Sowmya Sathyanarayana (18 July 1972 – 17 April 2004), better known by her stage name Soundarya, was an Indian actress known for her works primarily in Telugu cinema in addition to Kannada, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam films.[3][4] She has received three Nandi Awards, two Karnataka State Film Awards and six Filmfare Awards South. In 2002, she received the National Film Award for Best Feature Film as a producer for the Kannada film Dweepa.
Soundarya | |
|---|---|
 Soundarya in 2002 | |
| Born | Sowmya Sathyanarayana 18 July 1972[1] |
| Died | 17 April 2004 (aged 31) |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1992–2004 |
| Works | Full list |
| Spouse |
G. S. Raghu (m. 2003) |
Soundarya established herself as the most popular Telugu actress of the 1990s and is best known for her performances in films such as Ammoru (1995), Pavitra Bandham (1996), Anthahpuram (1998), Raja (1999), Doni Saagali (1998), Dweepa (2002) and Apthamitra (2004).[4] She won three Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu for Ammoru, Anthahpuram and Raja.[5]
Personal life edit
Soundarya was born in a Kannada speaking family and brought up in Bengaluru, Karnataka.[6] Her parents are K. S. Sathyanarayana Iyer and Manjula.[7][2] Her father was a Kannada film writer and producer. She discontinued her M.B.B.S. after her first year in Bangalore.[8][9] Soundarya's birthdate has been reported inconsistently by the media. While some sources indicate the birthdate as 18 July 1972,[1][2][10] the others including The Times of India stated it to be 18 July 1976.[11][12] On 27 April 2003,[13] she married G. S. Raghu, a software engineer by profession.[14][15] Besides Kannada, Soundarya was said to be fluent in Telugu and Tamil languages.
Career edit
Early career edit
Soundarya's first movie was the Kannada film Baa Nanna Preethisu, directed by S. Siddalingaiah, released in April 1992, immediately followed by Gandharva in July 1992. In the same year, she acted in the Telugu movie Raithu Bharatham, with Krishna, directed by Tripuraneni Sriprasad alias Varaprasad.
She began with lead roles in Kannada, her mother tongue, and went on to become the most popular actress in Telugu films. Her first film in Telugu was Rajendrudu Gajendrudu, directed by S. V. Krishna Reddy.[16] Real commercial recognition came to her with Hello Brother (1994), directed by E. V. V. Satyanarayana, in which she starred alongside Nagarjuna and Ramya Krishna.[17] She played an award-winning role in Ammoru, directed by Kodi Ramakrishna, starring alongside Ramya Krishna and Suresh and played the role of Bhavani, a devotee of Goddess Ammoru. She had eleven releases in 1995.[18] In Tamil, she got major acclaim for her debut film Ponnumani, opposite Karthik and Sivakumar for playing the role of a mentally disabled person.
Continuous success, critical acclaim and popularity (1995–2002) edit
In 1997, she continued her successful run with Pavitra Bandham, Pelli Chesukundam, Amma Donga, Maa Aayana Bangaram, Osi Na Maradala and Aaro Pranam. She also starred alongside South Indian superstar Rajinikanth in Arunachalam, which became the highest-grossing film of 1997 in Tamil cinema. The industry regarded her to be the golden hand, as a former director's daughter, she always regarded the success not as a one-man show, but teamwork across 36 departments.[18]
In 1998 the critical success of Choodalani Vundi, directed by Gunasekhar, opposite Chiranjeevi took her to the pinnacle. She also starred alongside Kamal Haasan and Prabhudeva in Kaathala Kaathala in Tamil in the same year, dubbed in Telugu as Navvandi Lavvandi, directed by Singeetam Srinivas Rao. Pelli Peetalu and Sri Ramulayya, Ninne Premistha in Telugu and Doni Saagali in Kannada were commercially successful. Anthahpuram, directed by Krishna Vamsi, stood as one of the finest performances of Soundarya in her career, winning her a State Nandi Award for Best Actress and also her second consecutive Filmfare Award for Best Actress.
Her 1999 release Raja, opposite Venkatesh, was another blockbuster and won her a third Filmfare Award. Her other releases, Padayappa opposite Rajinikanth, Azad opposite Nagarjuna and Premaku Velayera, Premaku Swagatam and Arundhati further solidified her position. In the same year, she starred opposite Amitabh Bachchan in the Hindi movie Sooryavansham.[18]
In 2000, she starred in Annayya, opposite Chiranjeevi, Jayam Manadera and Devi Putrudu opposite Venkatesh, Ninne Premistha, opposite Nagarjuna and Srikanth and several others that displayed her acting abilities, such as Eduruleni Manishi and Sri Manjunatha opposite Arjun Sarja and Narasimha, opposite Rajinikanth, Pelli Peetalu, Dongata and Nagadevatha.[18] She also made guest appearances in songs - with Akkineni Nageswara Rao in Mayabazar, directed by Dasari Narayana Rao, in Adhipathi, with Nagarjuna and in Shubhalagnam, with Ali. Later after the entry of the next generation, her market was slowed down.
