Malashri

Malashri
Malashri
Born	Sri Durga; 10 August 1969 (age 55); Madras, Tamil Nadu, India
Other names	Malashree
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1979–present
Spouse	Ramu
Children	2
Relatives	Subhashri (sister)

Malashri (born as Sri Durga on 10 August 1969) to Telugu speaking parents is an Indian film actress. She has predominantly worked in Kannada movies and was the topmost heroine in the 1990s. She has also worked in Tamil and Telugu cinema. Malashri was popular for playing diverse roles in women-centric movies many of which were highly successful at the box-office. She was popularly called Kanasina Rani ("Dream Girl") in the media.^[1]

Malashri made her debut as a heroine with the Kannada film Nanjundi Kalyana (1989). Her portrayal of a haughty, shrewish woman won her accolades and heralded her as a top actress of Kannada Cinema. She established herself as the topmost heroine in Kannada cinema with films like Gajapathi Garvabhanga (1989), Policena Hendthi (1990), Kitturina Huli (1990), Rani Maharani (1990), Hrudaya Haadithu (1991), for which she won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress, Ramachaari (1991), Belli Kalungura (1992), Solillada Saradara (1993) and Gadibidi Aliya (1995).

In 2015 she won her first Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress^[2] for her actin-oriented role in Ganga.

Career

Child artiste

Malashri began her career as a child artiste and appeared in 34 films in Tamil and Telugu and she played the role of a boy in 26 of them.^[3] In a talk show, Majaa Talkies, she said that as a child, she was a fan of actor Amitabh Bachchan and would dress up like him, which prompted directors to cast her as a boy, in 1979 films like Imayam and Neela Malargal.^[4]

Lead roles

Writer and lyricist Chi. Udaya Shankar introduced Malashri to the Rajkumar family when they were on the look out for a fresh face opposite their son Raghavendra Rajkumar who was gearing to make his debut. Parvathamma Rajkumar decided to cast her in Nanjundi Kalyana (1989) and rechristened her from Durga to Malashri. Malashri went on to act in two other films with Vajreshwari Combines, Gajapathi Garvabhanga opposite Raghavendra again, and Mruthyunjaya with Shiva Rajkumar.

In 1990 Malashri took on the famous double role in Rani Maharani (immortalized by Sridevi in Chaalbaaz) and won a huge fan following with her powerhouse performance. Her next film Hrudaya Haadithu where she played a young woman inflicted with a heart problem won her acclaim from the masses and critics alike as well as the Filmfare Best actress award for 1991. As she churned out hit after hit even the stalwart V. Ravichandran, who till then believed only in importing heroines from other states, cashed in on her popularity by casting her in Ramachaari (a remake of Tamil Hit Chinna Thambi). The move paid off, enabling him to come out of the financial crisis he faced due to the debacle of Shanti Kranti.

In later part of the 90s, Malashri had a string of less successful films like Prema Khaidi, Snehada Kadalalli, Megha Mandara, Arishina Kumkuma, and Solillada Saradara. She took brief hiatus after marriage and made comeback in the new millennium with "angry woman" roles in Chamundi (2000), Kannadada Kiran Bedi (2009), Shakti (2012), Veera (2013) and Ganga (2015).

