Biography

Meena Durairaj (born 16 September 1976), known professionally as Meena, is an Indian actress who predominantly works in the South Indian film industry as well as Bollywood. She debuted as a child artist in the Tamil film Nenjangal in 1982 and later appeared in films produced by various regional industries ^[5][6] Her career spans over three decades and has paired opposite mainstream stars in South Indian cinema.^[7]

Meena has acted in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada and several Hindi films.^[8] She was one of the leading actresses of Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu cinema in the 90s.^{[citation needed]} She has established herself as a great performer through the decades in the South Indian film industry.^[9] In addition to acting, Meena is also a playback singer, TV judge, and occasional dubbing artiste.^[10] She has received numerous accolades, including two Filmfare Awards South, three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, two Nandi Award for Best Actress^[11][12] and Cinema Express Awards. In 1998, she was honoured with the Kalaimamani Award by Government of Tamil Nadu.^[13]

Career

Child artist

Meena started her career in 1982 as a child artist in the film Nenjangal, featuring Sivaji Ganesan in the lead role after Ganesan saw her at a birthday party.^[16] She has acted in several films along with Dr. Sivaji Ganesan as a child artist.^[16] She has acted with Rajinikanth in two movies namely Engeyo Ketta Kural and Anbulla Rajinikanth as a child artist. Anbulla Rajinikanth, in which she acted as a terminally ill child who warms up to Rajinikanth —that became a major pointer in her career growth. After the success of that movie, she became a notable child artist in South Indian movies. Her debut in Malayalam as a child artist was in the movie Oru Kochukatha Aarum Parayatha Katha, directed by P.G. Viswambharan. She appeared in over 45 films as a child.^[16]

Lead female roles

Meena has been one of the top star pairing up with every big star down South.^[17] She made her debut in Telugu beside Rajendra Prasad in Navayugam in 1990. While her Tamil admission as a heroine was in Oru Pudhiya Kadhai in the same year. Her first break was through Tamil film En Rasavin Manasile (1991) opposite Rajkiran, which was directed by Kasthuri Raja. This romantic drama went on to become a blockbuster and won several awards that year. Meena's innocent portrayal as Solaiyamma won her fans' hearts. Later, the movie was remade in Telugu as Moratodu Naa Mogudu (1992) with Meena reprising her role^[18][19][20] Her career's turning point in Telugu was Seetharamaiah Gari Manavaralu, where she played Akkineni Nageswara Rao's grand daughter. 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 critical accolade for her role.

Meena returned to Malayalam industry with the movie Santhwanam where she played as Suresh Gopi's daughter in the film released in 1991. Its success attracted more roles with senior Malayalam heroes. Meena has expressed a wish to do more films in Malayalam.^[16]

Telugu film Chanti (1992), opposite Venkatesh was a milestone in her career and the film ran for more than 200 days. She was nominated for Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu and the movie was a big hit at the box office.^[21] She made her Bollywood debut opposite Chunky Pandey in the film Parda Hai Parda (1992). This was followed by successful movies such as Allari Pilla (1992), directed by Kodi Ramakrishna. Allari Mogudu (1992), along with Mohan Babu and Sundarakanda opposite Venkatesh, both directed by K. Raghavendra Rao. President Gari Pellam with Nagarjuna, directed by A. Kodandarami Reddy.

In 1993, she followed it up with box office hits like Muta Mesthri, opposite Chiranjeevi. Yejaman, opposite Rajinikanth where she plays the role of Vaitheeswari, a simple village girl. She won the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actress for the film.^[22][23] Allari Alludu, opposite Nagarjuna. Another her critically acclaimed film was Rajeswari Kalyanam, directed by Kranthi Kumar. She won Nandi Award for Best Actress for her performance.^[24] She plays Sudha, a smart and intelligent young wife in Abbaigaru^[25] winning acclaim from the industry for her performance.

In 1994, she has acted in P. Vasu's Sethupathi IPS as a school teacher, co-starring Vijayakanth.^[26] In her follow-up movie again with Rajinikanth, in Suresh Krissna's Veera. She was chosen to play Devi, reprising her role from Allari Mogudu (1992).^[27] Meena again dazzled. It was a blockbuster and completed 150-day run at the box office.^[28] followed by movies as Thai Maaman and Rajakumaran. Her next venture was K. S. Ravikumar's Nattamai, alongside Sarathkumar, The film became a blockbuster and achieved cult status. It was followed by Punya Bhoomi Naa Desam, Anga Rakshakudu, Bhale Pellam and Bobbili Simham.

