Tamil Awards 53rd Filmfare Awards South - Cast & Crew

Vidhya Venkatesh is an actress of Indian origin. She is known for her roles in Tamil and Kannada film industry. Before pursuing a career in acting, Vidhya completed a degree in BA Literature at Ethiraj College in Chennai. She worked at Sheraton Hotels and Resorts before joining Singapore Airlines as an air hostess, where she flew mainly between Singapore and Russia. However, her passion for acting led her to approach K. S. Ravikumar for a role in Panchathanthiram, and she successfully auditioned for the part of Sriman's Telugu wife.

She made her debut in the Tamil film Panchathanthiram (2002) alongside Kamal Haasan and went on to receive critical praise for her pe...

Kavita Krishnamurthy is the female playback singer, who has sung maximum good songs with Kumar Sanu. She is a most versatile singer, who has amazing classical voice and perfectly trained. She is one among the few singers, who has versitality in singing. 

She was a gifted singer, who had won medals since her school days and she got trained by her aunt in Rabindra Sangeet too. It was her aunt, who met Hemant Kumar, the music composer and singer, and wanted Hemant Kumar to give Kavita a chance to record a song. 

It was then at age of nine, she got an opportunity to record a song with Lata Mangeshkar in Bengali. It was after a gap of many years, when Kavita was in St. Xaviers College in Mumbai for annual day function, Hemant Kumar’s daughter Ra...

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 ...

Shriya Saran, the timeless beauty, is a much loved actor of the South Indian film industry who’s been reigning the world of cinema from nearly a decade. She’s acted in nearly 70 films in the languages of Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, English and Hindi and won a host of prestigious awards in all of her career.

A trained and expert traditional dancer, Shriya Saran was noticed in one of her dance videos and for the beauty that she was, movie offers came her way. Ishtam, the telugu film produced by Ramoji Rao was the first that she acted in and although the film didn’t really fare all that well, she was noticed. She was paired with bigger heroes like Nagarjuna and Tarun right after that when she acted in films like Santosham (with Nag) and Nuvve nuvve (first directorial of Trivikram Srinivas along side Tarun...

Ayesha is a Bollywood film actress, born on 10th April 1986. She was born in Mumbai to Nishit and Faridah. She started her career in modeling at the age of 15. Her first ad was for Complan and then went on to model for a couple music videos.

Her debut on the big screen came in 2004 in Taarzan: The Wonder Car. The movie was a romantic thriller and her role in it lead her to win IFFA and Filmfare's Best Female Debut Award. The same year Dil Maange More came out in which she played Shagun, one of Shahid Kapoor's love interests in the movie. She was nominated for Screen Awards, Most Promising Female Newcomer along with Zee Cine Award for Best Female Debut. 

Ayesha really showcased her acting skills in the 2006 hit Dor opposite Gul Panag. For her performance in the movie she won Best ...

Saranya Ponvannan is one of the best actresses in the last three decades of the Tamil film and TV industry has seen. She first made her entry into the industry by playing the lead role alongside Kamal Haasan in the blockbuster movie ‘ Nayakan’ directed by Mani Ratnam. She played a res-cued sex worker and pulled off the role with panache. She is the daughter of Malayalam director A.B Raj and is married to a fellow actor Ponvannan with whom she has two daughters.

Post her marriage she took an eight-year hiatus after essaying lead roles until the beginning of the 90’s. After eight years she started accepting meaty roles that had powerful characters in movies and serials. She is so versatile that she can pull off comedy, emotional and dark ...

Born on 15th February 1982, Meera Jasmine belongs to Kerala. She did B.sc. In zoology from Assumption College, Changanassery. She is a bright name in the Malayalam film industry, very well known for her role in ‘Soothradharan’ released in the year 2001. Later she worked in films like ‘Gramaphone’, directed by Kamal and commercial hits and critically acclaimed projects like ‘Swapnakkoodu,' ‘Kasthoorima’ etc.  She received film fare for the movie as well.

The actress possesses the title of best actress given by National Film Award (2004) along with Kerala film award twice and Kalaimamani award from the government of Tamil Nadu.

Meera considers lohithadas, her debut director, as her god father and a fatherly figure. She gives all the credit of her success ...

A model turned actress, producer, entrepreneur and now, mom, Shilpa Shetty has excelled in every field she’s touched so far. Born in the city of dreams, Bombay, started off as a model in the advertising industry with a Limca commercial. She went on to do more ad-films and pretty soon landed her first movie Baazigar (1993) directed by the popular duo Abbas-Mastaan, famous for their bone-chilling thrillers. The movie earned her Filmfare nominations for Best Actress in a supporting role and Lux new face of the year. These became the first of many awards she went on to receive in her career over the years. With over 40 movies on her tab, she has acted not only in Hindi but also in the languages of Telugu, Kannada, and Tamil.

