Ramya Krishnan

Ramya Krishnan
Born	(1970-09-15) 15 September 1970 (age 50)[1] Madras, Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1984–present
Spouse(s)	Krishna Vamsi ​ (m. 2003)​
Children	1
Relatives	Cho Ramaswamy (uncle)

Ramya Krishnan (born 15 September 1970)^[1] is an Indian actress. She has appeared in over 260 films in five languages: Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. Ramya has won four Filmfare Awards, three Nandi Awards and a Tamil Nadu State Film Award. She is credited as Ramya Krishna in the Telugu and Kannada film industries.^[2]

She is known for playing Neelambari in Padayappa which won her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil. She also won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress – Telugu for the 2009 dramedy Konchem Ishtam Konchem Kashtam. Ramya's portrayal of Sivagami Devi in the Baahubali series (2015–17) received universal acclaim. Both Baahubali: The Beginning (2015) and its sequel Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (2017) are among the highest grossing Indian films.^[3] Her performance in the franchise won her several accolades, including two Filmfare Awards for Best Supporting Actress – Telugu (2016 and 2018) and a State Nandi Award for Best Supporting Actress (2016).

Early life

Ramya was born in Madras (present-day Chennai).^[1] She is the niece of the Tamil film actor, comedian and former Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha Cho Ramaswamy.^[4] She received initial training in Bharathanatyam, Western and Kuchipudi dance forms and has given many stage performances.^[5]

Film career

Debut and early struggles (1984–1989)

Ramya started her acting career in 1984 at the age of 14 in the Tamil film Vellai Manasu, opposite Y. G. Mahendra. In 1986, she made her debut in Telugu with Bhale Mithrulu. Both the films went unnoticed. Then she went onto play supporting roles in Tamil films which include Padikkadavan starring Rajinikanth and Per Sollum Pillai starring Kamal Haasan in Tamil.

Commercial success and debut in Telugu cinema (1989–1998)

After a series of failures in both Tamil and Telugu, she achieved fame through Kasinadhuni Viswanath's Sutradharulu, released in 1989. The film went onto win National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu. As her breakthrough came from K. Raghavendra Rao directorial movies where she emerged as a commercial romantic diva of the season, due to successful movies such as Alludugaru (1990), Allari Mogudu (1992), Major Chandrakanth (1993) along with Mohan Babu and Allari Priyudu (1993) along with Rajasekhar. Her performance in Allari Priyudu received praise from audience. She emerged as a leading actress in the Telugu industry alongside Soundarya, Meena, Roja and Nagma in the 1990s. Her films with Nagarjuna received a widespread praise from audience in the films like Hello Brother, Criminal, Gharana Bullodu, Annamayya and Chandralekha. She played the role of a devoted wife of Sri Annamacharya, which was played by Nagarjuna in the film Annamayya (1997). In 1998, she played a leading role in Kante Koothurne Kanu. She received a Nandi Award for Best Actress from the Government of Andhra Pradesh for her performance in the film.

Ramya made her debut in Hindi in Parampara under Yash Chopra direction. Then she acted in few Hindi films includes Subhash Ghai's Khalnayak, Mahesh Bhatt's Chaahat and David Dhawan's Banarasi Babu and Bade Miyan Chote Miyan along with Amitabh Bachchan and Govinda.

Comeback to Tamil cinema

After a four-year break from Tamil cinema, In 1999, Ramya played the female antagonistic role in the Tamil film Padayappa along with Rajinikanth. Her performance in the film as "Neelambari" received a much critical acclaim. The critic from Rediff stated "Ramya does a fantastic job. She is vicious to her dying breath, when she declares she will revenge herself in her next life. She does a fabulous tandav of rage when her father commits suicide".^[6] She went onto receive several awards including Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Tamil and Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize. She then starred in commercially successful films like Paattali, Budget Padmanabhan and Panchatanthiram. Her performance in Panchatanthiram as "Maggie" received critical acclaim. The critic from Screen praised as her "one of the finest performances ever".^[7] In her career, Ramya played the role of a Goddess in many films which include, highly acclaimed Ammoru, Rajakali Amman and Annai Kaligambal.

Baahubali and comeback to Telugu cinema

The Vice President, Venkaiah Naidu giving away special award to film artiste, Ramya Krishnan, at the 30th Ugadi Celebrations & Puraskar Presentation - 2018, organised by Delhi Telugu Academy, in New Delhi

In 2015, Ramya acted in S.S. Rajamouli's fantasy multi-starrer Baahubali: The Beginning and its sequel Baahubali: The Conclusion, where she played Rajamata Sivagami Devi. Her performance met with the critical acclaim and the film became the highest grossing Indian film. Sangeetha Devi Dundoo praised Ramya's performance and stated "Ramya Krishnan once again aces with her part".^[8] She received Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress - Telugu for both films. After the success of Baahubali, she reunited with Mohan Babu in Mama Manchu Alludu Kanchu and Nagarjuna in Soggade Chinni Nayana.^[9] In 2019, she played a porn actress in critically acclaimed Super Deluxe directed by Thiagarajan Kumararaja. Srivatsan S from The Hindu stated her role as "boldest role yet".^[10]

She made her debut in digital platform with Queen in 2019.^[11] The series received much acclaim for its writing and Ramya's performance. The critic from India Today stated "Ramya Krishnan as the failing actress and a budding politician(the later part of Shakthi's life) puts in a measured performance and it is what stands out in a series that relies heavily on performances".^[12]

Krishnan will be seen next in the Puri Jagannadh romantic sports film Liger. The film features Vijay Deverakonda, Ananya Panday, Ronit Roy, Makarand Deshpande.^[13]

Kannada and Malayalam cinema

Ramya had worked in Kannada films such as Krishna Rukmini, Gadibidi Ganda, Mangalyam Tantunanena, Neelambari, Raktha Kanneeru. In Malayalam, she made her debut in Neram Pularumbol along with Mammootty and Mohanlal. Her notable film in Malayalam was Ore Kadal with Mammootty. Which received National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Malayalam. She also acted in Anuragi and the commercially successful Aryan (1988) with Mohanlal.

Television

She was one of the three judges in a dance show on STAR Vijay: Jodi Number One, season 1, followed by season 5. She hosted a popular show "Thanga Vettai" on Sun TV and starred in Tamil tele-series like Kalasam, Thangam and Vamsam.In 2019,she has been as a host for two episodes in Telugu Television reality-show Bigg Boss 3.She is currently working in Zee Telugu's supernatural-fantasy TV Series Nagabhairavi.

Personal life

She married Telugu film director Krishna Vamsi.^[14] on 12 June 2003. They have a son.^[15]

Awards

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References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ramya Krishnan.

• Ramya Krishnan at IMDb
• Ramya Krishnan on Twitter