Malavika Avinash

Malavika Avinash is an Indian actress, television personality and politician who is the current State spokesperson for Bharatiya Janata Party of Karnataka. She is known for her work in Kannada and Tamil films. She hosted Baduku Jataka Bandi, a television show that aired on Zee Kannada.[1] She is in the ensemble cast in the Kannada movie K.G.F: Chapter 1.

Malavika Avinash
Personal details
BornChennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Political partyBharatiya Janata Party, Karnataka
(2013–present)
Spouse(s)
(
m. 2001)
ChildrenGaalav
Alma materBangalore University
OccupationActress, politician

Early life

Malavika was born on 28 January 1976, in a Tamil family to N. Ganesan. Her father was a banker and writer, and her mother, Savithri, a vocalist and dancer. She was initiated into classical arts under the tutelage of Padmashree Leela Samson in Bharatanatyam and Pandit Partho Das on the sitar. G.V. Iyer spotted her at a dance performance as Krishna and cast her as Krishna in his Krishnavataar. She then played a lead role as a princess in Prema Karanth's Panorama children's film Nakkala Rajakumari.

She completed her Bachelor of Law at Bangalore University and was awarded 3rd rank.[2]

She married actor Avinash.[3] They have a son named Gaalav.

Career

Malavika's stint as a child artist was followed by her entry into cinema as the heroine in award-winning Malayalam films for Lenin Rajendran and popular Kannada films. Television however, turned out to be the medium that adopted her. Her earlier television series were for Girish Karnad and Ashutosh Gowariker in Hindi, Ashok Naidu in Kannada and Dinesh Baboo in Malayalam. Her performance in Mayamruga provided her iconic status among Kannada television viewers. Mayamruga's success caught the eye of K. Balachander, who then chose to usher her into Tamil cinema world with Anni, where Malavika played the protagonist Anni.

Malavika's Tamil films include Raji in Rajarajeshwari and K. Balachander's Nilavai Pidippom where she portrayed a middle-class working woman, Pudhuyugam, Pralayam in "Comedy Colony" again under her mentor Balachander. She played Madurai Thilaka in Arasi and Muththazhagi in Chellamey. She played key roles in Tamil films.[4]

Another milestone was her portrayal of Nanjamma, the protagonist in Girish Kasaravalli's film of S.L. Bhyrappa's celebrated novel, Gruha Banga. In her decade of television acting, Malavika played roles in Tamil, Kannada and Hindi productions including cross-over film Cyanide, in which Malavika's portrayal of Shubha won her critical acclaim. Apart from Manvantara for T.N.Seetharam, Malavika swayed the Kannada audiences with her cult figure like character of Madhavi Patel, IPS, in his Muktha.

Agni, a talk show that Malavika hosted on E-TV Kannada was followed by Baduku Jataka Bandi. In the latter, Malavika deals with the problems of individuals, thereby providing an Alternate Dispute Resolution forum for resolving family issues. She also discusses social issues.[5] She was a housemate in Bigg Boss Kannada Season 4.

In 2017, she played a judge in Ilayathalapathy Vijay's movie Bairavaa. She also starred in the current highest grossing Kannada film K.G.F: Chapter 1 as well as the highly acclaimed Tamil movie Kaithi, all 3 which have grossed more than 100 crores at the box office.


Journalism

Malavika participated in and won many international moot courts as a student, served as editor of her college journal, joined Madhyam, a development communications organization, served as assistant-editors of Madhyam journal, a legal column for the Times of India and UDAYAVANI for two years, her "Malavika Pakkam" column in Kumudam, a Tamil weekly, an Agony aunt column for Kumudam and more recently, 'Malavika order', a weekly column in Vijaya Karnataka. Malavika served as head of programming at Zee Kannada.

Dance

Malavika's association with Bharatanatyam commenced at age five when her mother introduced it to her. She trained under M. R. Krishnamurthy of Kalakshetra, followed by advanced tutelage under Padmashri Leela Samson in Delhi. She was a recipient of the CCERT (a unit of the Culture Ministry) scholarship for Bharatanatyam. She pursued dance along with her dancer sister, an alumnus of Kalakshetra, Ranjani Ganesan Ramesh. As a duo they performed at cultural centres in India and abroad, including Hampi festival, Pattadakkal festival, Khujrajo festival, Chidambaram Natyanjali and Uttara Chidambaram. Together, they organise an annual dance festival called Arudhra at Bangalore.

