Malayalam Awards Vanitha Film Awards 2019 - Cast & Crew

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.

Shreya Ghoshal, one of the most famous singers in Bollywood today, was born on March 12th, 1984, in Berhampore, West Bengal. Her father Biswajit Ghoshal is an electrical engineer and mother Sharmistha Ghoshal is a postgraduate in literature. She started singing since the age of 4 when her mother taught her. She started her formal training in Hindustani classical Gharana of music when she was only six years old. She was trained for 18 months after which she continued her training in Mumbai with Late Mukta Bhideji. She completed her graduation in Arts with majors in English. Her first on-stage performance was at their club’s annual function. Her first studio album was in Bengali in 19998 and was named Bendhechhi Beena, and her first onscreen performance was in Awaz Nayi Andaaz Wohi. In 1995, she became the winner of All India Light Vocal Music Competition. Her fame and career began with her winning a television singing reality show named Sa Re Ga Ma Pa.

Nikhila Vimal is a Malayalam actress, and a classical dancer hails from Kannur. Nikhila is the daughter of Kalamandalam Vimala Devi, who is an acclaimed classical dancer and her father Pavithran who works in a statistics department. Nikhila started learning dance at a very young age and was an active participant in the youth festival circuit. She is a trained dancer in Bharatanatyam, Kuchipudi, mono-acting, and Keralanadanam. Nikhila, a dancer, never dreamed of pursuing acting in her career. She did her graduation Sir Sayyed College in Botany. Currently, she is staying in Taliparamba in Kannur. Nikhila in her plus two was offered the role in ‘Bhagyadevatha’ by the director Sathyan Anthikad. She played the active role of sister of ‘Jayaram’s character in the movie. After the film, she took a very long break and debuted in the movie ‘Love 24x7’ directed by Sreebala K Menon. Nikhila also acted in a documentary on Saint Alphonsa before her acting career, aired on Shalom TV.

Saniya Iyappan is a Malayalam movie actress and a professional dancer. She predominantly works for the Malayalam cinema industry. Her work in the 2018 Malayalam film Queen, where she played the role of Chinnu, is often appreciated. She also portrayed the character of Jhanvi, in the Mohanlal starring film Lucifer. Besides these projects, Iyappan also worked in Karikku’s mini web series called Thera Para as Ashwasthy Achu. Her television career commenced with the reality dance contest called D 4 Dance: D2, which was a dance reality series on TV channel Mazhavail Manorama. The actress bagged the 3rd prize in the competition. Iyappan made her debut to the film industry with the Malayalam movie Balyakalasakhi, where she played the childhood of Isha Talwar. S

Aishwarya Lekshmi is an Indian actress who has worked in Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil movies. She has acted in many movies of these film industries. She is best known for her movies like ‘Rasukutty’, ‘Butterflies’, ‘Gardish’, ‘Aambala’ and many more. She has been a part of many Malyalam television series. She was born in Chennai as Shanta Meena Bhaskar. Her father K Bhaskaran was a Malayali and mother Lakshmi was a Tamil actress. She was interested in the film industry as she grew up watching her mother working hard in the industry and got inspired to become an actress. She debuted with the movie ‘Nyaayangal Jey Kattum’, a Tamil movie in 1990.

Manju Warrier is a South-Indian film actress, born on November 1, 1978, in Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu, to an accountant father and a homemaker mother. She completed her schooling from Chinmaya Vidyalaya and further from Chovva Higher Secondary School, both situated at Kannur. She graduated from SN College, Kannur. Manju was only seventeen when she made her debut in the film industry with ‘Sakshyam’, a classic Malayalam drama directed by Mohan.At the age of eighteen, she worked in ‘Sallapam’, a love story by Sundar Das. In the first three years of her career, she was awarded for her work in four major films. First is with the film ‘Ee Puzhayum Kadannu’, a drama thriller starring Dileep in the lead role, won her the Kerala State Film Award, Filmfare, and the Screen-Videocon Award.

Born on December 10 1965, Jayaram’s main region of interest is the Malayalam film industry, though he had acted in some Tamil films too. Jayaram entered the Malayalam film industry with “Aparan” which was directed by Padma Rajan. They both worked together in two more films. Jayaram was known for his films Peruvannapurathe Visheshangal, Georgootty C/O Georgootty, Nagarangalil Chennu Raparkam and Thoovalsparsham. 

