Nithya Menen


Nithya Menen is an Indian actress and singer, who appears in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi films. She is recipient of three Filmfare Awards for the Telugu films Gunde Jaari Gallanthayyinde, Malli Malli Idi Rani Roju and the Tamil film Mersal.
After making her acting debut as a child artist in the 1998 English film The Monkey Who Knew Too Much, Menen started her acting career by playing a supporting role in the Kannada film 7 O' Clock, which released in 2006. She made her debut in leading roles in Malayalam with Akasha Gopuram, in Telugu with Ala Modalaindi and in Tamil with 180. In 2019, she made her Bollywood debut with Mission Mangal.

Early life

Nithya Menen was born in Banashankari, Bangalore to Malayali parents. She studied journalism at the Manipal University. She once said in an interview that she never wished to become an actress but a journalist, but ultimately found journalism unappealing, so she pivoted to filmmaking, and enrolled in a cinematography course at the Film and Television Institute of India at Pune. During the school's entrance exam, she met B. V. Nandini Reddy, who convinced Menen to take up acting. Reddy would later turn director and sign Menen for a lead role in her first Telugu film. Even though Menen's mother tongue is Malayalam, she can speak many South Indian languages.

Career

1998–2010

Menen appeared first on screen as a child artist when she was eight in the Indian English language film, The Monkey Who Knew Too Much, playing the younger sister to Tabu's character. In 2006, she started her acting career in a supporting role with the Kannada film 7 O' Clock directed by Kannada's top cinematographer Santosh Rai Pataje. The 2008 off-beat film Aakasha Gopuram, directed by National Film Award-winning director K. P. Kumaran, marked her Malayalam debut in leading role in which she was paired with Mohanlal. She was in the midst of her 12th class exams when she was offered the role, after Mohanlal had spotted her on the front cover of a tourism magazine, Stark World Kerala. Her performance was well received, with critics writing that she shows "sparkle in her debut venture" and "makes her entry in an impressive role", though the film, based on the Norwegian play The Master Builder, got mixed reviews and was a financial failure. She next made a comeback into Kannada films with the super hit film Josh. She played a supporting role in the film, which received rave reviews, and became a commercial success as well, with her performance garnering her a nomination in the Best Supporting Actress category at the 57th Filmfare Awards South.

2011: Telugu debut and breakthrough

In 2011, her first release was Nandini Reddy's romantic comedy Ala Modalaindi, which was Menen's maiden Telugu venture as well. The film opened to favourable reviews by critics and turned out to become a sleeper hit, while Menen received critical praise for her performance. Idlebrains Jeevi in his review cited that she "epitomized Nitya character with her fabulous performance", "looks beautiful in all kinds of dresses" and was "the best debut in recent years of Telugu cinema after Samantha in YMC", while another critic wrote that she was a "charming find" and "...quite the Genelia replacement that our cinema so badly needs right now." She eventually won the Nandi Award for Best Actress for her performance and received a nomination for Filmfare Award for Best Actress at the 59th Filmfare Awards South. Further more, she also sang two songs for the soundtrack album of the film, tuned by Kalyani Malik. Nandini Reddy, later, went on to describe Menen as "the discovery of the decade". Following Ala Modalaindi, she starred in Santosh Sivan's historical fiction Urumi as part of an ensemble cast. She portrayed a Chirakkal princess named Bala, playing the love interest of Prabhu Deva's character, which gained positive remarks, with a Sify review claiming that she "looks pretty and is a scene stealer". Menen quoted that much of her character was based on "Santosh's perception of who I am", with Sivan stating that he had written that role for her and that only she could play it. She received a nomination for Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress at the 59th Filmfare Awards South She next appeared in ad-filmmaker Jayendra's bilingual venture 180/Nootrenbadhu, made and released in Tamil and Telugu, in which she played a photo journalist named Vidhya. She described the character as "bubbly, full of life, nosey, wide-eyed and innocent in life" and to be similar to herself. Later the year, she was seen in Sibi Malayil's Violin in Malayalam and the Gautham Menon-produced Veppam in Tamil.

2012: Recognition

Her first 2012 release was the Telugu romance film Ishq with Nitin Reddy. She received the CineMAA Award for Best Actress while received best actress nomination at the same event and at the SIIMA Awards. She acted in Karmayogi, a Malayalam adaptation of Shakespeare's Hamlet. For the Kannada film Aidondla Aidu she had sung and also choreographed one of the songs, titled "Payasa". She was seen in two Malayalam projects, T. K. Rajeev Kumar's Thalsamayam Oru Penkutty, in which she portrayed a village woman whose daily life is filmed and broadcast as a reality show for a month, and ''Ustad Hotel directed by Anwar Rasheed.

