Sripriya

Sripriya is an actress who played leading roles in the 1970s and 1980s in South India. She has acted in over 300 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam language films. Over 200 of these are Tamil films.

She has also directed movies in Tamil and Telugu, including the 2014 movie Drushyam in Telugu language.

Career

Acting

She first faced the camera for the film Murugan Kaattiya Vazhi directed by P. Madhavan in 1973. Following that, she acted with Rajinikanth, Kamal Hassan, Sivaji Ganesan, and Jaishankar among others.

Sripriya had a string of successful movies in the late 1970's and early 80's. She played the lead character in C. Rudraiya's 1977 movie Aval Appadithan and her portrayal of Manju in the movie, won her a Tamil Nadu State Award that year. Her other hits include Aattukara Alamelu, Billa and Annai Oru Alayam.

She was awarded the Kalaimamani award in the early 1980s. She was in the jury of the National Awards committee and was a member of the State Awards committee.

She was Rajinikanth's leading lady in several of his movies. She went on to act with Rajinikanth in 28 movies.She has also paired in a number of movies with Kamalhasan as well, second only to Sridevi who has been paired with Kamalhassan for over 30 movies. She also acted in a number of movies which starred both Kamal and Rajini. This list of movies includes Illamai Oonjaladukirathu, Aadu Puli Aatam, Alladinum Arputha Vilakkakum, Aval Appadithen, Natchathiram.^[1]

Overall, after starting in 1973, she has starred in more than 300 films in all the four South Indian languages, including over 200 in Tamil.^[2]

Directing

Following her acting career, Sripriya took to directing movies. In her directorial debut film, Malini 22 Palayamkottai, she took on the issue of sexual assaults on women. In an interview to the Indian Express, she has stated that "making this film is my way of registering [my] anger.”^[3]

She has also directed television serials. By 2007, she had directed five serials, of which she considers Viduthalai the best serial. She has directed five films, two in Tamil, two in Kannada and one in Telugu with Venkatesh, Meena, Nadiya Moidu titled Drushyam.

Sripriya is also a visual artist and the proceeds from her paintings are given to social causes, mainly for children. Additionally, she is a writer and has penned the dialogues for several TV serials and movies.

Personal life

Sripriya was born in Chennai. She attended the Church Park convent school in Chennai. She is a trained classical dancer and hails from a professional music family including her uncles Natiyakalachakravarthy Padmashri K. N. Dhandayuthapani Pillai and Nadaswara Chakravarthy Shri Rajamanickam Pillai. In 1988, she married the actor Rajkumar Sethupathy. The couple have two children, a daughter, Sneha and a son, Nagarjun.

Filmography

Sripriya has appeared in over 200 films in Tamil. She has also acted in many movies in Telugu, Kannada and in some Malayalam movies as well. A big list of movies she's acted in can be found in this spicyonion.com site.

Notable filmography

As Director

References

External links

• Sripriya at the Internet Movie Database
• Sripriya Filmography at SpicyOnion