Soundarya

For the director, see Soundarya Rajinikanth.

Soundarya
ಸೌಮ್ಯ
File:Soundarya actress.jpg
Born	Sowmya Satyanarayan(Munna) (1972-07-18)18 July 1972 Mulbagal, Kolar, Karnataka, India
Died	17 April 2004(2004-04-17) (aged 31) Bengaluru, India
Years active	1992–2004
Spouse	G. S. Raghu (m.2003-2004)

Soundarya Raghu (born Sowmya Satyanarayan) (18 July 1972 – 17 April 2004) was an Indian film actress and producer known for her works predominantly in Telugu cinema. She was also starred in few Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam, and Bollywood films in lead roles.

In 2002, she has received the National Film Award for Best Feature Film as producer for the Kannada film, Dweepa. She is down to earth.She received two Karnataka State Film Awards for Best Actress, several Filmfare Awards South, and the Nandi Awards, for her performances in films, such as Ammoru (1994), Anthapuram (1998), Raja (1999), Dweepa (2002), Aaptamitra (2004). During the peak of her career, Soundarya died in an aircraft crash near Bangalore on 17 April 2004 when she was on her way to Andhra Pradesh to campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Personal life

Soundarya, was born to industrialist, and Kannada film writer K. S. Satyanarayan in Kolar, Karnataka, India. She discontinued her M.B.B.S., and then married to G. S. Raghu, who is a Software Engineer. She had wide popularity and tremendous goodwill among Andhra pradesh and Telangana and probably the most successful actress after Savitri in the history of telugu cinema and is often called "Savitri of modern telugu cinema".She died in the 2004 aircraft crash, which happened in Bangalore, during an election campaign.

Early career and stardom in Telugu cinema

Soundarya is one of the most popular heroines in the history of Telugu cinema on the lines of Savitri, Vanisri and Jayasudha. She is particularly regarded as the "Savitri of Modern Telugu cinema" because of her screen presence, grace and phenomenal success, all in common with Savitri. She is a versatile actress of her time, enacting strong, positive and responsible characters in each of her movies. She took a clear stand on glamour, preferring performance-oriented roles throughout her career. These unique features worked out completely in her favor and struck a chord with a wide audience base, earning her immense popularity in the state of Andhra Pradesh. She made 114 movies, predominantly in Telugu, in a span of twelve years. Her brilliant performances made her critically and commercially the most successful heroine of modern times. Telugu Superstar Venkatesh once described her as "a thorough actress". The legendary Akkineni Nageshwara Rao regarded Soundarya as the apt replacement to Savitri's role in Mayabazar.

In her first hit in Telugu, in 1993, she acted the leading role alongside Rajendra Prasad in Rajendrudu Gajendrudu, directed by S.V.Krishna Reddy. She had a decent start with another pair of releases in the same year. The real commercial recognition came with Hello Brother (1994) in which she starred alongside Nagarjuna and Ramyakrishna. The film became the biggest blockbuster of 1994. Most of her other releases in 1994 had a decent run. In 1995, she had acted in Pedarayudu, a remake of the Tamil film Nattamai, alongside Mohan Babu for the first time, and the movie was critically appreciated and highly successful. Following this success, she starred with all Tollywood's biggest stars like Chiranjeevi in Rikshavodu, with Venkatesh in Super Police, with Balakrishna in Top Hero. Top Hero was a super hit while Super Police and Rikshavodu did not click well at the box office. She had an award-winning role in Ammoru, where she played the pivotal role of a selfless devotee to Goddess Ammoru; the film was a big success and it specially showcased her acting skills. She stood ahead with eleven movie releases in 1995.

In 1996, Soundarya had another critical and commercial success through Pavitra Bandham, alongside Venkatesh, where she acted as a woman who signs for a contract marriage for supporting her family. Intlo Illalu Vantintlo Priyuralu and Ramudochadu have given her a credit of golden hand. This continuous success and popularity made Soundarya the reigning Queen of Telugu cinema, and she was referred popularly as NUMERO UNO by the Telugu media and magazines.

Continuous success, critical acclaim and popularity (1997–2001)

Soundarya paved a way for strong performances and led the change in the framing of characterizations of heroines.Though her contemparary Ramyakrishnan too displayed versatility in genres besides bigtime glamour, Soundarya with her strong, positive and high intense performances emerged out with continuous string of successes and thundering applause unmatched to any of her rivals.