In 2004 Balakrishna announced the remake of Nartanasala, and a launch event was held in Hyderabad. Soundarya was signed to play Draupadi[19] but the film was shelved following her death.
She worked with almost all the top directors, like Dasari Narayana Rao, K. Raghavendra Rao, Singeetam Srinivasa Rao, A. Kodandarami Reddy, Priyadarshan, Girish Kasaravalli, S. V. Krishna Reddy, K. S. Ravikumar, Krishna Vamsi, Kodi Ramakrishna, E. V. V. Satyanarayana, Muthyala Subbaiah, Gunasekhar, P. Vasu, Muppalaneni Shiva, Bharathi Kannan, Sundar C.
She starred opposite all major actors: with Super star Krishna in 5 movies, Mega star Chiranjeevi in 4 Telugu and 1 Kannada movie, Mohanlal in 1 movie, Nagarjuna in 5 movies, Venkatesh in 8 movies, Jagapathi Babu in 7 movies, Mohan Babu in 5 movies, Rajashekar in 5 movies, Suman in 3 movies, Harikrishna in 2 movies, Srikanth, Saikumar in 5 movies, Rajendra Prasad in 4 movies and Nandamuri Balakrishna in one movie. She has also acted with several other heroes such as Vinod Kumar, Naresh, Suresh, Harish, Abbas, Vineeth, Vadde Naveen, Ramesh Babu, Avinash, Bhanu Chander and J. D. Chakravarthy.[18]
Tamil film career edit
In Tamil, she was introduced in 1995 by Director R. V. Udayakumar in Ponnumani starring opposite to actor Karthik. She worked with Tamil super-stars in films such as Arunachalam and Padayappa with Rajinikanth and Kaadhala Kaadhala, with Kamal Haasan. she has also collaborated with actor Karthik for Muthu Kaalai, Arjun Sarja for Mannavaru Chinnavaru, Vijaykanth for Thavasi and Chokka Thangam and Parthiban for Ivan. She has acted opposite the actors Vikram for Kanden Seethayai, Anand for Madhumathi, Rahman for Dear Son Maruthu, Sathyaraj for Senathipathi, and shared screen space with legendary actor Shivaji Ganesan in Padayappa.[18]
Kannada film career edit
In Kannada, she has acted with Vishunuvardhan, Anant Nag, Ravichandran, Shashikumar, Ramesh Arvind and Avinash. In 1996, she acted in the musical blockbuster Sipayi, along with Ravichandran and Chiranjeevi, dubbed in Telugu as Major. In 2002, she received the National Film Award for Best Feature Film (producer) for Dweepa. She also acted with Ambareesh in Sri Manjunatha. Her last film was Apthamitra, a runaway hit starring Vishnuvardhan and Ramesh Arvind. The film won her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress posthumously in 2004.
Other languages edit
Soundarya acted in the Hindi film Sooryavansham, opposite Amitabh Bachchan. She has acted in the Malayalam film Kilichundan Mampazham, with Mohanlal and Sreenivasan and Yathrakarude Sradhakku with Jayaram.
TV Debut edit
Soundarya was about to make her Tv Debut with the successful Tamil Tv series Kolangal as a female lead. Although she was interested, she was unable to join the crew due to her 2-month contract with the Bharatiya Janata Party to support them during election campaign. So, actress Devyani was chosen instead of her for the role.[20]
Death edit
On 17 April 2004, Soundarya died in an aircraft crash along with her brother Amarnath while travelling to Karimnagar from Bengaluru during an election campaign to support Bharatiya Janata Party, which she had joined that year.[21]
The aircraft, a Cessna 180, took off at 11:05 a.m. and turned west before crashing on the campus of the Gandhi Krishi Vigyan Kendra of the University of Agricultural Sciences. It had reached only a height of 100 feet (30 m) and burst into flames. B. N. Ganapathi, one of the two persons working on the experimental fields of the university, who rushed to the aircraft to save the occupants, said the plane wobbled before the crash.[22]
Legacy edit
Soundarya is regarded as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Telugu cinema and is the most successful actress after Savitri.[23] She was known as a versatile actress, who played distinctive roles. Critics noted that she had a fine sense of characterisation. Due to this ability, Soundarya struck a chord with the Telugu audience despite being a Kannada actress.[24] Ammoru, Pavithra Bandham, Doni Saagali, Raja, Sooryavansham, and Dweepa are her best known films that saw her playing strong women characters.[25]
Awards and nominations edit
| Year | Award | Category | Film | Result | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Filmfare Awards South | Best Actress – Telugu | Ammoru | Won | [26] |
| 1996 | Nandi Awards | Best Actress | Pavithra Bandham | Won | [27] |
| 1998 | Karnataka State Film Awards | Best Actress | Doni Saagali | Won | [28] |
| 1998 | Filmfare Awards South | Best Actress – Telugu | Anthapuram | Won | [29] |
| 1998 | Nandi Awards | Special Jury Award | Antahpuram | Won | [27] |
| 1999 | Filmfare Awards South | Best Actress – Telugu | Raja | Won | [30] |
| 2001 | Filmfare Awards South | Best Actress - Tamil | Thavasi | Nominated | |
| 2002 | Filmfare Awards South | Best Supporting Actress - Tamil | Ivan | Nominated | |
| 2003 | National Film Awards | Best Feature Film | Dweepa | Won | [31] |
| 2003 | Karnataka State Film Awards | Best Actress | Dweepa | Won | [32] |
| 2003 | Filmfare Awards South | Best Actress – Kannada | Dweepa | Won | [33] |
| 2003 | Filmfare Awards South | Best Film – Kannada | Dweepa | Won | [33] |
| 2004 | Filmfare Awards South | Best Actress – Kannada | Apthamitra (Posthumously awarded) | Won | [34] |
References edit
- ^ a b "Soundarya's death leaves a void". The Economic Times. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ a b c Pandya, Haresh (10 May 2003). "Obituary: Soundarya". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 May 2016.
