Malayalam Awards Mazhavil Chiri Awards 2023 - Cast & Crew

Manju Pillai famous for her comic role in Malayalam TV serials and films is the grand daughter of yesteryear actor S.P Pillai. She is famous for her role in 'Life is Beautiful' and the TV series 'Chila Kudumba Chitrangal'.

Manju used to act in Drama competitions during her school days. She acted in 'Sthree Parvam' directed by famous play writer Soorya Krishnamurthy while she was in 10th standard. By seeing little Manju's performance on Drama's her teachers used to congratulate her and always used to bless her on her skills. As she was the granddaughter of S.P Pillai, she used to get many 'big fans' on her performance while on-stage

Manju, who never thought to get into the cine field, planned to do her graduation in Law. But with the pressure of family friends and relatives, she finally decided to do some roles on TV shows. Apart from serial acting, Manju was also seen as the judge in various reality shows that aired on TV. 

Manju debuted in the serial 'Sathyavum Mithyayum'. She got few other projects as well in TV with some famous directors in cine industry. Her role in TV soaps 'Chila Kudumba Chitrangal' and 'Life Is Beautiful' got well accepted. Her most appreciated role in teleserial was with film actor Jagadeesh in 'Life Is Beautiful'. Her role was a quirky-wit house wife who always love and do quarrel with husband. The presentation with comic touch made the serial one of the family favorite of all time.

'Thatteem Mutteem' was another big success serial that Manju acted along with KPAC Lalitha. They essayed mother-in-law/daughter-in-law characters with names Mayavatiamma and Mohanavalli. Most the episode went high ranking on TRP rating with the comic duo presence of these two leading actresses. 

Manju also acted in few critically acclaimed movies like 'Mazhayethum Munpe', 'Irattakuttikalude Achan', 'Ramanan' and with veteran director Adoor Gopalakrishnan 'Naalu Pennungal'. Manju bagged state television award twice in the year 2001 and 2003 for serial 'Devaranjini' and 'Sundaranmarum Sundarikalum' .

Bindu is an Indian movie actress who has predominantly worked in a Malayalam movie Industry. She was born in Pune, Maharashtra in a middle-class family. Her father was a government official and her mother used to stay at home.

Urvashi is the stage name of Kavitha Ranjini, a producer, film actress, TV anchor and a script writer from India. She was born on 1970 at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India. Her father is Chavara V. P. Nair and her mother is Vijayalakshmi. Her siblings are actress and classical dancer, Kalaranjini, Malayalam actress and comedian, Kalpana Priyadarshini, Kamal Roy and Prince who is also a Malayalam actor. Urvashi has been married twice. Her first marriage was held on October 11, 2000 with actor Manoj K. Jayan but they got separated in year 2008 because of some differences. They have been divorced in Chennai and later separated by an order from the court. Urvashi’s daughter, Tejalakshmi or better known as Kunjatta now lives with his father Manoj. Then Urvashi was married again to a Civil Engineer in November 2013. Urvashi and Shivaprasad’s marriage was held through a private ceremony in Chennai. The two later announced that Urvashi was pregnant on her second child and subsequently gave birth to a baby boy on August 8, 2014.

Winner of the Guinness World Record along with Prem Nazir for featuring in the largest number of consecutive films together as lead actor and actress (107), Sheela is one of the most prominent faces and actors in the Mollywood industry.

Born in Thrissur in March, 1945, to parents K. Antony and Gracy, she was brought up in Coimbatore, and completed her education in the St. Francis Anglo-Indian School.

Sheela made her debut in Paasam opposite MGR, with her first film in Malayalam being Bhagyajathakom in 1962 opposite Sathyan. Following this, the next two decades saw her portray roles in over 475 movies in languages including Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and of course, Malayalam. Her hits include movies such as Chemmeen, Velutha Kathreena, Kallichellamma & Vazhve Mayam, Eeta and Vishnu Vijayam.

She has also scripted and directed two movies in the 70’s and 80’s, Yakshaganom and Shikarangal,the latter of which was remade into Tamil. She also has directed a tele-film Ninaivukale Neengividu featuring the actress Jayabharathi. She also played the role of Akhilandeswary in the 2005 blockbuster Chandramukhi. She has also been critically acclaimed for her role in the Sathyan Anthikkad movie Manassinakkare.