She appeared in her Kannada debut Putnanja, opposite Ravichandran. and she was part of many successful movies Like Swathi Muthu, Simhadriya Simha, My Autograph, etc. She has worked with Ravichandran, Vishuvardhan, Sudeep in Kannada Cinema.

Meena has paired opposite to various star actors across languages. She has acted with Rajinikanth, Dr. Kamal Haasan, Dr. Mohanlal, Dr. Mammootty, Chiranjeevi, Dr. Vishnuvardhan, Krishna, Balakrishna, Ravichandran, Vijayakanth, Nagarjuna, Venkatesh, Vijay, Ajith Kumar, Sathyaraj, Prabhu Deva, Sarathkumar, K. Bhagyaraj, Jayaram, Suresh Gopi, Prashanth, Harish Kumar, Kichcha Sudeep, Raviteja. She had hits with the films Nattamai film directed by K. S. Ravikumar. The film was successful 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. Telugu audience remembers her for a variety of roles that called for mature acting that seemed tailor-made for her. The peppy girl who wins over her unrelenting grandfather with her endearing ways in Seetharamaiah Gari Manavaralu, the protected sister in Chanti, the bold housewife in Sundarakanda, the renowned poet and devotee ‘Tarigonda Vengamamba’. The combo of Victory Venkatesh and Meena is said to be one of the most successful combinations in Tollywood. They have 5 Blockbuster hits to their credit.^[29] In 2000, her role in Rhythm (2000) won her Best Actress at the Cinema Express Awards.

But the film that brought her true recognition and fame was Muthu, one of Rajini's biggest hits. The movie was successful across Japan. Ranganayaki as the talkative, cheeky street theatre actress won the hearts of the 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.^{[citation needed]}

She was part of an item dance number in one of Vijay's movies Shahjahan in 2001 after the director and producer recommended it.

Recent roles

Meena's releases in 2009 were Mariyadhai with Vijayakanth, directed by Vikraman. Katha, Samvidhanam: Kunchacko with Sreenivasan.^[30] She played in Telugu as Saint Vengamamba in Tarigonda Vengamamba, directed by Uday Bhaskar.^[31]

In 2011, she played the role of Narain's sister in the film Thambikottai. Her role in this movie was very good and well accepted.^[32][33][34]

After marriage, she paired with Ramesh Aravind in the film Hendtheera Darbar, which was a remake of Varavu Ettana Selavu Pathana

In 2012, Udaya Bhaskar made a film titled Sri Vasavi Vaibhavam Telugu devotional film. Meena playing as a Goddess in the film. This marks her re-entry to films after a long period.^[35]

She has agreed to star in an ad film with Prakash Raj. The commercial is being directed by producer Siva. She had played a cameo in J.K. Bharavi's Jagadguru Adi Shankara-devotional film lastly and did justice to her roles.^[36] [37]

After a brief hiatus, Meena returned to Malayalam cinema and will be seen playing the role of wife to Mohanlal in Drishyam (2013). Directed by Jeethu Joseph, she will be portraying the role of a mother of two daughters, of which the elder is pursuing her plus two. The actress will also be seen in Pramod Payyanur's Balyakalasakhi alongside Mammootty. The actress would be playing Drishyam's remake in Telugu with Venkatesh.^[38] Meena was in Allari Naresh's movie Mama Manchu Alludu Kanchu.^[39][40]

Other work

Music composing

Meena has been a playback singer for some albums with actor Manoj. Meena has composed music and sung and recorded two pop albums, 16 Vayathinile, and Kadhalism, which she began recording in 2001 with actor Vikram.^[41][42] Meena has been a playback singer in the music of D. Imman in the movie sena and the song is "Indru intha kalayil en nenjil echo aachu", a super hit song.

Dubbing

Meena dubbed for Cheran's movie Pokkisham. Meena has rendered voice for Padmapriya Janakiraman.^[43]

Personal life

Meena married Vidyasagar, a Bangalore-based software engineer, on 12 July 2009 at Arya Vysya Samaj Kalyana Mandapam.^[6] The couple later visited Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, Andhra Pradesh. The couple came 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 who made her acting debut at the age of 5 in the film Theri (2016).^[44] Vidyasagar died on 28 June 2022 due to lung related ailments.^[45]