Mohan Lal is the Super Star of the Malayalam film industry. He is the Son in Law of a famous producer cum veteran actor Balaji. Mohan Lal is married to Suchithra, the elder daughter of Balaji. Mohan Lal was born in the year 1960 in Elanthoor in Kerala. He is very popular for his natural acting and simplicity. The first movie, he committed was Thiranottam, but the first to release was Manjil Virinja Pookal. This movie had Poornima Jayaram as his pair and that is the debut movie in Malayalam for her too. Rajavinte Makan was the movie that made him to reach super heights. Mohan Lal is not choosey in particular character; but he acts in all types of film that give him a good performance scope.

Balachandra Menon has various feathers to his caps including actor, distributor, director, script writer, music composer, singer, producer and editor. He predominantly concentrates on Malayalam cinema. The 1980s and 90s were heydays in his career. He has the credit of gaining the National Award for his good performance as a lead actor in the 1998 flick Samaantharangal. This flick is also his directorial venture. 

Rafeeq Ahammed was born on 17 December 1961 at Akkikavu, Trichur, Kerala, to Syed Sajjad Hussain and Thithayikutty. Rafeeq is a Malayalam poet, lyricist, and novelist. He has won the Kerala Sahitya Akademi Award in 2005 for his Poetic work, Aalmara, and is a Five-time winner of the Kerala State Film Award for Best lyrics.

He is a famous Indian playback singer. He was born on 25th may 1975. He is currently 41 years old. He was born in Alappuzha, Kerala, India. His nationality is Indian. His zodiac sign is Virgo and religion is Hinduism. He started his singing career in 1992. His songs are available on the website sudeepsinger.com. He used to sing Indian classical music and devotional music. His songs are recorded in four languages: Malayalam, English, Tamil, and Hindi. He recorded more than 1,000 songs. His father is Kainakary Surendran and his mother is Pajama. He completed his schooling at St Joseph’s High School. The school is situated in the Punnapra. He completed his graduation from the SD College. His college is situated in the Alappuzha. He did his graduation in Malayalam. He also completed law from Government College in Thiruvananthapuram.

M Jayachandran is an Indian musician, music composer, and singer; he works in Malayalam Film Industry. Jayachandran was born on 5th April 1971 in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. His parents are Madhusudhanan Nair and Sukumari Amma. He took his Electrical Engineering degree from TKM College of Engineering. On 12th November 1995, he got married to Priya. At the age of 5, he started his training in the Carnatic music from Attingal Harihara Iyer and then under Perumbavoor G Raveendranath.

Vijay Yesudas (Born: 23rd March, 1979) is an Indian classical musician and playback singer from Chennai. He is known for his work predominantly in the south Indian film Industry, especially Malayalam, and Tamil films as well as in other Indian Languages such as Telegu, Kannada, and Hindi.

Zakariya Mohammed is a well known Indian Theater Director, Screenwriter, and an Actor in Malayalam Film Industry. He hailed from Valanchery, Kerala, and had also struggled as assistant director, credited with the award-winning short films. He is postgraduate in Mass Communication and Journalism and assisted as a professor in MBL media school based in Calicut.

This 38-year-old cinematographer turned director had a great philosophy behind his frames. Right from his childhood onwards, Shyju Khalid always had an affinity for art. V.P.Khalid, his father was once a theater artist -and he played short roles in many films. He has done his schooling in Santa Cruz High School at Kochi. He took admission at St. Albert's College for graduationbut left the college shortly. He then met Aashiq Abu, and through him Sameer and the rest of film enthusiasts, all of whom are creating a new wave in theMalayalam Cinema. Shyju with Sameer started their career with wedding photography.

Shahi K M, also known as Shahi Kabir, is a screenwriter, actor, and director in Malayalam cinema from India. He was born on September 28, 1978, in Alappuzha, Kerala, India. Furthermore, he completed his graduation from Mahatma Gandhi University. He is well known for his film Joseph released in 2018 and Nayattu released in 2021. Shahi made his debut as an assistant director in the film Thondimuthalum Driksakshiyum, which was released in 2017. In addition, he made his debut as a director in the movie ElaVeezhaPoonchira, released in 2022. Shahi K M is married to Sabeena A, and they have two children. His achievements include the Kerala State Award in 2021, the Vanitha Film Award in 2018, and the Janmabhoomi Award in 2018.

