Menaka was a renowned heroine of South India during the 1980s. In fact, she was very busy during these years and gained recognition in Malayalam films. She is reputed for the village roles, that she portrayed on screen. Her pairing with Malayalam actor Shankar proved very successful. She also shared good chemistry wit Mohanlal, Mammootty and Soman.
Nedumudi Venu
and Sukumaran are a couple of other actors with whom she had worked.
Hailing from Nagercoil, Menaka has acted in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films too. In a very short period of time (1980-1986), Menaka has worked in over 116 flicks. Menaka has also tried her luck in production and television serials. Menaka’s production venture is called as Revathy Kalamandhir. Born on 27 August, 1963, Menaka is wedded to movie producer
Suresh Kumar
. She got married during the year 1987. Its only recently that Menaka’s daughter entered television with the serial Geethanjali, which was a directorial venture of Priyadarshan.
The 1980 flick Oppol is the debut Malayalam film of Menaka. But prior to that, she had worked in a Tamil film and had gained recognition for her role. During the course of time Menaka received plump roles and worked with young heroes during that time. The 1982 flick Ente Mohangal Poovaninju with whom she shared screen space with Shankar was one of her notable films. Poochakkoru Mookkuthi, Oru Nokku Kanan, Archana Aaradhana, Ayalvasi Oru Daridravasi, Amme Narayana, Parayanumvayya Parayathirikkanumvayya are some of her other notable films.
After a sabbatical of 19 years Menaka returned to the industry with the serial Kaliveedu She didn’t act for some time and returned with the Fazil’s flick Living Together after 6 years. When she entered Malayalam film industry Menaka didn’t know Malayalam. But she eventually learned it and became very successful in Malayalam film industry.
Keerthy Family Tree (Infographic Family Tree)
