Tamil Tv Serial Penn - DD - Cast & Crew

Kakinada Shyamala is a popular film actress. She has acted in almost two hundred films in Telugu and Tamil. She was born and brought up in Kakinada. Her father died when she was just a child. She attended Joseph Convent Boarding School until 8th standard. She was a stage artist too. She was always encouraged by her family to act in plays even though it was not her area of interest. She excelled and the roles of mythological characters like Chintamani, Vasanthasena, and Pramila. She has won many prizes through her acting in social dramas. She made her film debut through the film Marocharitra in 1978. Her works include; Guppedu Manasu (1979), Nithya Sumangali, Krishnayya (1982), Tarangini (1982),  Ananda Bhairavi (1984), Preminchu Pelladu (1985), and many more.

Neena is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Tamil Film Industry. She was born on 2nd October 1981 in Chennai. Her parents are Rajan and Rahini. She was married to Chandil in 2004, and after that, she got settled in Melbourne, Australia. She was blessed with two kids, namely Sanjay and Sonia. She started working as a child artist. Her debut was from the movie ‘Geethanjali’ in 1989. She was well praised for her role in K. Balachandar’s production movie ‘Vidukathai’ in 1997. She used to give clear-cut delivery of her dialogues. She also worked in TV serials and played great roles in serials like ‘Chithi.’ She appeared in various other movies like ‘Keladi Kanmani,’ ‘Kaalamellan Kaathiruppen,’ ‘Raasi,’ Kannathal,’ etc.

Srividya was a versatile actress who balanced her position well in Tamil and Malayalam movies. She is the daughter of M. L. Vasantha Kumari, the popular carnatic vocalist. Her father Krishnamoorthy was an actor and he quit acting after he was diseased by some skin issues. Srividya made her debut as a child artist in the film Thiruvarutchelvar, which had Chevalier Sivaji Ganesan as the lead. She danced in the Malayalam film Kumarasambhavam at her young age and also entered the Telugu film industry. Srividya’s bigger breakthrough was through the Tamil movie Nootrukku Nooru, in which Jaishankar and Lakshmi did the lead roles. Srividya had her character as a student, who loves her professor madly. Delhi to Madras is her first film as a solo heroine, in which she paired Jaishankar. She had lots of hit films, among which the film Apoorva Raagangal directed by K. Balachander was a notable one. In that film she acted as the middle aged lady, who is loved by a youngster. That is the first film for Rajini Kanth, in which she paired him. As Srividya is from the family of carnatic legends, she had many offers to sing for films. She did only a few songs in Malayalam and Tamil, among which Sunday Bazaar song in the film Amaran is the only Tamil song sung by her. Srividya’s last film is London directed by Sundar C and acted by Prashanth and Pandiyarajan. Srividya’s marriage with George Thomas lasted only for 2 years. Srividya had her last breathe in the year 2006. She suffered from spine cancer and lived finally at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

Radhika is a famous actress in multiple of languages like Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi. She did her education in different places like Sri Lanka, India, and the United Kingdom. She was born in India. Her father is a famous Tamil comedian actor, M. R. Radha, and her mother is Geetha Radha. She has married with Sarathkumar at Chennai. She has a son and a daughter.

Sankaramanchi Janaki is an Indian actress hailing from South India, who has always enthralled the audience by her mesmerizing performances. She proved her mettle in acting and also produced quite a few films. Acting in over 385 films (Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam), performing in 300 stage shows, being a radio artist at the age of 11, she has very well proven her prowess. Janaki is the elder daughter of T. Venkoji Rao, a paper technologist (England) and Sachi Devi. Janaki completed her Matriculation from Gauhati University in Assam and had received honorary Doctorate from the University of Arizona. She is married to Sankamaranchi Srinivasa Rao, since 1947, has two daughters and a son, four grandchildren and two great-granddaughters.

Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai known by the short name 'Shobana' is a well renowned Bharatnatyam artist and film actress. She is proficient in several languages such as English, Hindi, Telugu, Malayalam, and Tamil and worked in 200 such films. For her phenomenal performance in 1993's 'Manichitrathazhu' and 2001's 'Mitr, My Friend', she won two National Film Award for Best Actress. The first film is a Malayalam psychological horror film based on cataclysm happened in Alummoottil Tharavadu, which is a famous Travancore family. The film turned out to be one of the most successful films in Alummoottil Tharavadu, which is a famous Travancore family. The film turned out to be one of the most successful films in Malayalam film industry.