Vineeth Srinivasan is known to the music industry for his popular and hit song, Karale, karalinte. Being the son of film star Sreenivasan, he never had even thought of singing as a career. But of course, he likes popular Hindi songs and admires voice of K.J. Jesudas, Brad Paisley, and Udit Narayan.

Sunny Wayne is a Malayalam movies’ actor. His birth name is Sujith Unnikrishnan, which was given to him on the occasion of his birth, on 19th of August, 1983. His childhood was spent in Wayanad.

Joju George was born on 22nd October in 1977. He was born in Mala, Trichur, in Kerala. He was originally named Joseph George but is known in the industry by the name Joju George. He is a Malayalam actor who made his debut in the year 2003. Early Life George was born in Mala, a village in Kerala. He was born to Malayali parents, George and Rosy. He completed his schooling from GHS in Kuzhur. He later joined the Christ College before dropping out to pursue a career in acting. He started his career as an assistant director in 1991. His acting career began later in 2003. He holds a degree from Christ College in Irinjalakuda. Work Joju George started his career has a director. He has assisted for films like Friends and Dada Sahib. After a short stint in direction, Joju turned to acting. He made his debut in 2003 featuring in War and Love. His official debut was regarded in the film Pattalam in the same year. Since then he has been prolific in his work. Joju did many supporting roles in the beginning.

Kalidas Jayaram was born on December 16th, 1993. He was born in Kerala, India. Kalidas began his acting career when he was just seven years old, and he took a break from the acting since 2003 till 2014 to focus on his studies. Kalidas is the son of the eminent Malayalam film actor Jayaram and an equally popular Parvathy.

Tovino Thomas is a well-known face in the Malayalam Film Industry. He is an eminent model and actor in Mollywood. He has a huge female fan following owing to his muscular physique and smart personality. He was voted as the most desirable man in the newspaper Kochi Times, a subset of the Times of India. He was born into a Roman Catholic family in Irinjalakuda, Kerala. His father, Ellikal Thomas, is an advocate, and he has an elder brother, Tingston, and a sister, Dhanya. Tovino studied in Irinjalakuda at the Don Bosco High School and then moved to Coimbatore to finish his college. He obtained his graduation degree in engineering, majoring in the field of electronics in Coimbatore from the Tamil Nadu College of Engineering. After finishing college, he started working as a software engineer at Cognizant Technology Solutions for a few years. Thomas is a fitness freak and has been modeling since his college days. He has also done endorsements for a few top brands of Kerala such as Silver storm Theme Park in Athirappilly, Indulekha Hair Care Oil, and a few others. He has also done a few short films among which his roles in Grisaille and Jaalakam were appreciated widely. Sajeevan Anthikad spotted him upon seeing these short movies and advertisements and cast him in his first movie Prabhuvinte Makkal in the year 2012.

Known for his work on Malayalam films, Lijo Jose Pellissery is a film director. He was born in Chalakudy in Thrissur district and is the son of the actor Jose Pellissery. He studied at Carmel High School and went to junior college at The Union Christian College, Aluva. He later studied at IPM, Bangalore and attained his Bachelor's in Marketing HR and Master in Business Administration. Because he came from a family with a cinematic background, he ventured into the industry by making short films. Akira Kurosawa, K.G. George, and Padmarajan are his idols. He made his directorial debut in 2010 with a crime movie titled Nayakam.

Sathyan Anthikad is a film director who has even tried his hands at writing lyrics. He also has been an eminent screenwriter in Malayalam movies. He has a long association with  Mohanlal, Jayaram, and even Mammootty. He has made 19 movies with Mohanlal, 17 movies with Jayaram, and eight movies with Mammootty. Hence, he has given the most successful movies in Kerala. He even tried to make some low-budget movies too and was moderately successful. He chose to direct ‘Pappan Priyappetta Pappan’ which was the 100th film of Mohanlal.