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Malashree (born Sridurga Pandey) is an Indian actress who works predominantly in Kannada cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Telugu and Tamil language films. In a career spanning three decades, she has appeared in about 70 films. She began her career as a child artiste in the 1979 Tamil film Imayam. She made her debut as a adult in the 1989 Kannada-language film Nanjundi Kalyana. In the following years, she established herself as one of Kannada cinema's top heroines. She had been called, by the media and fans, "Kanasina Rani". She is popular for playing diverse roles in women-centric movies many of which were highly successful at the box-office.

Her debut film Nanjundi Kalyana with Raghavendra Rajkumar was a major box office success, which was her breakthrough. Throughout the '90s, she starred in several successful films like: Gajapathi Garvabhanga (1989), Policena Hendthi (1990), Kitturina Huli (1990), Rani Maharani (1990), Mruthyunjaya (1990), Hrudaya Haadithu (1991), Ramachaari (1991), Belli Kalungura (1992), Solillada Saradara (1993) and Gadibidi Aliya (1995), establishing herself as one of the top heroines of the Kannada film industry. In 1992, she starred in 19 films, breaking the 24-year-old record of highest releases in Kannada in a lead role in a single year, held by Dr. Rajkumar. She won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress in 1991 for her performance as a young woman inflicted with an incurable heart disease in the movie Hrudaya Haadithu. In 2015, she won her first Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress for her action-oriented role in Ganga. She was considered Hema Malini of Kannada cinema by Dr. Rajkumar.

Personal life

Malashri was born and brought up in Madras (now known as Chennai) to a Telugu-speaking mother, Chandralekha, and a Punjabi-speaking father, Pandey. Named Sridurga at birth, her mother tongues are Telugu, Punjabi, and Hindi. She shot to fame with Nanjundi Kalyana in 1989 but her personal life hit an all-time low the same year when her step mother and grandmother died in a road accident. She was in a relationship with actor Sunil, her co-star of many films. But in 1994 they met with a car accident and while Malashree suffered multiple injuries, Sunil died on the spot. It was rumoured that they had been planning to get married. She was married to film producer Ramu in 1997 and they had a daughter and son together, Ananya (b. 2001) and Arjun. Her sister Subhashri was also an actress, who appeared in South Indian films. Her husband Ramu died on 26 April 2021 due to COVID-19.

Career

Child artiste

Malashri began her career as a child artiste and appeared in 35 films in Tamil and Telugu and she played the role of a boy in 26 of them. In a talk show, Majaa Talkies, she said that as a child, she was a fan of actor Amitabh Bachchan and would dress up like him, which prompted directors to cast her as a boy, in 1979 films like Imayam and Neela Malargal.

Lead roles

Writer and lyricist Chi. Udaya Shankar introduced Malashri to the Rajkumar family when they were on the lookout for a fresh face opposite their son Raghavendra Rajkumar who was gearing up to make his debut. Parvathamma Rajkumar decided to cast her in Nanjundi Kalyana (1989) for her production banner, Vajreshwari Combines and rechristened her Malashri. Malashri went on to act in two other films with Vajreshwari Combines, Gajapathi Garvabhanga opposite Raghavendra again, and Mruthyunjaya with Shiva Rajkumar. Between the years 1989-1991, she starred in around 50 films, out of which 35 films hits and 15 were average grosses, making her the heroine with the highest hit percentage in the Kannada film industry.

In 1990 Malashri took on the famous double role in Rani Maharani (immortalized by Sridevi in ChaalBaaz) and won a huge fan following with her powerhouse performance. Her next film Hrudaya Haadithu where she played a young woman inflicted with a heart problem won her acclaim from the masses and critics alike as well as the Filmfare Best Actress award for 1991. As she churned out hit after hit even the stalwart V. Ravichandran, who till then believed only in importing heroines from other states, cashed in on her popularity by casting her in Ramachaari (a remake of Tamil Hit Chinna Thambi). The move paid off, enabling him to come out of the financial crisis he faced due to the debacle of Shanti Kranti.

In the later part of the 90s, Malashri had a string of less successful films like Prema Khaidi, Snehada Kadalalli, Megha Mandara, Arishina Kumkuma, and Solillada Saradara. She took brief hiatus after marriage and made a comeback in the new millennium with "angry woman" roles in Chamundi (2000), Durgi (2004), Kannadada Kiran Bedi (2009), Shakti (2012), Veera (2013) and Ganga (2015).

