Shobana

Early life

Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai was born on March 21, 1970, into a Nair family in Kerala to Chandrakumar Pillai and Anandam Chandrakumar Pillai. She is the niece of the renowned Travancore sisters—Padmini, Lalitha and Ragini—who were celebrated for their expertise in classical Indian dance. Actor Vineeth and actress Parvathy Kurup are her cousins.

Career

Film career

Shobana made her debut as a child artist. In 1980, she won the Best Child Artiste Award for her role in the Tamil movie, Mangala Nayagi, a remake of the Hindi film Saajan Bina Suhagan.

She also starred in the Telugu film Bhakta Dhruva Markendaya in 1982, an acclaimed all children film made in both Tamil and Telugu. As an adult, she was introduced to the film industry through the Malayalam film April 18 (1984), by director Balachandra Menon. In the same year, she debuted in the Tamil film industry with Enakkul Oruvan (1984), directed by SP Muthuraman. She did come back to act in occasional Tamil films opposite Satyaraj (Mallu Vetti Minor, Vaathiyar Veetu Pillai), Bhagyaraj (Ithu Namma Aalu) and Vijayakanth (Ponmana Selvan, Engitta Mothathay) in the early 90s – these roles were generally glamorous in which Shobana generally acted as the beautiful, posh and haughty city girl who is eventually charmed by the village boy.

Her other major films include Rudraveena (1988), Kanamarayathu (1984) Ithiri Poove Chuvanna Poove, Yathra (1985), Anantaram (1987), Nadodikkattu (1987), Vellanakalude Nadu (1988), Idhu Namma Aalu (1988), Siva (1989), Innale (1990), Kalikkalam (1990), Thalapathi (1991), Pappayude Swantham Appoos (1992), Meleparambil Aanveedu (1993), Manichitrathazhu (1993), Thenmavin Kombath (1994), Minnaram (1994), Mazhayethum Munpe (1995), Hitler (1996), Agni Sakshi (1999), Dance like a Man (2003), Makalkku (2005), Thira (2013) and Varane Avashyamund (2020). From Aviduthe Pole Ivideyum to Upaharam, Shobana did sixteen movies in a single year, 1985. Shobana also acted in the Tamil period film Kochadaiiyaan (2014).

In Rudraveena (1988), alongside Chiranjeevi and Gemini Ganesan, she played classical dancer Lalitha Sivajyothi, who belongs to a lower caste and is denied entry into the temple. In Abhinandana (1988), she paired with Karthik, and essayed his love interest, who aspires to become a classical dancer. In Kokila (1990), she paired with Naresh, and In Alludugaru (1990) she starred opposite Mohan Babu and was a remake of Malayalam film Chithram. 1 April Viduthala and Rowdy Gari Pellam were other Telugu films in 1991.

Shobana won her first National Film Award for Best Actress in 1993 for her performance in AM Fazil's Manichitrathazhu. Her portrayal of Ganga Nakulan and alter-ego Nagavalli in the film was described by critics as "spell binding".

Following her National Award win in 1993, Shobana became highly selective about her films.

Classical dance career

Shobana is a Bharatanatyam dancer. She started her own dance school, "Kalipinya" in 1989 and got it registered in 1992.

She has worked on collaborative ventures with the likes of tabla maestro Zakir Hussain, Vikku Vinayakram and Mandolin Srinivas. Her recitals abroad include those at the World Malayalee convention, in the United States in 1985 and 1995, in Kuala Lumpur before the King and Queen of Malaysia, numerous cities in the United States, Europe, South East Asia and Australia. Shobana started performing in the Soorya Music & Dance festival organised by Soorya Krishnamoorthy from the year 1994.

In 1994, Shobana founded a school for classical dance Bharatanatyam in Chennai named Kalarpana.

Personal life

She remains unmarried and in 2011, adopted a daughter, becoming a single mother.

Filmography

Malayalam

Telugu

Tamil

Hindi

English

Kannada

Awards and recognitions

Titles and honours

Film awards

Television

References

References

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2. (21 March 2020). "Happy Birthday Shobana: Five movies of the actress from 'Manichithrathazhu' to 'Makalkku' that you should watch right away". The Times of India.
3. (29 December 2005). "I am an introvert, says Shobana". The Hindu.
4. (21 October 2019). "Beyond Bollywood: The biggest icons of the south film industry". Vogue.
5. (21 March 2018). "Shobhana, a never fading grace that blessed Malayalam cinema". The Times of India.
6. K. Jeshi. (31 March 2005). "Thinking actress". [[The Hindu]].
7. "In pics: Shobana dedicates her dance to 'Krishna'". CNN-IBN.
8. Padmanabhan, S.. (7 February 2020). "Shobana returns to cinema after seven years with Malayalam movie 'Varane Avashyamunde'". The Hindu.
9. (6 April 2005). "Metro Plus Bangalore / Personality : Thinking actress". [[The Hindu]].
10. (31 December 2008). "Shobana's mystical twist to an epic". Gulf News.
11. (28 April 2018). "Shobana: I don't feel bad if I don't act in a film, as long as people are making great films". The Times of India.
12. (5 November 2018). "Shobana extends her support for #MeToo movement". The Times of India.
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