Priyamani

Priya Vasudev Mani Iyer (born 4 June 1984), known by her professional name Priyamani, is an Indian actress and former model, who works in the Telugu,Tamil,Kannada and a few Hindi and Malayalam industry and has acted in more than 60 films. She is a recipient of Several Awards.

Priyamani
Priyamani in 2015
Born	Priya Vasudev Mani Iyer (1984-06-04) 4 June 1984 (age 38)^[1]^[2]^[3] Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Occupations	Actress model
Years active	2003–present
Spouse	Mustafa Raj ​ (m. 2017)​
Relatives	Vidya Balan (cousin)
Awards	Full list

Priyamani made her acting debut through the 2003, Telugu film Evare Atagaadu. She gained widespread recognition for her role as a village girl Muththazhagu in the Tamil romantic drama Paruthiveeran in 2007, receiving a National Film Award for Best Actress and a Filmfare Award for Best Actress in Tamil for her performance. Her notable works include Raam (2009), Raavan (2010), Raavanan (2010), Pranchiyettan & the Saint (2010), Chaarulatha (2012) and Idolle Ramayana (2016). Apart from appearing in films she has also judged several dance reality shows across South Indian languages.

Early life

Priyamani Iyer was born and raised in Bangalore, Karnataka.^[4] She is from a Tamil Brahmin family. Her father, Vasudeva Mani Iyer, owns a plantation business and her mother, former national level badminton player, Lathamani Iyer, was a bank manager at Union Bank of India. She modelled for Kanchipuram Silk, Erode Bharani Silks and Lakshmi silks during her school years.^[5] When she was in the 12th Standard, Tamil director Bharathiraja introduced her to the film industry.^[6][7][8] While at school, she actively participated in extracurricular activities and in sports.^[9] She is the granddaughter of Carnatic vocalist, Kamala Kailas.^[10] She is the cousin of film actress, Vidya Balan and the niece of playback singer, Malgudi Shubha.^[11][12]

After completing her schooling, Priyamani modeled for print advertisements. Priyamani pursued a degree in Bachelor of Arts in psychology through correspondence.^[13] She can think in English and speak in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi fluently.

Career

Priyamani made her debut with Telugu film, Evare Atagaadu. Although she began her acting career with Bharathiraja's Tamil film, Kangalal Kaidhu Sei,^[14][15] it was Evare Atagaadu which was released first.

Priyamani then made her debut in Malayalam cinema with Sathyam.^[10] Then she was signed by Tamil film director and cinematographer Balu Mahendra to act in the 2005 drama Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam. Before release, Babith said "Priyamani has come up with an excellent performance in the movie. Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam was critically acclaimed but failed at the box office.^[16] However, she won acclaim for her performance in the film.^[17][18] In 2006, Priyamani starred in the Telugu film Pellaina Kothalo. The film was a hit and got her three Telugu films.^[10][19][20]

 

Priyamani along with Suriya & Vivek Oberoi during the press meet of Rakta Charitra 2

Priyamani managed to prove her acting credentials and commercial appeal with 2007's Paruthiveeran, directed by Ameer, in which she was co-starred with debutant Karthi. A rural subject which told the story of a notorious young villager in Madurai, the film won critical acclaim and became a surprise box-office blockbuster.^[21][22][23] She went on to win the National Film Award,^[24] followed by South Filmfare Award,^[25] Tamil Nadu State Film Award and an award at the Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema.^[26]

She had another commercially successful film in Telugu, in the 2007 film Yamadonga^[27][28][29] and in the Tamil film Malaikottai.^[30][31][32] She again received critical acclaim in 2008 for her role in the Malayalam film Thirakkatha, in which she played a role based on the turbulent real-life story of late film actress Srividya.^[33] She won another Filmfare Award for her performance.^[34] In Tamil, she had a single release in 2008: Thotta.^[35]

In 2009 she had two Tamil releases, the masala film Arumugam and the remake of the Malayalam blockbuster Classmates,^[36][37] titled Ninaithale Inikkum.^[38] The former was a commercial failure:^[39] Her Kannada debut film Raam was also a commercial success.^{[40][41][42][43]} All three of her Telugu releases that year, however, (Drona, Mitrudu, Pravarakhyudu) did not do well at the box office.^[44][45][46] In 2010 she acted in the satirical film Pranchiyettan & the Saint which became the longest-running Malayalam film since 2005.^[47] She won a Filmfare nomination for her role as a Mumbai-based interior decorator in the film.

She was subsequently signed by director Mani Ratnam for his bilingual film, titled Raavanan and Raavan in Tamil and Hindi respectively.^[48] Soon after, she was hired by Bollywood director-producer Ram Gopal Varma for his bilingual film Rakht Charitra. Varma decided to cast her after seeing her National Award-winning performance in Paruthiveeran.^{[citation needed]} Her Kannada film Vishnuvardhana became a blockbuster hit^[49][50] and later she starred in Anna Bond.^[51] Although the film was poorly received by critics and featured on Rediff's "Most Disappointing Kannada Films of 2012" list,^[52] it went on to become a successful venture at the box office.^{[citation needed]} She appeared in an item number in the Bollywood film Chennai Express.^[53] She has completed shooting for a Malayalam film, The True Story and the Telugu film, Chandee, in which she plays Ganga the granddaughter of a freedom fighter, who seeks revenge for the problems her family had to face.^[54] She was cast opposite Darshan in the Kannada film Ambareesha in (2014).^[55][56]

In 2014, she posed for a PETA ad campaign, asking the public to boycott zoos that feature caged tigers.^[57][58][59]

Besides The Family Man, Priyamani was also in ZEE5's His Storyy, Narappa, and Virata Parvam.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life