Personal life

Malashri was born and brought up in Madras (now Chennai).^[5] She shot to fame with Nanjundi Kalyana in 1989 but her personal life hit an all-time low the same year when her mother died in a road accident. She was in a relationship with actor Sunil, her co-star of many films.^[6] But in 1994 they met with a car accident and while Malashree suffered multiple injuries, Sunil died on the spot. It was rumoured that they had been planning to get married.^[7] She is currently married to film producer Ramu and they have a daughter together, Ananya (b. 2001).^[8] Her sister Subhashri was also an actress, who appeared in South Indian films.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Language	Notes
1979	Imayam		Tamil	Credited as Baby Durga
1979	Neela Malargal		Tamil
1986	Manakanakku		Tamil
1988	Chinababu		Telugu
1988	Ramudu bheemudu			Telugu
	Varasudochhadu		Telugu
1989	Nanjundi Kalyana	Devi	Kannada
	Gajapathi Garvabhanga	Sowmya	Kannada
	Chinnari Sneham		Telugu
	Chinna Chinna Aasaigal		Tamil	Credited as Rasika
1990	Prema Khaidi	Neelima	Telugu
	Policena Hendthi	Vanaja	Kannada
	Mruthyunjaya	Shailaja	Kannada
	Raja Kempu Roja	Geetha	Kannada
	Aatha Naan Pass Ayittaen		Tamil
	Rani Maharani	Suma / Rani	Kannada	Dual roles
	Prathap	Rani	Kannada
1991	Hrudaya Haadithu	Asha	Kannada	Filmfare Award for Best Actress
	Kitturina Huli	Bharathi	Kannada
	Thavarumane Udugore	Lakshmi	Kannada
	Readymade Ganda		Kannada
	S. P. Bhargavi	Bhargavi	Kannada
	Ramachaari	Nandini	Kannada
	Gandu Sidigundu		Kannada
	Rowdy & MLA		Kannada
	Halli Rambhe Belli Bombe		Kannada
	Gruha Pravesha		Kannada
	Kollur Kala		Kannada
	Mangalya		Kannada
1992	Belli Kalungura	Bhadra	Kannada
	Hatamari Hennu Kiladi Gandu		Kannada
	Shivanaga		Kannada
	Belli Modagalu	Seetha	Kannada
	Sindhoora Thilaka		Kannada
	Vajrayudha		Kannada
	Malashree Mamashree	Malashri	Kannada
	Solillada Saradara		Kannada
	Nagaradalli Nayakaru		Kannada
	Kanasina Rani		Kannada
	Sahasi		Kannada
	Prema Sangama		Kannada
	Megha Mandara	Megha	Kannada
	Gruha Lakshmi		Kannada
	Halli Krishna Delhi Radha	Radha	Kannada
	Snehada Kadalalli		Kannada
	Mana Mecchida Sose		Kannada
	Marana Mrudanga		Kannada
	Belliyappa Bangarappa	Herself	Kannada	Guest appearance
	Kaliyuga Seethe		Kannada
1993	Hendthi Helidare Kelabeku	Mala	Kannada
	Mangalya Bandhana		Kannada
	Kalyana Rekhe		Kannada
	Navibbaru Namagibbaru		Kannada
	Paruvu Prathistha	Prema	Telugu
	Akka Chellelu		Telugu
	Urmila	Urmila	Telugu
	Lovers		Telugu
	Bava Bavamaridi	Geeta	Telugu
1994	Police Alludu		Telugu
	Allari Police	Kasturi	Telugu
	Bhale Maavayya	Vyjayanti	Telugu
	Bangaru Mogudu	Rani	Telugu
	Thodi Kodallu	Vyjayanthi	Telugu
1995	Mutthinantha Hendthi		Kannada
	Gadibidi Aliya		Kannada
	Giddu Dada		Kannada
	Lady Police		Kannada
	Putmalli	Putmalli	Kannada
	Hello Sister		Kannada
	Gharana Alludu		Telugu
1996	Sahasa Veerudu Sagara Kanya	Ganga	Telugu
	Circle Inspector		Kannada
	Arishina Kunkuma		Kannada
	Nirnaya		Kannada	Special appearance
1997	Surya Putrulu		Telugu
	Ganga Yamuna	Ganga	Kannada
	C.B.I. Durga	Durga	Kannada
	Lady Commissioner		Kannada
	Akka		Kannada
	Zindabad		Kannada
1998	Lady Tiger		Kannada
	Agni Sakshi		Kannada
	Goonda Matthu Police		Kannada
	Tiger Padmini	Padmini	Kannada
2000	Chamundi		Kannada
2001	Bhavani IPS	Bhavani	Kannada
2004	Durgi	Durga	Kannada
2009	Kannadada Kiran Bedi	Kiran Bedi / Bellary Bhagyalakshmi	Kannada
2012	Shakti	Shakthi	Kannada
2013	Veera		Kannada
2013	Election	Indira	Kannada
2014	Gharshane	Nethra	Kannada
2015	Mahakali	Devi	Kannada
2015	Ganga	Ganga	Kannada	Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress
2016	John Jani Janardhan		Kannada	Special appearance
2017	Uppu Huli Khara		Kannada
TBA	Malashree	Malashri	Kannada	Announced^[9]