Filmography

Kannada films

Telugu films

Tamil films

Awards

Karnataka State Film Awards

• 2015 : Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress : Ganga

Filmfare Awards South

• 1991: Filmfare Award for Best Actress: Hrudaya Haadithu
• 1993 : Cinema Express Award for Best Actress : Mangalya Bandhana

Other awards

1990 - Nandi Award for best Supporting Actress - Prema Khaidi

• 2011: NTR Award
• 2016: Santosham Award for Completing 25 Years in Cinema at 14th Santosham Film Awards

References

1. "Kannada film producer Ramu dies of COVID-19 in Bengaluru". NewsMinute. 27 April 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
2. See below
3. "I played a boy in 26 films: Malashri". 29 October 2013. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 17 January 2023.
4. "Karnataka State Film Awards, 2015: Full List". Archived from the original on 18 May 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
5. She was named "Kanasina Rani" after the name of her film of the same name released in 1992.
6. "The name is star, super star". The Times of India. 11 November 2008. Archived from the original on 13 May 2018. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
7. "ಸಿನಿ ಸಿಪ್ 23-ಮಾಲಾಶ್ರೀ ಮೆಟ್ಟಿಲುಗಳು...| Malashree's film path" – via YouTube.
8. 39th Annual Filmfare Kannada Best Actor and Actress (Winners List)
9. "Karnataka State Film Awards, 2015: Full List". Archived from the original on 18 May 2016. Retrieved 18 May 2016.
10. "Malashri 25- News".
11. "Combat queen". The Hindu. 17 April 2009. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
12. "Malashree's comeback effort". Rediff. 5 May 2000. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 26 October 2013.
13. "Kannada film producer Ramu dies due to Covid-19". The Times of India. 26 April 2021. Retrieved 27 April 2021.
14. "I played a boy in 26 films: Malashri". The Times of India. 29 March 2013. Archived from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 25 October 2013.
15. Malashri (17 August 2015). Majaa Takies - 17th October 2015 - ಮಜಾ ಟಾಕೀಸ್ - Full Episode (in Kannada). Colors Kannada. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
16. "Gharana Alludu (1994)". Indiancine.ma. Retrieved 2 May 2024.
17. "39th Annual Filmfare Kannada Best Actor Actress". 7 February 2017. Archived from the original on 8 February 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
18. "Land for Telugu institute: Somanna". The New Indian Express. 5 June 2012. Archived from the original on 16 November 2015. Retrieved 24 October 2015.

External links

• Malashri at IMDb
• Malashri Filmography

v t e Nandi Award for Best Supporting Actress
Nandi Awards
1981–1990	Prabha (1981) Annapurna (1982) K. Sakuntala (1983) Sarada (1984) Nirmalamma (1985) Sowcar Janaki (1986) Radhika (1987) Kalpana (1988) Jayasudha (1989) Malashri (1990)
1991–2000	Gautami (1991) Jayachitra (1992) Urmila Matondkar (1993) Roja (1994) Vaishnavi (1995) Ranjitha (1996) Jhansi (1997) Vasuki Anand (1998) Radhika (1999) Jhansi (2000)
2001–2010	Suhasini (2001) Bhanupriya (2002) Talluri Rameswari (2003) Satya Krishnan (2004) Bhanupriya (2005) Eeswari (2006) Sowcar Janaki (2007) Raksha (2008) Ramya Krishna (2009) Pragathi (2010)
2011–present	Sujatha Reddy (2011) Shyamala Devi (2012) Nadhiya (2013) Lakshmi Manchu (2014) Ramya Krishna (2015) Jayasudha (2016)
Category

• Actresses in Kannada cinema
• Actresses in Telugu cinema
• Indian film actresses
• Filmfare Awards South winners
• Living people
• Telugu actresses
• Actresses from Chennai
• 21st-century Indian actresses
• 20th-century Indian actresses
• Indian child actresses
• Child actresses in Tamil cinema
• Child actresses in Telugu cinema
• Santosham Film Awards winners
• Actresses from Andhra Pradesh
• Indian actresses
• Nandi Award winners