In 1997, she continued her success with Pelli chesukundam, Maa Aayana Bangaram, Osi na maradala,Aaro pranam winning acclaims from all over the industry for her performances.She also starred alongside South Indian Superstar Rajinikanth in Arunachalam which made up as the highest grossing film of 1997 in tamil. Soundarya, apart from good performances and growing lady fan following emerged out to be the golden hand with her continuous successes when her rivals faced constant debacles. This stardom made her come out of the shadow of mainstream heroine and chose scripts which had a wide potential of performance even alongside biggest stars which clearly reflected later in her movies. Soundarya's phenomenal success and humungous popularity made her the first choice for any performance role and made her act 10 films each following year till 2001 with biggest successes in her way.Though 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 the team work between 36 departments.Besides roaring success of her films,.Soundarya's intensity in performances,expressions,her beautiful face,her lady fanfollowing and phenomenal success were all in common with Savitri and she was able to earn fame as a replacement to Mahanati Savitri.The telugu media which is known for it's critical attitude suprisingly was highly appreciative of her performances and was very positive throughout her career and magazines.

Furthur the critical success of Chudalani Vundi opposite Chiranjeevi in 1998 made her reach the pinnacle of her career.She also starred along Kamal Hassan in Kaathala Kaathala in tamil in the same year.Pelli Peetalu,Sri Ramulayya in telugu,Doni Saagali in kannada were commercially highly successful.Anthapuram directed by Krishnavamshi stood as one of the finest performances of Soundarya in her career winning her state Nandi award and also secong consecutive filmfare award.The producers and directors realized Soundarya's ability to be a crowd puller and a biggest plus for the promotion of the movie.Her 1999 release Raja opposite Venkatesh was another blockbuster and won her third filmfare. Her other releases Padayappa opposite Rajinikanth, Azad opposite Nagarjuna, Premaku Velayera and Arundathi furthur solidified her position. In the same year she starred opposite Amitabh Bachchan in Suryavansham.

In 2000,she starred in yet another commercial success Annayya opposite Chiranjeevi,Jayam Manadera and Deviputrudu opposite Venkatesh, Ninne premista opposite Nagarjuna and several others and went on displaying her acting abilities continuing her successful journey with films like Eduruleni manishi, Sri manjunatha, Narasimha, Pelli peetalu, Dongata, Nagadevatha etc.

She had around 10 film releases each year most of them in telugu from 1993 to 2001 which reflect her path breaking success. After the entry of budding next generation, she slowed down but even later she went on acting 7 films each year till 2004. Besides being recognized for her talent, her directors and costars describe her as an honest, grounded and a friendly person.

Kannada Cinema and National Film Award

In 2002, she has received the National Film Award for Best Feature Film (producer) for Dweepa. Her last film was the Kannada film Apthamitra, a run away hit with Vishnuvardhan. This film also won her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress posthumously in 2004.

Other languages

Soundarya acted in the Hindi film, Sooryavansham, alongside Amitabh Bachchan. She was also starred in Tamil super hits, such as Arunachalam, Padayappa alongside Rajinikanth, and Kaadhala Kaadhala alongside Kamal Haasan.

Politics and accidental death

Soundarya died in an aircraft crash near Bangalore on 17 April 2004 when she was on her way to Andhra Pradesh to campaign for the Bharatiya Janata Party for the upcoming elections.She was pregnant when she died.