Filmography

Film

Key

Denotes films that have not yet been released

Year	Movie title	Role	Language	Notes
1982	Nenjangal	Kidnapped child	Tamil	Child artist
	Enkeyo Ketta Kural	Baby Meena	Tamil	Child artist
	Parvaiyin Marupakkam	Geetha	Tamil	Child artist
	Theerpugal Thiruththapadalam	Priya	Tamil	Child artist
1983	Thandikkapatta Niyayangal	Playful child	Tamil	Child artist
	Sumangali	Doll-selling girl	Tamil	Child artist
	Siripuram Monagadu	Baby Meena	Telugu	Child artist
1984	Thiruppam	Baby Meena	Tamil	Child artist
	Illalu Priyuralu	Baby Meena	Telugu	Child artist
	Yaadgar	Baby Meena	Hindi	Child artist
	Bava Maradallu	Baby Meena	Telugu	Child artist
	Kode Trachu		Telugu	Child artist
	Anbulla Rajinikanth	Rosy	Tamil	Child artist
	Oru Kochukatha Aarum Parayatha Katha	Rajani	Malayalam	Child artist
	Manasariyathe	Minimol	Malayalam	Child artist
1985	Panneer Nadhigal		Tamil	Child artist
	Uyire Unakkaga	young Vijayanirmala Devi	Tamil	Child artist
	Rendu Rella Aaru	Baby Meena	Telugu	Child artist
	Khooni	Baby Meena	Telugu	Child artist
1986	Sirivennela	Baby Meena	Telugu	Child artist
	Lakshmi Vanthachu	Playful child	Tamil	Child artist
1990	Kartavyam	Karuna	Telugu
	Navayugam	Sumathi	Telugu	Debut as heroine
	Prajala Manishi		Telugu
	Oru Pudhiya Kadhai	Maha	Tamil
1991	Seetharamayya Gari Manavaralu	Seetha	Telugu
	En Rasavin Manasile	Cholaiamma	Tamil
	Indra Bhavanam		Telugu
	Idhaya Oonjal	Chithra	Tamil
	Idhaya Vaasal	Vaani	Tamil
	Jagannatakam	Jhansi	Telugu
	Sandhwanam	Rajalakshmi	Malayalam
	Chengalva Pudanda		Telugu
1992	Chanti	Nandini	Telugu
	Parda Hai Parda	Maya	Hindi
	Allari Pilla	Nandini	Telugu
	Allari Mogudu	Neelambari	Telugu
	Sundarakanda	Nanchari	Telugu
	President Gari Pellam	Swapna	Telugu
	Pellam Chepte Vinali	Geetha	Telugu
	Bangaru Maama	Kasthuri	Telugu
	Moratodu Naa Mogudu		Telugu
	Aswamedham	Dr. Bharati	Telugu
1993	Muta Mesthri	Buchamma	Telugu
	Yejaman	Vaitheeswari Vaanavaraayan	Tamil
	Abbaigaru	Sudha	Telugu
	Allari Alludu	Sandhya	Telugu
	Rajeswari Kalyanam	Rajeshwari	Telugu
	Konguchatu Krishnadu		Telugu
1994	Sethupathi IPS	Chandramathi	Tamil
	Veera	Devayanai	Tamil
	Thai Maaman	Meena	Tamil
	Rajakumaran	Selvi	Tamil
	Nattamai	Meena	Tamil
	Punya Bhoomi Naa Desam	Swathi	Telugu
	Anga Rakshakudu	Meenu	Telugu
	Bhale Pellam	Bharathi	Telugu
	Bobbili Simham	Venkatalakshmi	Telugu
1995	Maaman Magal	Priya	Tamil
	Oru Oorla Oru Rajakumari	Lakshmi Prabha	Tamil
	Marumagan	Manjula	Tamil
	Coolie	Vimala	Tamil
	Seral Irumboraiyin Tamil Kadhal		Tamil
	Nadodi Mannan	Meenakshi, Priya	Tamil
	Muthu	Ranganayaki	Tamil
	Aalu Magalu		Telugu
	Chilakapachcha Kaapuram	Radha	Telugu
	Putnanja	Rose	Kannada
1996	Sengottai	Meena	Tamil
	Avvai Shanmugi	Janaki	Tamil
1997	Vallal	Annam	Tamil
	Mommaga		Kannada
	Cheluva	Meena	Kannada
	Porkkaalam	Maragatham	Tamil
	Pasamulla Pandiyare	Vellayamma	Tamil
	Bharathi Kannamma	Kannamma	Tamil
	Varnapakittu	Sandra, Alina	Malayalam
	Muddula Mogudu	Sirisha	Telugu
	Panjaram		Telugu
1998	Ulavuthurai	Meena	Tamil
	Naam Iruvar Nammaku Iruvar	Indu	Tamil
