Priyamani


Priya Vasudev Mani Iyer, professionally credited as Priyamani, is an Indian film actress and former model, who works predominantly in Tamil and has also done few Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam-language films. She is the recipient of a National Film Award for Best Actress and three Filmfare Awards in different-language films.
Priyamani, born and raised in Bangalore, worked as a model before pursuing a career in films. In 2002, she made her acting debut with a leading role in the Telugu film Evare Atagaadu. She gained widespread recognition for her role as village girl Muththazhagi in the Tamil romantic drama Paruthiveeran in 2007, receiving a National Film Award for Best Actress and a Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil for her performance. During the same year, she achieved commercial success in Telugu cinema with S. S. Rajamouli-directed socio-fantasy film Yamadonga. In 2008, Priyamani received further critical acclaim for her role as Malavika in the Malayalam romance Thirakkathaand won a Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Malayalam. Her first role in the Kannada film came the following year, with the romantic comedy Raam, which proved to be a major critical and commercial success. Priyamani made her Hindi film debut through Mani Ratnam's bilingual in Tamil and Hindi epic adventure films, titled Raavan and Raavanan respectively. In 2012, her portrayal of conjoined twins in the multilingual film Chaarulatha, based on the Thai film Alone, gained critical praise and a third Best Actress award at Filmfare. She received further success for her role in the Kannada / Telugu thriller film Idolle Ramayana / Mana Oori Ramayanam, which earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination at Filmfare. Currently she is active on South Indian Television shows, she has judged several dance reality shows. She received acclaim for her role in the Amazon series 'The Family Man' which streamed in September 2019.

Early life

Priyamani was born in Bangalore, Karnataka. She modelled for Kancheepuram silks, Erode silks and Lakshmi silks during her school years. When she was in the 12th Standard, Tamil Director, Bharathiraja, introduced her to the film industry. Her father, Vasudev Mani, who hails from Palakkad from a Tamil family, owns a plantation business and her mother, former national level badminton player, Lathamani, who hails from Thiruvananthapuram, was a bank manager at Union Bank of India. She has an elder brother, Vishakh, who is in the plantation business with her father. While at school, she actively participated in extracurricular activities and in sports. She is the granddaughter of Carnatic vocalist, Kamala Kailas. She is the cousin of film actress, Vidya Balan and the niece of playback singer, Malgudi Shubha.
After completing her schooling, Priyamani modeled for print advertisements. Priyamani pursued a degree in Bachelor of Arts in psychology through correspondence.

Career

Early career

Priyamani made her debut with Telugu film, Evare Atagaadu. She then made her debut in the Malayalam Film Industry with Sathyam, but this film performed poorly at the box office. She was signed by Tamil film director and cinematographer Balu Mahendra to act in the 2005 drama Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam. Before release, Babith said "Priyamani has come up with an excellent performance in the movie. Her performance would be widely acclaimed." Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam was critically acclaimed but failed at the box office. However, she won acclaim for her performance in the film. In 2006, Priyamani starred in the Telugu film Pellaina Kothalo. The film was a super hit and got her three Telugu films.

2007–present

Priyamani managed to prove her acting credentials and commercial appeal with 2007's Paruthiveeran, directed by Ameer Sultan, in which she was co-starred with debutant Karthi Sivakumar. A rural subject which told the story of a notorious young villager in Madurai, the film won critical acclaim and became a surprise box-office blockbuster. Priyamani's performance was unanimously praised by the critics. She went on to win the National Film Award, followed by South Filmfare Award, Tamil Nadu State Film Award and an award at the Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema.
She had another commercially successful film in Telugu, in the 2007 film Yamadonga and in the Tamil film Malaikottai. She again received critical acclaim in 2008 for her role in the Malayalam film Thirakkatha, in which she played a role based on the turbulent real-life story of late film actress Srividya. She won another Filmfare Award for her performance. In Tamil, she had a single release in 2008: Thotta.
In 2009 she had two Tamil releases, the masala film Arumugam and the remake of the Malayalam blockbuster Classmates, titled Ninaithale Inikkum. The former was a commercial failure: Her Kannada debut film Raam was also a commercial success. All three of her Telugu releases that year, however, did not do well at the box office. In 2010 she acted in the satirical film Pranchiyettan & the Saint which became the longest-running Malayalam film since 2005. She won a Filmfare nomination for her role as a Mumbai-based interior decorator in the film.
She was subsequently signed by director Mani Ratnam for his bilingual film, titled Raavanan and Raavan in Tamil and Hindi respectively. Soon after, she was roped in by Bollywood director-producer Ram Gopal Varma for his trilingual film Rakht Charitra. Varma decided to cast her after seeing her National Award-winning performance in Paruthiveeran. Her Kannada film Vishnuvardhana became a blockbuster hit and later she starred in Anna Bond. Although the film was poorly received by critics and featured on Rediff's "Most Disappointing Kannada Films of 2012" list, it went on to become a successful venture at the box office. She appeared in an item number in the Bollywood film Chennai Express. She has completed shooting for a Malayalam film, The True Story and the Telugu film, Chandee, in which she plays Ganga the granddaughter of a freedom fighter, who seeks revenge for the problems her family had to face. She was cast opposite Darshan in the Kannada film Ambareesha in.
In 2014, she posed for a PETA ad campaign, asking the public to boycott zoos that feature caged tigers.
Her foray into the world of web series as the smart, beautiful and accomplished wife of a super spy played by Manoj Bajpai in The Family Man.

Personal life

Priyamani married Mustafa Raj, an events organizer, in a private ceremony on 23 August 2017.

Awards

Television

As reality show judge

Other shows

Web series