Filmography

Year	Film	Language	Role	Notes
1992	Gandharva	Kannada
1992	Baa Nanna Preethisu	Kannada
1992	Manavarali Pelli	Telugu	Soundarya
1993	Nanna Thangi	Kannada
1990	Vijaya Kranthi	Kannada
1993	Ponnumani	Tamil	Chinthamani
1993	Rajendrudu Gajendrudu	Telugu	Lalitha
1993	Amma Naa Kodala	Telugu	Neelima
1993	Number One	Telugu	Soundarya
1993	Mayalodu	Telugu	Sree
1993	Inspector Jhansi	Telugu
1993	Asalae Pellaina Vanni	Telugu
1993	Donga Alludu	Telugu
1994	Thooguve Krishnana	Kannada
1994	Madam	Telugu
1994	Hello Brother	Telugu	Ooha
1994	Allari Premikudu	Telugu	Jhansi
1994	Top Hero	Telugu
1994	Super Police	Telugu	Bharathi
1994	Priyaragalu	Telugu
1995	Amma Donga	Telugu
1995	Muthu Kaalai	Tamil	Poonjolai
1995	Rikshavodu	Telugu
1995	Jagadekaveerudu	Telugu
1995	Ammoru	Telugu	Bhavani	Nandi Award for Best Actress Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu Dubbed in Tamil as Amman
1995	Bhale Bullodu	Telugu
1995	Amma Naa Kodala	Telugu
1995	Peddarayudu	Telugu
1995	Chilakapacha Kapuram	Telugu
1995	Raja Simham	Telugu
1995	Vetagadu	Telugu
1995	Balaraju Bangaru Pellam	Telugu
1996	Pavithra Bandham	Telugu	Radha	Nandi Award for Best Actress
1996	Maa Voori Maraju	Telugu
1996	Ramudochadu	Telugu
1996	Intlo Illalu Vantintlo Priyuralu	Telugu	Seeta
1996	Puttinti Gowravam	Telugu
1996	Maa Inti Adapadachu	Telugu
1996	Sipayi	Kannada
1996	Senathipathi	Tamil	Aishwarya
1996	Prema Pranayam	Telugu
1997	Pellichesukundam	Telugu	Shanti
1997	Adirindi Guru	Telugu
1997	Taraka Ramudu	Telugu
1997	Maa Aayana Bangaram	Telugu
1997	Oosi Na Maradala	Telugu
1997	Aaro Pranam	Telugu
1997	Arunachalam	Tamil	Vedhavalli
1998	Choodalani Vundi	Telugu	Padmavathi
1998	Pelli Peetalu	Telugu
1998	Sri Ramulayya	Telugu
1998	Sooryudu	Telugu
1998	Doni Saagali	Kannada		Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress
1998	Anthapuram	Telugu	Bhanumati	Nandi Award for Best Actress Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu
1998	Jagadeka Veerudu	Telugu
1998	Thambulalu	Telugu
1998	Dongata	Telugu
1998	Subha Vaartha	Telugu
1998	Rayudu	Telugu
1998	Kaathala Kaathala	Tamil	Sundari
1999	Raja	Telugu	Anjali	Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu
1999	Aryabhata	Kannada
1999	Anaganaga O Ammayi	Telugu
1999	Arundhati	Telugu
1999	Premaku Velayara	Telugu	Madhavi and Malathi
1999	Manavudu Danavudu	Telugu
1999	Padayappa	Tamil	Vasundra
1999	Naanu Nanna Hendthiru	Kannada
1999	Sooryavansham	Hindi	Radha Singh
1999	Mayadari Mosagadu	Telugu
2000	Annayya	Telugu	Devi
2000	Jayam Manade Raa	Telugu	Uma
2000	Azad	Telugu	Anjali
2000	Devi Putrudu	Telugu	Karna
2000	Ninne Premistha	Telugu
2000	Moodu Mukkalata	Telugu
2000	Ravanna	Telugu
2000	Mannavaru Chinnavaru	Tamil
2000	Naga Devatha	Kannada/Telugu
2000	Postman	Telugu
2001	Sri Manjunatha	Kannada/Telugu	Katyayini
2001	Eduruleni Manishi	Telugu
2001	Sarduku Podam Randi	Telugu
2001	Naa Manasisthaa Raa	Telugu
2001	9 Nelalu	Telugu	Savitri
2001	Adhipati	Telugu
2001	Eshwar Allah	Telugu
2001	Pedamma Talli	Telugu
2001	Thavasi	Tamil	Priyadarshini
2001	Kalisi Naduddam	Telugu
2002	Kondaveeti Simhasanam	Telugu
2002	Premaku Swagatham	Telugu
2002	Yathrakarude Sradhakku	Malayalam	Jyothi
2002	Gelupu	Telugu
2002	Ivan	Tamil	Dikshanya
2003	Chokka Thangam	Tamil
2003	Prema Donga	Telugu
2003	Seethayya	Telugu
2003	Kilichundan Mampazham	Malayalam	Amina
2003	Dweepa	Kannada	Nagi	Also as Producer National Film Award for Best Feature Film Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Kannada Filmfare Award for Best Film – Kannada
2004	Shiva Shankar	Telugu		Posthumously released
2004	Shwetha Naga	Kannada / Telugu		Posthumously released
2004	Madhumathi	Tamil
2004	Apthamitra	Kannada	Ganga / Nagavalli	Posthumously released Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Kannada

External links

• Soundarya at IMDb