- ^ "Actress Soundarya had said that it would be her last film: Udaykumar's revelation".
- ^ a b Pandya, Haresh (10 May 2004). "Soundarya". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 8 January 2017. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
- ^ "International Film Festival of India-2002". Pib.nic.in. 26 September 2002. Archived from the original on 9 September 2018. Retrieved 29 May 2013.
- ^ Soundarya Last Interview in Telugu. V Channel. Event occurs at 42s. Archived from the original on 17 November 2021.
- ^ Manjula (13 October 2020). "Pelli Choopulu Producer To Bankroll Soundarya Biopic?". The Hans India. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
- ^ "Soundarya's 44th Birth Anniversary: Remembering the evergreen actress of Telugu cinema". The Times of India. 18 July 2020. Archived from the original on 20 May 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
- ^ Upadhyaya, Prakash (17 May 2018). "After Savithri biopic Mahanati's success, filmmaker ponders next one on Soundarya". International Business Times. Archived from the original on 5 June 2021. Retrieved 5 June 2021.
- ^ IANS (4 December 2013). "Many an actor has died in an accident". Business Standard India. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ "Soundarya's 44th Birth Anniversary: Remembering the evergreen actress of Telugu cinema". The Times of India. 18 July 2020. Archived from the original on 28 February 2021. Retrieved 8 December 2020.
- ^ "Public figures lost in their prime". Rediff. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
- ^ B. R., Srikanth (17 April 2004). "Star-crossed on campaign trail". The Telegraph. Retrieved 31 July 2021.
- ^ "8 years after star's death, family fight over will gets ugly". Bangalore Mirror. 30 September 2012. Archived from the original on 30 April 2018. Retrieved 11 July 2021.
- ^ "Soundarya Profile Biography Biodata Family Photos.html". Retrieved 19 July 2021.
- ^ Rakesh (17 April 2022). "Remembering The Modern 'SAVITRI' of Telugu Cinema". Cine Chit Chat. Retrieved 17 November 2022.
- ^ "Soundarya's Hello Brother film". Retrieved 20 July 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f Kumar, Ch Sushil (28 March 1998). "Child, woman, star". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 14 May 2008. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
- ^ "PressReader - Deccan Chronicle: 2012-10-24 - Balakrishna hasn't found Draupadi". Archived from the original on 13 March 2018. Retrieved 12 March 2018 – via PressReader.
- ^ "Rajinikanth asked me to Narrate a Script after Watching Kolangal Serial - Director Thiruselvam Interview". 23 November 2019. Retrieved 29 April 2021 – via YouTube.
- ^ Press Trust of India (17 April 2004). "Soundarya killed in plane crash. its a tragedy". The Indian Express. Archived from the original on 23 January 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
- ^ "Indian actress dies in air crash". BBC News. 28 December 2020. Archived from the original on 8 March 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2020.
- ^ "South superstar Soundarya's birth anniversary: Here are her top movies". CNBC TV 18. Retrieved 28 September 2020.
- ^ "Sooryavansham Lead Superstar Soundarya's Unknown Facts". News18 India. Retrieved 26 December 2022.
- ^ "Soundarya's 44th Birth Anniversary: Remembering The Evergreen Actress Of Telugu Cinema". Times of India. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
- ^ "Filmfare Awards". Archived from the original on 10 October 1999.
- ^ a b "నంది అవార్డు విజేతల పరంపర (1964 - 2008)" [A series of Nandi Award Winners (1964 - 2008)] (PDF). Information & Public Relations of Andhra Pradesh (in Telugu). 13 March 2010. Retrieved 3 January 2021.
- ^ "A star's bright career crashes". Deccan Herald. 18 April 2004. Archived from the original on 8 April 2017.
- ^ Filmfare magazine. Filmfare. 1999. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
- ^ "Rahman bags 12th Filmfare award". Pvv.ntnu.no. Archived from the original on 20 October 2013. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
- ^ "49th National Film Awards" (PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. pp. 18–19. Archived (PDF) from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
- ^ "Film-makers told to focus on issues affecting society" (PDF). Deccan Herald. 20 January 2003. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 April 2012.
- ^ a b "Manikchand Filmfare Awards: Sizzling at 50". BSNL. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 19 October 2009.
- ^ "'Aptha' sweeps Filmfare awards!". Viggy. 13 March 2011.