Her television career started off with her p...

The eldest son of Kannada author and businessman D.K Chowta, Sandeep Chowta is a well known Indian music director. He was born in Ghana, a country in West Africa, grew up in Nigeria and later Banglore, India. Currently, he puts up in Chennai. He has been directing music for Kannada films and has also contributed to Bollywood and the Telegu cinema, Tollywood. He has directed music for five films in Tollywood and now is directing music for all the three industries. In 2003, he produced a documentary dealing with the drug peddling menace rampant in the country. He named it ‘Dead End’. The documentary was much applauded at the film festival and was government renowned. His musical talent was so much so that he managed to invite Jay Oliver and Richard Gannaway to his Mumbai studio. Their presence pro...

Binni Krishnakumar is a Chennai-based Malayali playback singer and the wife of the vocalist, Trivandrum Krishnakumar. They are one of the very few male-female Carnatic classical music duos. She had performed in over 150 stages including the numerous performances she did on stage with her husband across South India. Binni was born on June 10, 1974, in Kerala to the late Sri K.N. Ramachandran and Smt. Santha Ramachandran. She started learning the Carnatic Music when she was only seven years old under the guidance of Vidwan Sri. Thiruvizha Surendran.

She earned the National Talent scholarship and came under the tutelage of Sri. Thamarakkad Govindan Namboodiri. In 1989, she bagged the Kalaathilakam title at the Kerala State Youth Festival Committee. She took up B.A and M.A in music in 1994 and 1996 respectively at the University of...

Prakash Reddy aka Om Sai Prakash is an Indian producer/director, who works mainly in the Telugu and Kannada film industry. He was born in Phirangipuram in the Guntur district of Andhra Pradesh.

Prakash began as an assistant to Kodhi Ramakrishna and then created his path in direction. He directed Maa Inti Aadapoduchu, Kodalu Diddina Kaapuram, Amma Leni Puttillu, Rowdy Garu, Amma Durgamma, Amma Nagamma, Naga Devatha, Pelli Aadu Choopista, etc.

In Telugu. Prakash had a trademark of directing films with emotional and devotional themes. His movies in Kannada, such as Anna Thangi, kitturina Huli, Golmaal Radhakrishna, and Thavarige Baa Thangi were blockbusters in the Kannada movie industry. Prakash married to Rajamma, and his son Sai Krishna works as a publicity designer. Sai Krishna is going to debut as a director.

Shiva Rajkumar is the populous Kannada actor, who was born in the year 1962. He is the son of the veteran Kannada actor Raj Kumar. Shiva Raj Kumar was born in Chennai and he is the eldest one in the family. Raghavendra Rajkumar and Puneeth Rajkumar are his younger brothers and he has two sisters too. He did his graduation in chemistry in Chennai, New College. After completing his graduation, he joined M. G. R. Film and Television Training Institute to learn acting. He is also a Kuchipudi dancer. He made his debut through the movie Anand in Kannada. This movie released in the year 1986 and Shiva got a good name in that movie. He is celebrating his silver jubilee in the film industry. 

Date of Birth: 12-07-1962

Age: 61

Star Sign: Cancer

Gender: Male

Language: Kannada

Skills: Actor

Biography About Shiva Rajkumar

Biography About Shiva Rajkumar

Date of Birth: 12-07-1962

Age: 61

Star Sign: Cancer

Gender: Male

Language: Kannada

Skills: Actor

S P Balasubrahmanyam is still considered to be one among the best musicians in the past three decades, in spite of the surge of various new comers. This legendary singer is reputed for his intense voice, profound knowledge of music, and a style of singing which is appreciated even today. SPB, as he is fondly called, has given his voice for more than 30000 songs. His name is recorded in the Guiness Book of World Records for singing several songs in a short span of time. He has sung the most in Telugu, the next being Tamil. He has also given his beautiful voice for Sanskrit slokas.  

Other than Telugu and Tamil SPB has sung in Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada too. SPB also tried his luck a...