Awards

Karnataka State Film Awards

2015 : Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress : Ganga

Filmfare Awards South

1991: Filmfare Award for Best Actress: Hrudaya Haadithu^[10]

Other awards

2011: NTR Award^[11]

References

^ "The name is star, super star". The Times of India. 11 November 2008.
^ Karnataka State Film Awards, 2015: Full List
^ "I played a boy in 26 films: Malashri". The Times of India. 29 March 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
^ Malashri (17 August 2015). Majaa Takies - 17th October 2015 - ಮಜಾ ಟಾಕೀಸ್ - Full Episode (in Kannada). Colors Kannada. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
^ "Combat queen". The Hindu. 17 April 2009. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
^ "Malashree's comeback effort". Rediff. 5 May 2000. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
^ "Kannada Actress Malashree Profile". karnatakaspider. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
^ "IT'S MOTHER MALASHREE". chitraloka.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2001. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
^ "Action queen returns with a new role". The Indian Express. 28 September 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
^ https://archive.is/20170208061710/https://archive.org/details/39thAnnualFilmfareKannadaBestActorActress
^ "Land for Telugu institute: Somanna". The New Indian Express. 5 June 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2015.

External links

Malashri at IMDb
Malashri Filmography

[1] "The name is star, super star". The Times of India. 11 November 2008.

[2] Karnataka State Film Awards, 2015: Full List

[3] "I played a boy in 26 films: Malashri". The Times of India. 29 March 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2013.

[4] Malashri (17 August 2015). Majaa Takies - 17th October 2015 - ಮಜಾ ಟಾಕೀಸ್ - Full Episode (in Kannada). Colors Kannada. Retrieved 24 October 2015.

[5] "Combat queen". The Hindu. 17 April 2009. Retrieved 26 October 2013.

[6] "Malashree's comeback effort". Rediff. 5 May 2000. Retrieved 26 October 2013.

[7] "Kannada Actress Malashree Profile". karnatakaspider. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 26 October 2013.

[8] "IT'S MOTHER MALASHREE". chitraloka.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2001. Retrieved 26 April 2016.

[9] "Action queen returns with a new role". The Indian Express. 28 September 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2013.

[10] ttps://archive.is/20170208061710/https://archive.org/details/39thAnnualFilmfareKannadaBestActorActress

[11] "Land for Telugu institute: Somanna". The New Indian Express. 5 June 2012. Retrieved 24 October 2015.

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v t e Filmfare Award for Best Kannada Actress
1972–1989	Kalpana (1972) Jayanthi (1973) Aarathi (1974) Aarathi (1975) Jayanthi (1976) Manjula (1977) Shobha (1978) Aarathi (1979) Ashwini (1980) Aarathi (1981) Saritha (1982) Suhasini (1983) Suhasini (1984) Saritha (1985) Saritha (1986) Saritha (1989)
1990–2009	Suhasini (1990) Malashri (1991) Sudha Rani (1992) Lakshmi (1993) Shruti (1995) Shilpa (1996) Suhasini (1997) Jayamala (1998) Tara (1999) Sudha Rani (2000) Prema (2001) Soundarya (2002) Meena (2003) Soundarya (2004) Vidhya Venkatesh (2005) Ramya (2006) Rashmi (2007) Radhika Pandit (2008) Radhika Pandit (2009)
2010–present	Radhika Pandit (2010) Ramya (2011) Priyamani (2012) Amulya (2013) Shwetha Srivatsav (2014) Parul Yadav (2015) Shraddha Srinath (2016) Sruthi Hariharan (2017) Manvitha Kamath (2018) Yagna Shetty (2020/2021) Chaithra J. Achar (2022) Siri Ravikumar (2023)