Malavika served as a judge on TV dance shows and hosted Takadhimithaa, a game show dedicated to Bharatanatyam on JayaTV politics

Malavika Avinash entered politics campaigning for BJP leader Sushma Swaraj in Bellary. She is a member of the BJP's Mahila Morcha.[6][7][8] She joined Bharatiya Janata Party in September 2013[9] and was appointed one of its co-spokespersons in February 2014.[10]

Controversy

Sanitary pad controversy

Goods and Service Tax applied on sanitary napkins when items like bangles and sindhoor were exempted from the new tax system by the ruling Bhartiya Janata Party has come under criticism from women and men.[11] On July 2017, Malavika defended the BJP and said that sanitary pads are not required as Multi-national corporations have been dumping sanitary pads in India since it was rejected by developed countries, Cloth is hygienic in contrast to sanitary pads.[12] The defense of Malavika on the decision of her party to enforce GST on sanitary pads provoked a lot of backlash from people.[13]

Filmography
Key
Denotes films that have not yet been released
Year Film Role Language Notes
1988KrishnaavataarKannada
1989Nakkala RajakumariRajakumariKannada
1992Daivathinte VikrithikalElsieMalayalam
1993 JanamReshmaMalayalam
1995KalyanothsavaRashmiKannada
1995SamaraSandhyaKannada
1995RavithejaTejaKannada
2003Jay JayJamuna's SisterTamil
2005AaruNirmalaTamil
2006CyanideShubhaKannada
2006DishyumMalar (Cinthya's mother)Tamil
2006AathiRamachandra's WifeTamil
2006Kalvanin KadhaliHaritha's sister-in-lawTamil
2008JayamkondaanChandrikaTamil
2010Irandu MugamThilakavathyTamil
2011Vanthaan VendraanArjun and Ramana's motherTamil
2012MunjaneManu's motherKannadaNominated—SIIMA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role
2012DashamukhaMadhuriKannada
2012DramaGayathriKannada
2012Krantiveera Sangolli RayannaGoddessKannada
2012Yaare KoogadaliKumara's StepmotherKannada
2013MynaRevathiKannada
2013KarodpathiKannada
2014KalyanamasthuKannada
2014AdyakshaKannada
2014Mr. and Mrs. RamachariSudhaKannadaIIFA Utsavam Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Kannada)
Nominated—Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress – Kannada
2015Ring RoadKannada
2016Mukunda MurariTV InterviewerKannada
2016ShivalingaPolice commissionerKannada
2017BairavaaJudgeTamil
2018K.G.F: Chapter 1Deepa HegdeKannada
2018 David Kannada
2019BoomerangSiva's motherTamil
2019KaithiNaliniTamil
2020K.G.F: Chapter 2Deepa HedgeKannada

Television career
YearTitleRoleLanguageDirectorNote(s)Ref.
1998–2000MayamrugaMalavikaKannadaT. N. Seetharam
2001–2003ManvantaraGargiKannadaT. N. Seetharam
2001–2003GrihabhangaNanjammaKannadaGirish Kasaravalli
2001–2003AnniAngayarkkaniTamilK. Balachander
2004–2006MuktaSP Madhavi PatelKannadaT. N. Seetharam[14]
2004–2006Nilavai PidippomTamilK. Balachander
2004–2006Chidhambara RagasiyamThulasiTamilNagareplaced by Devadarshini
2004–2006Raja RajeshwariRajiTamilreplaced by Abitha
2008–2009Comedy ColonyTamil
2008–2009ArasiMadurai ThilakavathyTamilSamuthirakhani
2009–2013ChellameyMuthazhagiTamilO. N. Rathnam
2010–2011Baduku Jataka BandiHostKannada
2013–2014MahaparvaJudge in few episodesKannadaT. N. Seetharam
2015Aradirali BelakuHostKannada
2016–2017Bigg Boss KannadaHerselfKannadaAs contestant; season 4[15]
2019 Magalu Janaki Sheela Bhushan Kannada T. N. Seetharam [16]

Awards and honours
  1. Best Actress award given by the Tamil Nadu government
  2. Kalaimamani award for her achievements as an actress
  3. Aryabhata award
  4. Kempegowda award

References
  1. "TV star Malavika Avinash Zee head". Oneindia.in. 6 September 2006.
  2. "BJP's versatile spokespersons". The Hindu. 7 February 2014. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  3. "From reel love to real love". Times of India.
  4. "I am born to be CM". Vijay Times.
  5. "Malavika back to TV". Softlayer.com.
  6. "Malavika – Another Glam Doll to Join Janata Dal (S)". Daiji World.
  7. "Malavika comes to JDS". IndiaGlitz.com.
  8. "Actress Malavika Avinash appointed as new Secretary for JDS" (in Malayalam). OneIndia.in.
  9. "Actor Malavika joins BJP". The Hindu. 28 September 2013. Retrieved 18 October 2013.
  10. "Karnataka BJP gets 4 women co-spokespersons". The Hindu. 6 February 2014. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  11. N, Prathibha; N, akumarPrathibha; Jul 10, akumar / Updated:; 2017; Ist, 04:00. "Progress and support, not tax". Bangalore Mirror. Retrieved 21 July 2020.CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. "GST: Politics behind sanitary napkins and PERIODS". Asianet News Network Pvt Ltd. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  13. NewsKarnataka. "Malavika's defence over GST on sanitary pads irks netizens". NewsKarnataka. Retrieved 21 July 2020.
  14. "Small-screen "Anni" thinks big". The Hindu.
  15. K., Bhumika (24 December 2016). "Who is watching who?". The Hindu. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  16. "Malavika Avinash is back on television as advocate - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
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