Prabhas is one of the favorite heroes of the Andhra people. His original name is Prabhas Raju Uppalapati and he was born in Chennai. His parents are Suryanarayana Raju and Siva Kumari. He has a brother Prabodh and a sister Pragati. His debut movie was Eshwar in 2002 and his costar was Sridevi Vijayakumar. Varsham is one of his biggest hits and in this film, he is paired with Trisha. Varsham was later remade in Tamil as Mazhai with Jayam Ravi and Shriya Saran. His film Chathrapathi also went on well with 100 days in theatres. In the film Pournami, he acted with Trisha and Charmi. The climax song with a fight was praised by all. Charmi was applauded for the wonderful dance. He also acted in an action comedy movie Bujjigadu and it got a good success. Later on he acted in Billa, a remake of Tamil movie Billa. Rebel, directed by choreograph...

Prakash Raj, born on 26th of March, 1965, as Prakash Rai, in Bangalore, is an actor, director, and producer. He is also a television presenter and has worked in films of many languages. He is best known for his work in the film industry of South India, and for playing roles of a villain in quite a few Bollywood films. He hails from a Tulu and Kannada-speaking household and is fluent in various other languages such as Hindi, Marathi, Tamil, and Telugu. He also has an actor brother named Prasad Raj. He studied at St. Joseph’s Boy’s School, and subsequently, at St. Joseph’s College of Commerce. Both institutions are in Bangalore. Prakash has three children, Meghana, Pooja, and Sidhu, from his earlier marriage to the actress Lalitha Kumari. His son, unfortunately, passed away in the year 2004....

Prem Kumar is an Indian actor working in Kannada films. He made his debut in the year 2004 with the film ‘Praana’ but got his fame with the 2005 hit film ‘Nenapirali’. Prem even won a Filmfare Best Actor Award for this movie. He was born on 18 April 1975 in Karnataka to a weaver.

Prem did his schooling from Kalyani School and after that got a job in Indian Telephone Industries Limited. He became a weaver just like his father and continued his work for 13 years. Prem was an ardent movie lover and spent half of his earnings in watching movies in the theatres. He used to watch 3-4 movies per week and used to buy film related magazines and papers.

On his friend’s insistence, he started working in serials as a junior artist. Kumar worked in Manvantara and appear...

Blessy is a Malayalam film director and screenwriter who was earlier associated with veterans of film industry such as Padmarajan and Lohithadas and was an assistant director to both of them. Blessy got his first break as a director and screenwriter in the movie ‘Kaazcha’ in 2004. It was his debut movie which depicted Mammootty as a film operator who tours the countryside with his 16 mm projector and shows his films at festivals and functions. The film also dealt with an orphaned boy who was a victim of Gujarat earthquake and meeting Mammootty changes his life. This film fetched him Kerala State Film Awards. The biggest asset of Kaazcha is the story, and screenplay by Blessy and even Mammootty proved that no other actor can match up to his skills of acting in such roles. He was ...

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.

Till now he did not show him as a Super Star. His humbleness is r...

Mani Sharma is a famous music Director in Tamil and TelughMovies. His full name is Mani Sharma Yanmandra. Mani Sharma was born in a small district of Andhra Pradesh. His Village name is Machillipatnam which is situated in Krishna District of Andhra Pradesh. He spent his childhood in Chennai.

He started his career in late 80’s as keyboard player. Music Director Shri Satyam was his teacher and guide. He got married to Shri Vani Sharma. They have a son named Swara Sagar Mahathir who is also a well- known Music Director in Tamil movies. Mani Sharma has performed in many live stage performances in India as well as in abroad. He was a troupe member of well-known Indian play back singer Shri S.P.Balasubramaniam.He has performed in many countries such as U.K, U.A.E, USA, E...

Born on 9 August 1975 in Chennai, Mahesh Ghattamaneni is a South-Indian actor and philanthropist. He was born and brought up in Chennai. His father is Krishna Ghattamaneni, a yesteryear superstar of the Telugu film industry. Mahesh Babu completed his schooling at St. Bede's Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School and graduated from Loyola College with a bachelor’s degree in commerce. He further underwent training in acting from director L. Satyanand. Mahesh first faced the cameras when he was just four. His debut was in ‘Needa’ and did nine films in total as a child artist. In 1999, he debuted opposite Preity Zinta in ‘Rajakumarudu,’ a rom-com Telugu film directed by K. Raghavendra Rao. The film got him his first Nandi award as well. He is best known for hi...

Puri Jagannadh wears many feathers to his cap including production, direction and screenplay writing. His main area of interest is Telugu films. He has received Nandi awards thrice in his career spanning more than a decade. 

During the year 2004, Jagannadh ventured into Bollywood with the flick, Shart: The Challenge. This film bombed at the box office. Bbuddah..Hoga Terra Baap is his directorial venture of 2011 and it has the credit of being recorded in Oscar library. Puri Jagannadh Touring Talkies and Vaisho Academy are his production ventures. Puri Sangeet is the music company organized by Jagannadh. 