	Kusruthi Kuruppu	Meera	Malayalam
	Gillikajjalu	Satya bhama	Telugu
	Suryavamsam	Swapna	Telugu
	Harichandra	Nandhini	Tamil
1999	Sneham Kosam	Prabhavati	Telugu
	Periyanna	Shenbagam	Tamil
	Iraniyan	Ponni	Tamil
	Anandha Poongatre	Meenakshi	Tamil
	Olympiyan Anthony Adam	Angel	Malayalam
	Friends	Padmini	Malayalam
	Krishna Babu	Rama	Telugu
	Bobbili Vamsham		Telugu
	Velugu Needalu		Telugu
	Unnaruge Naan Irundhal	Mahalakshimi (Maha)	Tamil
	Manam Virumbuthe Unnai	Priya	Tamil
2000	Vanathai Pola	Gowri Muthu	Tamil
	Pape Naa Pranam	Priya	Telugu
	Palayathu Amman	Palayathu Amman	Tamil
	Vetri Kodi Kattu	Valli Muthuraman	Tamil
	Doubles	Meena	Tamil
	Rhythm	Chitra	Tamil
	Maayi	Bhuvaneswari	Tamil
	Dreams	Nirmala Mathan	Malayalam
	Maa Annayya	Wife	Telugu
	Thenali	Meena (herself)	Tamil	Special appearance
	Anbudan	Shanthi	Tamil	Guest appearance
2001	Rishi	Indu	Tamil
	Citizen	Sevali	Tamil
	Sri Manjunatha	Goddess Parvathi	Kannada Telugu
	Rakshasa Rajav	Meera	Malayalam
	Ammayi Kosam	Anjali	Telugu
	Shahjahan	Meena	Tamil	Special appearance
	Grama Devathe	Angala Parameswari	Kannada
2002	Angala Parameswari	Angala Parameswari Amman	Tamil
	Dhaya	Thulasi	Tamil
	Simhadriya Simha		Kannada
	Devan	Uma	Tamil
	Ivan	Meena Kumari	Tamil
	Namma Veetu Kalyanam	Meena	Tamil
	Padai Veetu Amman	Padai Veetu Amman, Muthu Maariamman	Tamil
	Villain	Thangam	Tamil
2003	Paarai	Mallika	Tamil
	Swathi Muthu	Lalitha	Kannada
	Mr. Brahmachari	Ganga	Malayalam
	Simhachalam	Simhachalam's wife	Telugu
	Game for Love		Kannada
2004	Shock	Malini	Tamil
	Puttintiki Ra Chelli	Wife	Telugu
	Anbu Sagotharan		Tamil
	Bharatasimha Reddy	Devudayya's wife	Telugu
	Swamy		Telugu
	Gowdru	Parvati	Kannada	Guest appearance
	Aalukkoru Aasai	Eshwari	Tamil
	Natturajavu	Maya	Malayalam
2005	Mahasadhvi Mallamma	Mallamma	Kannada
	Kannamma	Kannamma	Tamil
	Udayananu Tharam	Madhumathi Udayabhanu	Malayalam
	Chandrolsavam	Indulekha	Malayalam
2006	My Autograph	Divya	Kannada
	Karutha Pakshikal	Suvarnna	Malayalam
2007	Kadha Parayumbol	Sridevi Balan	Malayalam
	Black Cat	Meenakshi	Malayalam
2008	Kuselan	Sridevi Balakrishnan	Tamil
	Kathanayakudu	Sreedevi	Telugu
	Magic Lamp	Anupama	Malayalam
2009	Mariyadhai	Radha	Tamil
	Katha, Samvidhanam: Kunchacko	Ann Mary	Malayalam
	Vengamamba	Tarigonda Vengamamba	Telugu
2010	Dasanna	Malli	Telugu
	Hendtheer Darbar	Radha	Kannada
2011	Thambikottai	Shanmugapriya	Tamil
2012	Sri Vasavi Vaibhavam		Telugu
2013	Sri Jagadguru Aadi Sankara	Gangadevi	Telugu
	Drishyam	Rani George	Malayalam
2014	Balyakalasakhi	Majeed's mother	Malayalam
	Drushyam	Jyothi	Telugu
2015	Mama Manchu Alludu Kanchu	Suryakantham	Telugu
2017	Katha Veendum Parayumbol	Sridevi Balan	Malayalam
	Munthirivallikal Thalirkkumbol	Annyamma	Malayalam
2018	Saakshyam	Viswa's mother	Telugu
2020	Shylock	Lakshmi Ayyanar	Malayalam
2021	Drishyam 2	Rani George	Malayalam	[46]
	Annaatthe	Mangayarkarasi	Tamil
	Drushyam 2	Jyothi	Telugu
2022	Bro Daddy	Annamma	Malayalam	OTT release Disney+ Hotstar
	Son of India	Dakshayani	Telugu
	Rowdy Baby	TBA	Tamil	Filming [47]

Television