Malavika Nair (Indian actress)


Malvika Nair is an Indian film actress who has appeared in Malayalam, Telugu and Tamil language films as actress. After appearing in minor supporting roles in several Malayalam films in 2012, she played her first lead role in the Malayalam film Black Butterfly. She was praised for her performance as a blind girl in her Tamil debut film Cuckoo and received numerous awards including Filmfare Award for Best Actress.

Early life

Malvika Nair was born in Delhi. Her family soon moved to Kerala and Malvika attended the Toc H Public School in Vyttila, Kochi, before returning to New Delhi, where she continued her studies at DAV school. As of November 2018, she is a second year student in St Francis College for Women, Begumpet, Hyderabad.

Career

While studying, she modelled, appearing in various advertisements as well as the Mohan Sithara-directed music video, "Rithukkal". She subsequently began to receive acting offers and eventually entered the film industry at age 13. In her first few films she had minor supporting or cameo roles; in Ustad Hotel, she made a brief appearance in a song sequence, while in Puthiya Theerangal and Karmayodha she played the daughter of Nedumudi Venu and Mohanlal's characters, respectively. Her first major role was as Reena, a house maid who faces an acid attack, in the Malayalam drama film Black Butterfly, a remake of Vazhakku Enn 18/9.
After watching her performance in Black Butterfly, Balaji Sakthivel, director of its original version, was impressed and recommended aspiring director Raju Murugan to cast her in his romantic drama film Cuckoo. She portrayed an independent blind girl in the film and prior to the shoot, attended a workshop where she interacted with blind people. Pairing alongside Dinesh, Malavika portrayed Sudhanthirakodi and won critical acclaim for her portrayal. Behindwoods noted her as "effectuated excellence", while Sify.com's review stated she was "superb" and that she "lives the role". Her performance was subsequently rewarded with the Filmfare Award for Best Actress, Vijay Award for Best Debut Actress as well as the SICA Award for Best Newcomer and the Vikatan Award for Best Actress. Prior to Cuckoo, she had a Malayalam release, Pakida, in which she portrayed a fifteen-year-old girl who is sold to a brothel by her own father.
The actress was next seen in the Telugu film, Yevade Subramanyam alongside Nani, with a critic noting she "shows a lot of spunk and comes up with a matured performance for a newcomer". Malavika's next release was the romantic drama, Kalyana Vaibhogame, opposite Naga Shourya. It was directed by B. V. Nandini Reddy and the film was praised and her role was well appreciated. Sify wrote that "Malavika Nair who wowed the audiences with her performance in Yevade Subramanyam shines again as modern independent minded girl. She steals the show in many scenes".
In 2018, she starred as Alamelu Gemini Ganeshan in the Savitri biopic, Mahanati, directed by Nag Ashwin, which was successful at the box-office ran of 100 days.

Filmography

YearTitleRoleLanguageNotes
2012Ustad HotelMoulavi's daughterMalayalam
2012KarmayodhaDiyaMalayalamCredited as Malavya
2012Puthiya TheerangalMinikkutty MalayalamCredited as Malavika Sai
2013Black ButterflyReenaMalayalamCredited as Malavika Sai
2014PakidaKaniMalayalamMalayalam debut as lead actress
2014CuckooSudhanthirakodiTamilTamil debut
2015Yevade SubramanyamAnandhiTelugu
2016Kalyana VaibhogameDivyaTelugu
2018MahanatiAlamelu Gemini GanesanTeluguBilingual film
2018Nadigaiyar ThilagamAlamelu Gemini GanesanTamilBilingual film
2018VijethaChaithraTelugu
2018TaxiwalaSisira BharadwajTelugu
2019Ninu Veedani Needanu NenePsychology studentTeluguCameo appearance
2020Orey Bujjiga TeluguPost- production
2020Arasiyalla Idhellam Saadharnamappa Tamilfilming

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryFilmResult
2015Vijay AwardsBest Debut ActressCuckoo
2015Filmfare Awards SouthBest Actress – TamilCuckoo
2015Ananda Vikatan Cinema AwardsBest ActressCuckoo
2015South Indian International Movie AwardsBest Debut Actress – TamilCuckoo
2016South Indian International Movie AwardsBest Debut Actress – TeluguYevade Subramanyam
2019Filmfare Awards SouthBest Supporting Actress – TeluguTaxiwaala