Date of Birth: 28-09-1966

Age: 57

Star Sign: Libra

Gender: Male

Language: Hindi

Skills:

Biography About Puri Jagannadh

Biography About Puri Jagannadh

Date of Birth: 28-09-1966

Age: 57

Star Sign: Libra

Gender: Male

Language: Hindi

Siva is a very famous director in the Tollywood Film Industry. He directed many movies for big banners namely Eetharam films, Ramakrishna Cine Studios, Super Good Films, Suresh Productions, etc. Many of his flicks were box office hits and are known to generate revenues. Some of his famous movies are Priya O Priya, Raja, Ammayi Kosam, Taj Mahal, Sankranti, Sandade Sandadi, and much more. These movies were very successful and were well known as musical entertainers. He was born in Guntur District in a place called Bapatla. The district is in the state of Andhra Pradesh, South India. He completed his schooling from Pamidi Ankamma High School at Narasayapalem, which is his native place. He completed his graduation from Arts and Science College in Bapatla. He was very talented at arts like painting during his co...

Harris Jayaraj is a veteran music composer, predominantly having worked in Tamil film industry. He is currently one of the most sought-after composers, having garnered commercial and critical success to most of his works. Right from his first work in Minnale (2001), Harris made the entire industry take notice.

He had also composed for its Bollywood remake Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein, which was also a huge success. Coming from a music background, Harris’s climb to popularity was very gradual. From excelling in his music school in London to working under music maestros like AR Rahman and then making popular ad jingles like Coca-Cola, Harris has done everything to prove his position in the Tamil music industry.

Harris consistently de...

Puneeth was born on 17th March 1975 in Madras, Tamilnadu. He entered the industry when he was six months old. Although he hails from Madras, he was brought up in Bengalaru. He left his studies in order to work in the cinema but later achieved a diploma in computer science privately. He has a family background where all his brothers, as well as his father, are involved in the same industry. As a child artist, Puneeth worked in movies like ‘Geetha and Bhagyavantha’. He was applauded for his performance as a child and received national film award for best child artist.

In 2002, Puneeth was seen playing the lead role for the first time in ‘Appu’. He received a national award for his movie ‘Butada hoovu’. Puneeth is trained in dancing, fighting and martial arts. He w...

Ilaiyaraaja is a renowned film composer, known around the world for his finest works. With more than 5000 songs, he is known to be one of the best composers India has yet to produce. Ilaiyaraaja is also widely acknowledged as a songwriter, conductor, singer, and instrumentalist. Ilaiyaraaja’s works stand out particularly due to his talent for fusing traditional Indian instrumentation with symphonic orchestration.

He was also the first Asian to organize a full symphony performed by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London and became the first Indian to compose a complete symphony. He has won three for Best Music Direction and one for Best Background score. He had also received the Padma Bhushan, awarded by the Government of India.

Date of Birth: 02-06-1943

Age: 80

Star Sign: Gemini

Gender: Male

Language: Tamil

Skills: Music Director

Biography About Ilaiyaraaja

Biography About Ilaiyaraaja

Date of Birth: 02-06-1943

Age: 80

Star Sign: Gemini

Gender: Male

Language: Tamil

Skills: Music Director

Nagathihalli Chandrashekhar is a multitalented figure in the cultural domain of South India. He is a renowned writer (having written screenplays, dialogues, and stories), director, producer, columnist, and a lyricist. He was born on 15th August 1951 in a village named Nagathihalli in Mandya district, Karnataka. Since the very beginning, he had an inclination towards literature and so, he mastered in Kannada literature from the Mysore University. His first profession was of a Kannada professor at the Mysore University itself. Soon, he became a successful intellectual and literary figure, having authored many novels and short stories (publishing them as a collection), for which he won the Aryabhatta Awards.

He entered the film industry in 1986 with ‘...

A film director and a screenwriter S.S. Rajamouli was born as Koduri Srisaila Sri Rajamouli in Film Nagar, Hyderabad, Telangana. He is well known for his hit films like Magadheera, Eega and Baahubali: The Beginning. He started off directing daily soaps in Telegu for Eenadu Television working under K. Raghavendra Rao. His debut as Film director was Student no.1 in 2001 which turned out to be a blockbuster. His next venture was after a long gap of two years, Simhadri, which also received rave reviews. His third flick Sye was based on a game of rugby and for this, he joined hands with K.K. Senthil Kumar. This film received appreciation from all over and was a hit. His next movie was Chatrapathi, which again touched the audience’s heart with the music by M.M. Keeravani and screenplay by Senthil Kumar. He ...

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