Her talents also include writing, with her titled book Kuilinte Koodu and many other short stories. She is the recipient of the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress in the years 1969, 1971, 1976 and the Runner up in 2004, the Filmfare Awards South in 1977 as Best actress, and the Lifetime Achievement Award – South in 2000, the National Film Award as Best Supporting Actress in 2005 for the movie Akale, and the Asianet Film Award in 2007 for Best Lifetime Achievement Award.

George Vishnu Family Tree (Infographic Family Tree)

Seema is a veteran actress from India. She has acted in over 250 Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. She entered the industry in the year 1971 and is going strong till date. She was born on May 22, 1957 in Choolaimedu, Chennai, India. Seema’s father is Madhavan Nambiar from Thalassery who works in the T.V.S Parcel Service in Madras. Her mother Vasanthy is from Ambalamedu, Thrippunithura. Madhavan divorced Vasanthy and left when Seema was only 7-years old, and then he got re-married. Seema studied at P.N Dhawan Adarsh Vidyalaya in Chennai. She was married to Malayalam film director, Irruppam Veedu Sasidran (I. V. Sasi) on August 28, 1980. They have two kids namely, Anu Milan and Ani. Anu became an actor and was featured in his father’s Malayalam film, Symphony. Indian actor, Vijayan gave her the name Seema while filming Nizhale Nee Sakshi and from then on she started using it as her screen name. She is also known as Shanthi.

Seema initiated her career through the Malayalam film, Achante Bharya in 1971. She played the role of a dancer followed by few more films where she acted as a dancer as well. She debuted in the film, Nizhale Nee Sakshi, however the film was shelved for some reasons. Later, it was completed and starred Malayalam actress, Vidhubala as a heroine.

When she was 19 years old, she played the main lead role in the Malayalam film, Avalude Ravukal in 1978 under the direction of I. V. Sasi. Then she continued her journey in acting. She took a hiatus after doing the Malayalam film, Mahayaanam. She came back in year 1998 as a Principal in the high-budgeted Malayalam film, Olympian Anthony Adam. Some of Seema’s films are Mannu, Aaarathi, Thadakom, Kalyana Agathigal, Sandhyakku Virinja Poovu, Ashrayam, Vartha, Gandhinagar 2nd Street and a lot more. She recently did Naadakame Ulakam, Manushyamrigam and Geethaanjali. Some of her Tamil films include Kaali, Enga ooru Kannagi, Baba, Bagavathi, Anbe Sivam, Kaalai, and Siddhu +2 and more.

Beside films, she also entered the television industry and became more popular for her character as Nachiyar in Thangam on Sun TV. She was also starred in popular serials like Ival Yamuna on Mazhavil Manorama, Ammakili on Asianet Channel, Muhurtham, Kairali’s Chillu, Ammavukku Randilu Raahu and Vamsam on Sun TV.

Because of her versatility and talent in acting, she received many awards in her career as an actress. In 1984, she won the Best Actress Award in Kerala State Film Awards for her performance in Aksharangal and Aalkuttathil Thaniye. In 1985, she got the Best Actress Award again for her performance in Anubandham in Kerala State Film Awards. Seema also received recognitions in Filmfare Awards such as, Best Actress Award for Aaroodam in 1983, Best Actress Award for Aksharangal and Aalkuttathil Thaniye in 1984, Best Actress Award for Anubandham in 1985 and the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011.

Didi Damodaran, a popular writer, published the book, Vishudha Shanthi, Seema’s biography of life in 2011.

Ramesh Pisharody, a mimicry artist and anchor, was born on October 1, 1983, in Karikode, Kottayam. He is also known as Kannan. He belongs to the Malayalam TV industry. In his career, he has also appeared in a few films as the supporting actor role and also in the lead role. Along with Dharmajan Bolgatty, who supported him as the female lead most of the times, he hosted a comedy show, Bluff Masters, which helped him gain popularity. The awesome duo, Ramesh-Dharmajan, as the lead comic actors, created a great impact on the audience, and the show, Bluff Masters, achieved great success. He is a great anchor, and nowadays, he is anchoring celebrity show like Badai Bungalow, screened on Asianet, which portrays the Malayalam version of Comedy Nights with Kapil.