Amala is initially known as Amala Mukherjee was born in Kolkata, West Bengal, to a Bengali father who served as a Naval Officer and to a mother who belonged to the nation of Ireland. Amala is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer and has also attained the Bachelor's degree in Fine Arts, from Kalakshetra College of Fine Arts. She has been a good performer of Bharatanatyam and has performed worldwide live. Vijaya Thesingu Rajender, a Tamil film actor, director, composer, screenwriter, cinematographer, producer, playback singer, and a law expert, convinced Amala’s mother to permit her to begin her career as an actress and that he will cast her in a dance based film, where her Bharatanatyam skills will get exposure.

Actress Kutty Padmini was a child artist in black and white era, who had enacted with top artists in the industry. In ‘Kuzhandhaiyum Deivamum’ she had played the twin character with the right mix of mischief and innocence. By the time, she got offers in ‘Kaathiruntha Kanngal’ and ‘Paasamalar’ and acted as junior Savitri, she was a changed kid-star. She had developed confidence, panache, and even a sense of ease in talking to people. It showed on-screen too. She was absolutely mesmerizing in those two films. 

She got her first break as a child artistes when she was just three-year old. Her first film was ‘Bhagyalakshmi’. She is the one of the best child actress- ever- even Kamal Haasan has co-starred with Kutty Padmini in memorable films throughout 1960s. She was one among the child artists, who had worked with all leading stars like Jai Shankar, Gemini Ganesan, Sivaji Ganesan, Savitri and K R Vijaya. In her time, she was perfect in song sequences, comic timing and emotional scenes. When Sridhar had cast her in ‘Nenjil Oru Aaalayam’, she achieved so much stardom and popularity in South that when the same film was re-made in Hindi as ‘’Dil Ek Mandir’’, she got a chance to act with Meena Kumari even. 

She was the last child of the couple Srinivasa Chakravarthy – Radha Bhai. The couple had two sons and two more daughters. Her mother too had acted in a few films. 

She excelled as a child artiste. As long as people remember Tamil movies Kutty Padmini’s name is bound to stand out as someone who made a significant contribution to Kollywood. 

Among all her movies as an adult artiste, she was seen as supporting actress in most of Visu’s films. Her popularity as supporting actress in films like ‘’Avargal’’ and ‘’Aval Appadithan’’ (Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan) and in’’ Kan Simitturm Neram’’ which was a debut for actor Sarath Kumar, became highly popular. She was supporting actress in Tamil cinema till 80’s. Later on, she moved to the small screen. She is currently producing and directing ‘Romapuri Pandiyan’ a historical serial telecasted in a popular Tamil TV channel. She is also a creative director of a TV serial on Hindu saint Ramanujar that was penned by Kalaignar Karunanidhi. 

Kutty Padmini received the Lifetime Achievement award in the South Indian Cinematographers Association (SICA) Awards 2015.

Nithya Ravindran is a veteran and talented actress who acts in Tamil television serials, mainly in strong supporting character roles. Though Nithya Ravinder has acted in many serials, the one that made her immensely popular among the audiences and made her a household name, is the blockbuster Tamil television serial titled Azhagi – a typical family drama serial with a romantic angle. She has won many accolades from the audience for her role in Azhagi. Nithya Ravindar has also acted in other serials like Pondatti Thevai- a Tamil comedy serial, Nadhaswaram, etc. Recently she has been felicitated with the Kalai Chemmal award, a prestigious award for the drama and television artistes. She is currently acting in a Tamil serial by the name Vamsam. She even acted in the famous serial Vani Rani, in which Radhika Sarathkumar essays the main role.

Suhasini Maniratnam was born on 15th August 1961 in famous city Chennai. Her original name was Suhasini Charuhaasan. She was born in prominent Hasaan family. She was cousin to the most prominent Indian film hero Kamal Haasan. She was a cinematography student from Madras Film Institute. She started her career as a camera assistant and later became an actress.  She was married to greatest Indian film director Maniratnam in 1988.

