Meena

Real Name :Meena
Birth Place :Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India
Born :1976
Occupation :Actress, model, singer, dancer, judge, TV host, occasional dubbing artiste
Height :1.71 m
Spouse :Vidyasagar
Children :Nainika
Parents :Durairaj and Raj Mallika
Facebook page :facebook.com/pages/Actress-meena-durairaj

DO YOU KNOW?
Meena was born brought up in in Chennai by Tamil father, Durairaj, and Malayali mother Raj Mallika from Chirakkal Palace-Kannur Dist.She was enrolled in Vidyodhya schools in Chennai. Because of her busy acting schedule, she had to discontinue schooling in the 8th standard, later taking up private coaching and completing the 10th standard in vidyodaya schools in Chennai. She went on to get her master’s in History from the University of Madras through the open university system in 2006. Meena is a trained Bharathanatyam dancer and speaks six languages: Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, Kannada and English.

Her mother has played a pivotal role in shaping her career and acted as her guide and advisor. Meena has always credited her mother for standing behind her as a pillar of strength. When the make-up artists failed to turn up at a remote village in Kakinada during the shoot of Bobbili Simham in 1994, Roja did Meena’s hair for those two days and was much appreciated by Meena herself. Roja and Meena are best friends. Other close friends are actress Sanghavi, Sridevi Vijaykumar, Maheswari, and so on.

Meena married Vidyasagar, a Bangalore-based software engineer, on 12 July 2009 at Arya Vysya Samaj Kalyana Mandapam. The couple later visited Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, Andhra Pradesh. The couple is back to Chennai to hold a reception at Mayor Ramanathan Chettiar Hall, in which all leading southern Indian actors participated. The couple has a daughter Nainika born on 1 January 2011 in Chennai.

Child Artiste
Meena started her career in 1982 as a child artist in the film Nenjangal, featuring Dr. Sivaji Ganesan in the lead role, after Ganesan saw her at a birthday party. Meena was still very young at that time. Her mother Rajamallika brought her to A.M. Ratnam’s office for an offer. Even though she looked chubby, they felt she fitted the bill. She has acted in several films along with Dr. Sivaji Ganesan and Rajinikanth as a child artist. Meena acted in Kollywood by appearing as a child artiste alongside Rajinikanth in the movie Anbulla Rajinikanth, in which she acted as a terminally ill child who warms up to Rajni Kant —that became a major pointer in her career growth. After the success of that movie, she became one of the famous child artist in South Indian movies. She says of Ganesan that “I feel extremely proud to have been discovered by the legend”. Since then, she has appeared in over 45 films as a child artiste.

She made her debut in Telugu beside Akkineni Nageswara Rao in Seetharamaiah Gari Manavaralu, where Meena played his granddaughter Seeta. The film was showcased among the Indian panorama section, at the 1991 International Film Festival of India. The film was made under the banner VMC Productions. She won Nandi Award for Best Actress from the Government of Andhra Pradesh for Seetharamaiah Gari Manavaralu.

While she made her debut as a leading lady in Tamil film Oru Pudhiya Kadhai and played heroine roles in more than three dozen films, and also starred in Malayalam and Kannada films, her first role in Malayalam that gained attention was in Santhwanam directed by Sibi Malayil in 1991. She played Suresh Gopi’s daughter in the film. Its success made her famous, which led to roles with senior Malayalam heroes. Meena has expressed a wish to do more films in Malayalam. She says of her transition from being a child star to being a heroine that “Memories as a child are really fabulous and I still cherish them. And it is still more special as that phase is over. Now, I am enjoying my stint as a heroine.”

She has played the role of the leading heroines in Telugu and Tamil films since the early 1990s, often playing characters with unidimensional personality with no negativity or gray shades. She has generally avoided glamorous roles though she has acted in a few like Maaman Magal in Tamil opposite Sathyaraj and some movies with Ravichandran in Kannada. In the Kannada remake of Autograph as My Autograph, were directed, produced and enacted by Sudeep. In this film, Meena starred Sneha’s role of Divya.

She has acted with Rajinikanth, Dr. Kamal Haasan, Chiranjeevi, Dr. Vishnuvardhan, Krishna, Dr. Mammootty, Dr. Mohanlal, Balakrishna, Ravichandran and other stars like Vijayakanth, Akkineni Nagarjuna, Venkatesh, Ajith Kumar, Prabhu Deva, Sarathkumar, K. Bhagyaraj, Jayaram, Suresh Gopi, Prashanth, Kichcha Sudeep, Raviteja. She had hits with the films Nattamai film directed by K. S. Ravikumar. It starred Sarath Kumar, Meena and Kushboo in the lead roles. The film became a blockbuster and completed a 175-day run at the box office (1994). She just grabs the continuous offer and the opportunity to act in films like Avvai Shanmughi (1996) with Kamal Haasan, Porkkaalam with Murali (1997), Bharathi Kannamma (1997) with Parthiban and so on. Another excellent contender for Oscars performance in Rhythm (2000). This movie makes the most impact in multiple viewings. Meena was exceptionally brilliant performance in each scene. Strangely enough, she looks the best in this movie in terms of makeup and this movie had her in her best performance to date. While she picked up Best Actress at the Cinema Express Awards.

Meena has acted both as a child and as an adult opposite Rajinikanth. Her first hit with Rajinikanth was Yejaman, where she plays the role of Vaitheeswari, a simple village girl who marries the Superstar Rajinikanth. She always played the quiet, serious woman. In her follow-up movie with Rajini, Veera, Meena again dazzled. Romantic-comedy film. Rajinikanth, Meena and Roja (actress) in lead role. This film was controversial for its climax but went on to become one of the highest grossing films in 1994. But the film that brought her true recognition and fame was Muthu, one of Rajini’s biggest hits. The movie was a blockbuster all across Japan. Ranganayaki as the talkative, cheeky street theatre actress won the hearts of audience. The film was directed by K. S. Ravikumar and produced by K. Balachander, and became the first Tamil film to be dubbed into Japanese, as Mutu: Odoru Maharaja. The film grossed a record $1.6 million in Japan in 1998 and was responsible for creating a large Japanese fan-base for Rajinikanth and Meena. Following the release of Muthu in Japan and its commercial success, Meena’s popularity rose in Japan.

Meena agreed to appear in an item number as herself in the K. S. Ravi – directed film Shahjahan (film) starring Vijay (actor). She has acted with almost all leading actors in South India. A role in Kadha Parayumbol and in its Tamil and Telugu remakes, Kuselan and Kathanayakudu respectively, were well received by audiences. Meena has expressed regret about Kuselan, after her part was overshadowed.

Meena has said that her own favorite roles were in Bharathi Kannamma and Shock in Tamil, Seetharamaiah Gari Manavaralu in Telugu, Santhwanam in Malayalam and Swathi Muthu in Kannada, “though every film of mine is close to my heart.”