shobana.

• Official website of Shobana
• Shobana at the Internet Movie Database