Namitha

Namitha Vankawala is an Indian film actress who has predominantly been active in the South Indian film Industry.[2] She is currently a state executive member of the Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) in Tamil Nadu.[3]

Namitha
Namitha in a photoshoot
Born
Namitha Mukesh Vankawala

(1981-05-10) 10 May 1981[1]
Surat, Gujarat, India
OccupationActress, model
Years active2001–present
Political partyBharatiya Janata Party
Spouse(s)
Veerendra Chowdary
(
m. 2017)

Career

2001−2008

Starting her career as a beauty pageant contestant, Namitha was crowned Miss Surat during the year of 1998 at the age of 17. She went on to participate in the 2001 Miss India pageant and ended up as the third runner-up, while Celina Jaitley was crowned Miss India.[4] The publicity she garnered during the competition prompted her to move to Mumbai and subsequently she did a number of TV commercials such as Himani cream and hand soap, Arun Ice Creams, Manikchand Gutka, and Nile Herbal Shampoo early in her career. Unable to make a breakthrough into the Hindi film industry, she enrolled in an English Literature course and then considered returning to Surat but chose to later accept an invitation to audition for a Telugu film. After being selected, she consequently made her acting debut in Sreenu Vaitla's coming-of-age romantic film, Sontham (2002), where she played the love interest of two characters in a love triangle. Her next film, Saran's big budget action film Gemeni (2002) opposite Venkatesh, garnered her further attention and her portrayal of a Marwardi girl won critical acclaim. She had also briefly given herself the stagename of "Bhairavi" for the film, but later reverted to her original name.[5][6]

In the mid 2000s, she quickly became popular in Tamil language films with her mature look and tall frame prompting film makers to cast her opposite ageing actors such as Vijayakanth, Sathyaraj, Arjun, Parthiban, Sundar C and Sarathkumar.[7] She appeared in a series of commercial action films opposite such actors, including roles in Aai (2005), Chanakya (2005) and Aanai (2005). Likewise, she was regularly cast in comedy films with senior actors too, making appearances in Siddique's Engal Anna (2004) and six of Sakthi Chidambaram's comedy dramas. During the period, she appeared in her first Hindi film Love Ke Chakkar Mein, worked on a Kannda film titled Namitha I Love You and shot for an English film, Maya, which was later released in 2008 as Kamasutra Nights.[8] In 2007, she had the opportunity to work with two leading younger actors from Tamil cinema, respectively appearing with Vijay in the A. R. Rahman-musical Azhagiya Tamil Magan (2007) and Ajith Kumar in Vishnuvardhan's gangster film Billa (2007). By the end of the period, Namitha has developed a "cult following" in Tamil Nadu as a result of her glamorous appearances in films, with the media regularly looking to feature her in reports and Behindwoods.com labelled her "omnipotent and omnipresent".[9][10][11]

2009−present
Namitha in a photo shoot

However, by the turn of the decade, Namitha's popularity began to decline after several of her films failed to perform well and the South Indian film industry moved away from casting women in outright glamorous roles, a character that Namitha had become famed for performing. Film makers were also reluctant to cast Namitha opposite young male actors, as the older generation began to stop appearing in leading roles.[12][13] She was relegated to increasingly smaller roles and guest appearances, while the big-budget horror film, Jaganmohini (2009), where she played the title role performed poorly at the box office.[14] Likewise, she became engaged in disputes with her filmmakers, with the director of Azhagana Ponnuthan (2010), criticising the actress's lack of cooperation for the film's failure.[15][16] She briefly prioritized her work in Kannada films in the early 2010s, while several of her films endured production delays including Ilamai Oonjal (2016). After several years without any film releases, she announced plans of making a comeback in 2016 and has since notably appeared in Puli Murugan (2016) along with Mohanlal ,which is the Biggest Grossing Film in Malayalam Film Industry.[17]

In the media

In October 2010, there was an attempt to kidnap her by a fan at Trichy in Tamil Nadu.[18] In 2012, the actress was chosen by Tokyo TV, a Japanese media station, as the "most beautiful person" in India.[19] Namitha has been an advocate of safe driving and in June 2012, she and Tamil actor Bharat promoted awareness of safe driving.[20]

Politics

In 2019, Namitha along with actor Radha Ravi joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of party president J. P. Nadda in Chennai.[21] On July 2020, after 8 months of joining the BJP, Namitha was appointed as one of the state executive member of the BJP in Tamil Nadu.[3]

Personal life

Namitha married her boyfriend Veerendra in Tirupathi in November 2017.[22]