Rajya lakshmi is a very famous South Indian Actress born on 18 December 1964. She was born in Tenali, Andhra Pradesh. She started as an actor in small plays along with her mother. When she was 15 years old, she was selected to play the female lead in the blockbuster hit movie, ‘Shankarabharanam’ in which she was paired to Chandra Mohan.  The success of the movie also made her a household name and many people started referring the movie’s name to her’s and it had almost become her surname. Though she acted in several movies later, this particular movie had set a landmark in her career.

She also mentions that NTR had once complimented her on her acting skills and her looks in the movie which meant a lot to her. She has acted in all the South Indian languages i.e, Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam. Due to this, she had the big opportunity of working with many leading actors such as N.T.Ramarao, Nageshwara Rao, Rajinikanth, Balakrishna, Mohanlal, Jitendra, Vishnuvardhan, Mammooty, Dilip, etc.  She has acted in more than 250 movies in her career.

In the year 1990, she got married to Ramesh Krisnan and went to Singapore where she stayed for almost 15 years. She came back to Chennai in 2005 and the couple have two children named Rohit Krishnan and Rahul Krishnan. She made a comeback in Telugu and Tamil movies. She is happy to be doing the roles that she is being offered now. However, she feels that the roles in these days are not very powerful and noticeable. Also, she feels that the importance in the movies made in this generation is only focused on the hero and the heroine of the film and not on the other actors which are also important for the movie. She is interested in doing a powerful role in a movie to display her talent and acting skills and is awaiting such a role for herself.

Another Version of Bio :

Rajyalakshmi is an Indian film actress who works primarily in Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil industry. She had been a noted lead actress during the 1980s. Now, she has also started doing serials and game shows. Rajyalaksmi was born on 18th December, 1964 in Tenali, Andhra Pradesh. From young age itself, she and her mother used to act in small plays. At the age of fifteen, she got her first offer to act in a Telugu movie Sankarabharanam playing the character of Sarada. She was married to Ramesh Krishnan in 1990, and they together have two children named Rahul Ramesh and Rohit Ramesh. Presently, she is residing in Chennai with her family. Rajyalakshmi started her career as a child artist with a Tamil film Kanimuthu Paappa in 1972. Next, she was seen acting in Koodi Balidaare Swarga Sukha in 1979.

Geetha was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Her father was worked in an MNC. She did her primary schooling in Raghavendra High School, Bangalore. After that their family moved to Chennai. She has completed high schooling in T Nagar Girls High School. She got married in the year 1997. Her husband’s name is Vasan. He works as Charted Accountant and he also works as Business Advisor and Promoter to Corporations. The couple now lives in New Jersey. 

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.

Bhanu Priya or Manga Bhama is a popular Indian TV and film actress. From 1983 – 1993, she appeared in various Telugu, Kannada, Tamil and Malayalam films and acted in some of the Bollywood movies as well. She was the sister of the actress, Shantipriya. Bhanu was born on the 15th of January 1966 in Rangampeta village, near Rajamundry, Andhra Pradesh. Then her family permanently shifted to Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She studied at Saraswati Vidyalaya. When she was studying, she attended dance and music classes after school hours. Bhanu is good in classical dance Bharatha Natyam, and also sings well.

Revathi is a popular south Indian actress, who has appeared in Hindi films too. Born as Asha Kutty, she changed her name to Revathi, for the stage. Right from the beginning of her career, she did not lose her popularity, because of her excellent performances. Mann Vasanai, directed by Bharathi Raja is her first movie. Pudhumai Penn was the movie that showed her in a different angle and she was praised for her performance. Pagal Nilavu is one of her top snatched films and in Aan Pavam she acted as a dumb girl, who lost her voice in an accident. In this film, she paired with Pandiya Rajan and the movie was a super hit. Kai Kodukkum Kai is the only film, she paired Rajini Kanth. She has acted with Kamal Hassan in a number of films, among which Oru Kaidhiyin Diary, Magalir Mattum, Thevar Magan and Punnagai Mannan are memorable. In Magalir Mattum, she co-starred with Urvashi and Rohini and the film was a super hit.