2013–2015: Critical acclaim

In 2013, she starred in three Telugu films, Okkadine, Jabardasth and Gunde Jaari Gallanthayyinde and one Kannada movie Mynaa. She played a character with two shades in Gunde Jaari Gallanthayyinde and she dubbed for her as well as for the character of her co-star Isha Talwar. For this movie, she received her first Filmfare Award for Best Telugu Actress at the 61st Filmfare Awards South. In 2014, she made a cameo in the Malayalam movie Bangalore Days, which became the highest grosser of that year. Her Kannada film Mynaa which won the Filmfare Award for Best Film – Kannada in which she plays a character of a physically challenged girl, became a huge blockbuster hit completing 100 days in many centers across Karnataka and her performance was well praised by the critics. She has paired up with Sharwanand for the 2015 Telugu movie Malli Malli Idi Rani Roju. Her performance was well praised by the critics eventually receiving her Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress South, Nandi Special Jury Award and also receiving her second nomination at Filmfare. With this Menen became the first Telugu actress ever to win Critics Award & the Best Actress Award at Filmfare. She did a minor role in the film S/O Satyamurthy, directed by Trivikram'. She appeared opposite Dulquer Salmaan in two films in 2015, 100 Days of Love, a romantic Malayalam film and OK Kanmani, a Tamil film directed by Mani Ratnam. Dulquer and Menen's on-screen chemistry was praised in the reviews of both films. For OK Kanmani, she received her first Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actress nomination.

2016–2020

In 2016, she starred in three Tamil films, 24 opposite Suriya was opened to high critical acclaim, with critics praising her screen presence and garnered her a Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress – Tamil nomination at 64th Filmfare Awards South, Another K. S. Ravikumar's bilingual project titled Kotigobba 2 opposite Sudeep while both versions opened to positive reviews, Kannada version became Blockbuster and Tamil version turned out to be a sleeper hit at Box Office. later she starred opposite Vikram in a SciFi thriller Iru Mugan in which she had a limited screen presence. In Telugu she starred in two films, okka Ammayi Thappa opposite Sundeep Kishan opened to negative reviews and tanked at box office, Followed by Janatha Garage opposite Jr. NTR opened to positive reviews, though her role is limited but brought raves from critics and latter was commercially successful at box office.
In 2017, Her only release was a Tamil film Mersal opposite Vijay opened to critical Acclaim with praising portrayal of her character "Aishwarya Vetrimaran" as a loyal wife by critics and Audience alike and the film turned out be a Blockbuster at the box office and garnered her a Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress – Tamil at 65th Filmfare Awards South.
In 2018, her first release was Nani's Production venture an anthology psychological thriller Awe In which she played one of the couple alongside Eesha Rebba who try to get approval of their lesbian relationship from latter's parents. Later the film was opened to unanimous critical acclaim with critics praising menen's performance as screen lighting with a brief and impactful role.
Her next release was VK Prakash's Praana which marks her comeback to Malayalam industry after 2015's romantic flick 100 days of love.
She made her Hindi debut with Mission Mangal alongside Akshay Kumar.