Filmography
Key
Denotes films that have not yet been released
Year Title Role(s) Language(s) Notes Ref.
2002 Sontham Nandu Telugu Telugu Debut [23]
Gemini Manisha Natwarlal [24][25]
2003 Oka Raju Oka Rani Preethi
Oka Radha Iddaru Krishnula Pelli Sasirekha
2004 Engal Anna Gowri Tamil Tamil Debut
Aithe Enti Anjali Sharma Telugu
Maha Nadigan Aishwarya Tamil
2005 Aai Anjali Tamil
Englishkaran Maheshwari
Nayakudu Telugu
Chanakya Deivanayaki Tamil
Bambara Kannaley Mynaa
Aanai Ramya
2006 Kovai Brothers Sania
Love Ke Chakkar Mein Neha V. Batra Hindi Hindi Debut
Pachchak Kuthira Poovu Tamil
Thagapansamy Swapna
Nee Venunda Chellam Anjali
Neelakanta Ganga Kannada Kannada Debut
2007 Viyabari Namitha Tamil
Naan Avanillai Monika Prasad
Azhagiya Tamil Magan Dhanalakshmi
Billa C. J.
2008 Sandai Seemakal Chinnakilli
Kamasutra Nights Aunt Maya English English Debut
Pandi Salangai Tamil
Indra Kannada
2009 Perumal Saroja Tamil
Thee Ruchi Devi
1977 Chandini
Billa Lisa Telugu
Indira Vizha Kamini Tamil
Jaganmohini Jaganmohini
2010 Black Stallion Laura Fernandez Malayalam Malayalam Debut
Azhagaana Ponnuthan Jennifer Tamil
Guru Sishyan Anitha Cameo
Simha Mahima Telugu
Hoo Kannada
2011 Ilaignan Sena Tamil
Namitha I Love You Sunanda Telugu
2013 Benki Birugali Mona Kannada
2016 Ilamai Oonjal Durga Tamil
Pulimurugan Julie Malayalam
2019 Pottu Vadivudaiyan
Miya Miya Tamil Delayed

Television
Year Title Role Notes
2007-2015 Maanada Mayilada Main Judge Dance Reality Show
2017 Bigg Boss Tamil (season 1) Contestant Reality TV Series[26]
2020 Dance Jodi Dance 3.O Judge Dance Show
gollark: You could tell HelloBoi your strategy and they would probably implement it.
gollark: You could ask me to implement something in scheme for you, even.,
gollark: There are many ways to deal with this. You have not used ANY of them.
gollark: Programming concepts are mostly the same across languages, it might just be somewhat more annoying to write.
gollark: Anyway, if someone wants I can probably make an adapter to call some other process so you can write JS or whatever. It will just be slow and unpleasant.

References
  1. https://www.news18.com/photogallery/south-cinema/happy-birthday-namitha-10-times-south-actress-namitha-stole-our-hearts-2135829.html
  2. "Namita Vankawala: Movies, Photos, Videos, News, Biography & Birthday | eTimes". timesofindia.indiatimes.com. Retrieved 2 August 2020.
  3. J, Shanmughasundaram (4 July 2020). "Tamil Nadu: Actor Namitha appointed as BJP state executive member | Chennai News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 1 August 2020.
  4. "Namitha was crowned Miss Surat in 1998 – The Times of India". Articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com. 29 August 2013. Retrieved 24 May 2014.
  5. Telugu Cinema Etc. Idlebrain.com (16 September 2002). Retrieved on 2019-01-01.
  6. "Telugu cinema article – Namita photo – stolen from Namitha's desktop". www.idlebrain.com. 20 March 2000.
  7. Namitha interview – Telugu Cinema interview – Telugu film and Tamil film actress. Idlebrain.com (30 July 2008). Retrieved on 2019-01-01.
  8. "Namitha stars in English movie". The Hindu. 14 August 2006.
  9. "Tamil movies : Namitha the omnipotent and the omnipresent". www.behindwoods.com.
  10. "Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Namitha goes to `Subway' for meal". The Hindu. 21 October 2005.
  11. I Will Do It For A Lesser Payment, Says Namitha – Namitha – Dirty Picture – Tamil Movie News. Behindwoods.com (30 June 2012). Retrieved on 2019-01-01.
  12. "Namitha attempting to shed her flab for a comeback?". kollytalk.com. 8 November 2012.
  13. Why Namitha won't act in Tamil films? | Movie News . Times of India (20 May 2011). Retrieved on 2019-01-01.
  14. Review: Jaganmohini is a half-baked remake. Rediff.com (19 October 2009). Retrieved on 2019-01-01.
  15. Namitha's behavior – Tamil Movie News – Namitha | Thiru | Azhagana Ponnuthan | Raja Karthik | Nizhalgal Ravi | Mayilsaamy. Behindwoods.com (17 March 2010). Retrieved on 2019-01-01.
  16. Namitha angry with Sona? indiaglitz.com (22 July 2011).
  17. "Actress Namitha To Make Her Comeback Soon". silverscreen.in. 3 September 2015.
  18. Bharathan, Bijoy (27 October 2010). "Namitha's die-hard fan". The Times of India. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  19. Namitha – The Indian Beauty ... – Namitha – Tamil Movie News. Behindwoods.com (1 November 2012). Retrieved on 2019-01-01.
  20. Namitha, Bharath want you to be safe on the road!. Sify.com. Retrieved on 1 January 2019.
  21. J, Shanmughasundarm (30 November 2019). "Actor Radha Ravi, Namitha join BJP in JP Nadda's presence | Chennai News - Times of India". The Times of India. Retrieved 16 March 2020.
  22. "Namitha gets married to her boyfriend Veerandra in Tirupati". Times of India. 24 November 2017. Retrieved 24 November 2017.
  23. "Movie review – Sontham". Idlebrain.
  24. "GEMINI SYNOPSIS". Apunkachoice. Archived from the original on 12 December 2013.
  25. "Show with a difference". TheHindu.
  26. "Bigg Boss Tamil: How Oviya Helen became the premiere season's most sensational contestant- Entertainment News, Firstpost". Firstpost. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
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