GP Krishna is a well-known cinematographer who has chosen to share his experience and knowledge with everyone. He is a part of a film institute in Chennai named Muybridge. GP Krishna is a physics graduate who has later learned cinematography to start a new professional life. He has completed his course at the Government institute of film technology, Chennai.

Chandra Hasan is an Indian Film Actor and Producer. He worked in the Tamil Film Industry. Chandra was born on the 6th of March in the year 1934. He was born in Paramakudi, Tamil Nadu. His father’s name is Srinivasan, and his mother’s name is Rajalakshmi. His father was an advocate. He has an elder brother, a younger brother, and a younger sister. His elder brother Charuhasan is an Indian Film and Television actor who worked in Tamil Film and TV Industries.

Poornam Vishwanathan was a Tamil actor who was seen in supporting roles. He also worked in the theatre. He was born on 4th July, 1921 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. His sun sign is Sagittarius. He was born and brought up in Chennai.

Maadhu Balaji is a famous theatre artist; he works in Tamil theatre, film and television Industry. His brother, Crazy Mohan, is notable humorist and play writer. Balaji graduated from Vivekanand College, Madras University, Chennai. He started his acting career in college by doing various plays. In 1979, along with his brother and friends Balaji started the ‘Crazy Creations’; it presently is one of the top Drama Troupes in Tamil theatre.

Richard Rishi, born officially as Richard Sharaf Babu is an Indian film actor. He appears in Tamil and Telugu films. His debut movie was Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari in 1990. Richard was born on 20 October 1977 to Babu and Alice in Thiruvalla. Richard attended Loyola Matriculation School till his 12th standard. He has two younger sisters both famous actresses namely, Shamili and Shalini. His father is from Kollam and mother is a from a Malayali family living in Chennai. The sole reason behind his father’s shifting to Madras was to become an actor. But he fulfilled his dream through his children. Actor Ajith Kumar is his brother-in-law. Though his debut was as a child artist, he had to act across veteran actors like Chiranjeevi, Sridevi, and Amrish Puri in Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari. Again he was cast as a child artist in a Tamil film Anjali in the same year 1990. But he was recognized as an adult actor in Kadhal Virus in 2002. He was the lead and Sridevi Vijaya kumar was the actress he starred across.

Sarath Babu is in the Industry for few decades now. He did some 200+ films which covered all South Indian languages. He is a highly skilled actor but couldn’t stand as a husband and had multiple divorces. Sarath Babu is one of the most talented character artists in South India. He has played numerous roles as a husband, friend, father, brother and villain on-screen. Personal Life: Sarath Babu was born on 31 July 1951 at Amadalavalasa in Andhra Pradesh. He turned 64 this year and is looking forward to another marriage. Sarath Babu’s father had his own business of hotel, and he wanted him to handle his business.

Raghuvaran was an Indian actor and has given two and a half decades of his life to South Indian Film industry. He has given around 200 Tamil, and few Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. He has always been famous for his villainous role. He was born on 10 December 1959 in Kollengode, Kerala. He was the son of Chunkamandathu Velayudhan and Kasthuri.

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.

Radhakrishnan Parthiepan is a renowned actor, cinema producer, and director of Tamil origin. Born in a moderate family in Chennai, Parthiepan’s journey to success wasn’t an easy one. Reportedly, he was even rejected for films early due to his non-hero looks. He worked in many odd jobs, including a dubbing artist for which he used to get 6000 rupees per month.

Bhanu Chander is a popular Tamil and Telugu actor. He is the son of the popular music director Madduri Venu Gopal. Bhanu Chander was born in the year 1952 in Chennai. In his childhood, he wanted to become a music director. He learnt guitar and could string it flawlessly. Bhanu Chander completed his graduation in National College. His father joined him with the popular music director Naushad and he assisted him for few years.

Born in 1920, Gemini Ganesan, originally known as Ramaswamy Ganesan, is a renowned Tamil Actor. He is fondly called as “Kaadhal Mannan” since he excelled in romantic portrayals. In fact, his pairing with Savithri, with whom he was eventually married, was embraced by the audience. He was different from his colleagues Sivaji Ganesan and M G Ramachandran in the sense that he excelled in those roles wherein the boy longs for the girl’s love.