Filmography

;Actress
Denotes films that have not yet been released

YearFilmRoleLanguageNotes
1998The Monkey Who Knew Too MuchYounger sister to TabuIndian Englishdebut as a child artist
2006Seven O' ClockAnuKannadadebut in supporting role
2008Akasha GopuramHilda VargheseMalayalamdebut in lead role
2009JoshMeeraKannada
2009VellathoovalJiyaMalayalam
2009Kerala CafeNithyaMalayalam
2009Angel JohnSofiaMalayalam
2010ApoorvaragamNancyMalayalam
2010AnwarAsnaMalayalam
2011Ala ModalaindiNithyaTelugu
2011UrumiChirakkal BalaMalayalam
2011180 / NootrenbadhuVidyaTamil/Telugu
2011ViolinAngelMalayalam
2011VeppamRevathyTamil
2011Aidondla AiduGowriKannada
2011MakaramanjuModelMalayalam
2012IshqPriyaTelugu
2012Thalsamayam Oru PenkuttyManjula AyyapanMalayalam
2012KarmayogiMoonumaniMalayalam
2012Doctor Innocent AanuAnnaMalayalamSpecial appearance
2012Bachelor PartyNeethuMalayalam
2012Ustad HotelShahanaMalayalam
2012PoppinsAmmuMalayalam
2013OkkadineShailajaTelugu
2013JabardasthSaraswatiTelugu
2013MynaMynaKannada
2013Gunde Jaari GallanthayyindeShravaniTelugu
2014Malini 22 PalayamkottaiMaliniTamil
2014Bangalore DaysNatasha FrancisMalayalamCameo appearance
2015Malli Malli Idi Rani RojuNaziraTelugu
2015JK Enum Nanbanin Vaazhkai / Rajadhi RajaNithyaTamil/Telugu
2015100 Days of LoveSheelaMalayalam
2015S/O SatyamurthyValliTelugu
2015Kanchana 2GangaTamil
2015O Kadhal KanmaniTara KalingarayanTamil
2015RudramadeviMuktambaTelugu
201624PriyaTamil
2016Okka Ammayi ThappaMango/ SatyabhamaTelugu
2016Kotigobba 2/Mudinja Ivana PudiSubhashini/ShubhasreeKannada/Tamil
2016Janatha GarageAnuTelugu
2016Iru MuganAyushiTamil
2017MersalAishwarya VetrimaaranTamil
2018AweKrishnaveniTelugu
2018Geetha GovindamNithyaTeluguSpecial appearance
2019NTR KathanayakuduSavitriTeluguSpecial appearance
2019PraanaTara AnuradhaMalayalam
2019Mission MangalVarsha PillaiHindi
2020PsychoKamala Das IPSTamil
2020KolaambiArundhatiMalayalamPost-Production

;Dubbing artist
YearFilmRoleLanguageNotes
2013Gunde Jaari GallanthayyindeShrutiTeluguDubbing Voice

Web series


YearSeriesRoleLanguageNotes
2020Abha ShabarwalHindiAmazon Prime Video

Discography

Awards and nominations

YearAwardCategoryFilmResult
2009Filmfare Awards SouthBest Supporting Actress – KannadaJosh
2011Filmfare Awards SouthBest Supporting Actress – MalayalamUrumi
2011Filmfare Awards SouthBest Actress – TeluguAla Modalaindi
2011Filmfare Awards SouthBest Female Playback Singer – Telugu Ala Modalaindi
20111st South Indian International Movie AwardsBest Female Debutant – TeluguAla Modalaindi
20111st South Indian International Movie AwardsBest Female Playback Singer – TeluguAla Modalaindi
2011Nandi AwardsBest ActressAla Modalaindi
2011Hyderabad Times Film AwardsPromising Newcomer FemaleAla Modalaindi
2011Ugadi Puraskar AwardsBest ActressAla Modalaindi
2011Vijay AwardsBest ActressNootrenbandhu
2012CineMAA AwardsBest Actress Ishq
20122nd South Indian International Movie AwardsRising Star of South Indian Cinema –
2013Filmfare Awards SouthBest Actress – TeluguGunde Jaari Gallanthayyinde
20133rd South Indian International Movie AwardsBest Actress – TeluguGunde Jaari Gallanthayyinde
2013Vanitha Film AwardsBest Pair Ustad Hotel
2014Vijay AwardsBest ActressMalini 22 Palayamkottai
2015Filmfare Awards SouthBest Actress – TeluguMalli Malli Idi Rani Roju
2015Filmfare Awards SouthBest Actress – Telugu Malli Malli Idi Rani Roju
20155th South Indian International Movie AwardsBest Actress – TeluguMalli Malli Idi Rani Roju
20151st IIFA Utsavam AwardsBest Actress – TeluguMalli Malli Idi Rani Roju
2015Nandi AwardsSpecial Jury AwardMalli Malli Idi Rani Roju
2015Filmfare Awards SouthBest Actress – TamilOK Kanmani
20155th South Indian International Movie AwardsBest Actress – TamilOK Kanmani
20155th South Indian International Movie AwardsBest Actress – Tamil OK Kanmani
20155th South Indian International Movie AwardsBest Supporting Actress – TeluguRudhramadevi
20155th South Indian International Movie AwardsBest Supporting Actress – TamilKanchana 2
20162nd IIFA Utsavam AwardsBest Supporting Actress – TeluguRudhramadevi
201764th Filmfare Awards SouthBest Supporting Actress – Tamil24
201865th Filmfare Awards SouthBest Supporting Actress – TamilMersal