Lady Superstars From Kerala Who Ruled Tamil Movie Industry

Art has no barrier and it is widespread across the world, skipping the languages. Many stars, who are leading in different film industries, originally don’t belong to the state. But, their fans adopted them as their kin. The finest examples are Superstar “Rajinikanth” in Tamil and “Sridevi” in Hindi. Now, let’s look at the Lady Superstars of the Tamil film industry from Kerala.

1. Padmini Ramachandran

Padmini is one of the versatile actresses in the 60s and 70s. She played various roles in her career, right from a dancer, heroine to the grandmother. Her natural performances had overtaken the heroes, who had been given importance and she got appreciation from the critics and the audience. Padmini’s competition dance with Vyjayanthimala in Vanjikottai Valiban featuring Gemini Ganesan is still a favorite one for many movie buffs.

Padmini had two sisters, Lalitha and Ragini, who had also worked in various film industries. Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai and “Vineeth” are her niece and nephew, respectively. The famous dancer cum multilingual actress “Sugumari” is her cousin.

2. KR Vijaya

KR Vijaya is one of the famous actresses from Kerala who registered her presence strongly in Kollywood. She is one among the few actresses who shared the screen space with three-generation stars, right from “M G Ramachandran,” Sivaji, Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan to Vishal Reddy.

3. R Radha And Ambika

Radha made her debut with Karthik Muthuraman in Alaigal Oivathillai. Right from the debut film, she had been in the talks of the people. She is one of the versatile actresses in her period. She grabbed the Best Actress Award from the Filmfare for her performance in Mudhal Mariyadhai with Sivaji Ganesan. Radha’s sister “Ambika” had also done a lot of movies in Tamil. Both the sisters had shared the screen space in a few films, including Kaadhal Parisu and Anna Nagar Mudhal Theru.

4. Revathi

“Revathi” is also a natural actress and she has been in the film and TV industry since 1983. She had received a lot of awards, including the National Award for Thevar Magan with Kamal Haasan. She had also received Filmfare Awards and State Awards.

5. Nadhiya

Although “Nadhiya” did a few movies in her career, she was celebrated during her heroine days. She is appreciated as a decent and stylish actress. Whatever Nadhiya wears, it becomes a trend. Right from the hairstyle to accessories, there had been a lot of things prefixed with Nadhiya.

6. Nayanthara

“Nayanthara” is the Lady Superstar of Kollywood. She is the one who grabbed the attention of the audiences with the women-centric movies after the versatile “Vijayashanti,” who did the same in Tollywood. Nayanthara started her career in Tamil with “Ayya.” She is one of the very few actresses who managed to get a role opposite Rajinikanth in the initial stages of their career. In her second film, Nayan paired the Superstar. It is Maya with “Aari” that made her do a lot of women-centric films. “Aramm,” “Dora,” Kolamavu Kokila, “Airaa” and Kolayuthir Kaalam are some of her women-centric films. In 2021, she has “Netrikann,” a heroine-centric film directed by Milind Rau.

“Sumithra,” the popular actress, is also from Kerala. She had also played in many movies in all the South Indian languages and still doing mother roles and her latest is "Valimai" with Ajith Kumar. Her daughter Uma is also an actress. “Urvashi,” Asin Thottumkal, Nithya Menen, Meera Jasmine had also impressed the Tamil audiences with their exemplary performances.