Gemini Ganesan received the prestigious Padmashree Award and also many other awards including Kalaimamani. Unlike his contemporaries Sivaji Ganesan and M G Ramachandran Gemini Ganesan was not a stage performer before entering into the film industry. Also, he was not interested in politics. Gemini Ganesan holds the distinction of being a graduate, since there were only few actors who were graduates during his period. Before entering film industry, he was a lecturer. Later, since he started to work with Gemini Studios, he was nicknamed “Gemini Ganesan”.

He had worked in the cinema industry for almost 50 years and had acted in around 200 films. He acted mostly in Tamil films, though he had worked in Hindi, Malayalam, Telugu and Kannada as well.

There is no doubt that Gemini Ganesan was a successful actor, but his personal life was always subject to criticism. He had married many women and that didn’t go well with critics. 1950s to 1970s was a golden era in his career, since he gave many hits at that time. Gemini Ganesan was instrumental in bringing Ulaganayagan Kamal Haasan to the film industry, when the latter was young. In fact, actor Kamal Haasan has great respect for him.

During the later stages of his career Gemini Ganesan acted in character roles; the notable ones are “Unnal Mudiyum Thambi” and “Avvai Shanmugi”. Gemini Ganesan has 8 children and everyone is well-settled. He breathed his last in 2005. He is still considered to be a legend in Tamil cinema.

Pushpavalli Family Tree (Infographic Family Tree)

T. Krishnan is a renowned actor who is popularly known as Kavithalaya Krishnan, due to his affiliation with Kavithalayaa Productions, owned by Tamil producer-director K. Balachandar who has produced many successful Tamil films and television serials. Krishnan is well-known for his superb acting in numerous supporting roles in TV serials and films here.

He was studying at the College of Engineering of Guindy, where he became friends with a classmate Mohan Rangachari, who later came to be known as Crazy Mohan – a famous Tamil comedy actor cum writer of plays and scripts. Mohan inspired his friend to start acting in the plays written by him, to be staged for Arts Society of Engineering College and both of them won several awards in college for their talents. But this was not the first chance that Krishnan won award for acting, because earlier he won prizes in school dramas when he was a student of St. Bede’s Anglo Indian School of Santhome. Though none of his family was ever in acting, he enthusiastically started a theatre group with Crazy Mohan, which was named Crazy Creations. 

His film career started when director K. Balachandar chose their play ‘Marriage Made in Salon’ to make a film named ‘Poikaal Kudirai', where he casted Krishnan in the same role which he played in the drama. From then onwards, he acted in 80 films and 60 Television serials till now, not counting more than 1000 stage shows where he was similarly applauded by the audience. His other popular films are ‘Sindhu Vairavi’, ‘Vaakumoolam’, `Avvai Shanmugi',`Natpukkaga' and `Manadhil Urudhi Vendum'. His own most favorite TV serials where he worked successfully are `Kai Alavu Manasu', `Marma Desam', `Inai Kodugal' and `Aridharam Poosiya Uravugal'.  His recent serial ‘Selvi’ is also a super hit among the common people. Apart from Balachandar, he also worked with other prominent directors like Mani Ratnam, S.P. Muthuraman, Suresh Krishna and Vasanth. His brilliant performance in acting earned him the prestigious Kalaimamani Award in 2005, given by Tamil Nadu Government. He also received Mylapore Fine Arts Academy Award 9 times till now!

Charuhasan is a well known face in the south movie industry. He is the elder brother of south superstar Kamal Haasan. A lawyer by profession, he is a natural actor who has scores of memorable roles to his credit. He has several appearances in the south movies, especially in Tamil, Telugu Kannada and Malayalam movies, covering various languages. He has acted in Tamil television series ‘Chithi & Anandham’.

Nizhalgal Ravi is a veteran actor in TV serials and films and has acted in hundreds of movies alongside the greatest of actors in the industry. Born on April 16, 1956, he first started out under legendary director Bharathiraja in ‘Nizhalgal’ which later stuck on to his name because of the instant hit with people. He has played many impressive roles in blockbuster movies like Vedam Puthithu, Nayakan, Chinna Thambi Periya Thambi, etc. His versatility has won him praises from all over the industry and from people. He has acted in over 20 movies in Malayalam in the 80s before moving into mainstream Tamil movies.