Priyamani married Mustafa Raj, an event organiser, in a private ceremony on 23 August 2017.^[60]

Filmography

Films

List of film performances

Year	Title	Role	Language	Notes	Ref.
2003	Evare Atagaadu	Rekha	Telugu
2004	Kangalal Kaidhu Sei	Vidhya Sadagopan	Tamil
	Satyam	Sona	Malayalam
2005	Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam	Thulasi	Tamil
	Otta Nanayam	Reshma	Malayalam
2006	Pellaina Kothalo	Lakshmi	Telugu
	Madhu	Mercy	Tamil
2007	Paruthiveeran	Muthazhagu	Tamil	National Film Award for Best Actress (2006)
	Toss	Naina	Telugu
	Yamadonga	Maheswari	Telugu
	Nava Vasantham	Anjali	Telugu
	Malaikottai	Malar	Tamil
2008	Thotta	Nalina	Tamil
	Thirakkatha	Malavika	Malayalam
	Hare Ram	Anjali	Telugu
	King	Herself	Telugu	Special appearance in song "Nuvvu Ready Nenu Ready"
2009	Drona	Indhu	Telugu
	Mitrudu	Indu	Telugu
	Puthiya Mukham	Anjana	Malayalam
	Arumugam	Yamini	Tamil
	Ninaithale Inikkum	Meera	Tamil
	Pravarakhyudu	Sailaja	Telugu
	Raam	Pooja	Kannada
2010	Shambo Shiva Shambo	Munimma	Telugu
	Sadhyam	Suhani	Telugu
	Golimaar	Pavithra	Telugu
	Raavan	Jamuni	Hindi
	Raavanan	Vennila	Tamil
	Pranchiyettan and the Saint	Padmashree	Malayalam
	Eno Onthara	Madhumathi	Kannada
	Rakht Charitra II	Bhavani	Hindi	Bilingual film (also partially reshot in Tamil)
			Telugu
	Ragada	Priya / Ashtalakshmi	Telugu
2011	Raaj	Mythili	Telugu
	Kshetram	Naga Penchalamma/ Sohini Aggarwal	Telugu
	Vishnuvardhana	Meera	Kannada
2012	Ko Ko	Cauvery	Kannada
	Ullam	Kavitha	Tamil	Delayed film; Direct-to-television
	Anna Bond	Meera	Kannada
	Grandmaster	Deepthi	Malayalam
	Chaarulatha	Chaaru and Latha	Kannada	Bilingual film
			Tamil
2013	Lakshmi	Priya	Kannada
	Chennai Express	Dancer	Hindi	Special appearance in the song "1 2 3 4 Get on the Dance Floor"
	Chandee	Ganga/Chandee	Telugu
2014	Alice: A True Story	Alice/Uma	Malayalam
	Njangalude Veettile Athidhikal	Bhavana	Malayalam
	Ambareesha	Smitha	Kannada
2015	Ranna	Herself	Kannada	Special Appearance in the song "What to do"
2016	Kathe Chitrakathe Nirdeshana Puttanna	Geethanjali	Kannada
	Kalpana 2	Kalpana	Kannada
	Dana Kayonu	Jagadhamba (Jhummi)	Kannada
	Idolle Ramayana / Mana Oori Ramayanam	Susheela	Kannada/Telugu	Bilingual film
2017	Chowka	Mariea D Souza	Kannada
2018	Dhwaja	Ramya	Kannada
	Ashiq Vanna Divasam	Shyni	Malayalam
2019	Pathinettam Padi	Gowri Vasudev	Malayalam	Cameo appearance
	Nanna Prakara	Dr. Amrutha	Kannada		^[61]
2020	Ateet	Janvi	Hindi	Zee5 film	^[62]
2021	Naarappa	Sundaramma	Telugu	Amazon Prime film	^[63]
2022	Bhamakalapam	Anupama Mohan	Telugu	Aha film	^[64]
	Virata Parvam	Comrade Bharatakka	Telugu		^[65]
	Salaam Venky	Adv. Nanda Kumar	Hindi	Extended cameo
	Dr. 56	Priya Krishna	Kannada	Bilingual film	^[66]
			Tamil
2023	Quotation Gang	TBA	Tamil	Completed	^[67]
	Khaimara	TBA	Kannada	Filming	^[68]
	Custody	TBA	Telugu	Filming; Extended Cameo appearance	^[69]
			Tamil
	Maidaan	TBA	Hindi	Completed	^[70]
	Jawan	TBA	Hindi	Filming	^[71]

Television

Web series

List of web series performances

Year	Title	Role	Language	Network	Notes
2019–present	The Family Man	Suchitra Tiwari	Hindi	Amazon Prime Video
2021	His Story	Sakshi	Hindi	Alt Balaji, ZEE5	^[72]

As a host or judge

Year	Program	Language	Channel	Notes
2014	D 4 Dance	Malayalam	Mazhavil Manorama
2015	D 2 – D 4 Dance
	Dancing Star 2	Kannada	ETV Kannada
2016	Dancing Star Juniors
	Kings of Dance	Tamil	Star Vijay
	D 3 – D 4 Dance	Malayalam	Mazhavil Manorama	Asiavision Television Award for Best Celebrity Judge
	Dancing Star 3	Kannada	Colors Kannada
2017	D4 junior v/s seniors	Malayalam	Mazhavil Manorama
	Dance Jodi Dance 2	Tamil	Zee Tamil
	Dhee 10	Telugu	ETV Telugu
2018–2019	Dhee 11		ETV Telugu
2018–2019	Dance Kerala Dance	Malayalam	Zee Keralam
2019	Teas Best Partner		Mazhavil Manorama
	Kerala Dance League		Amrita TV	Celebrity judge
	D5 junior		Mazhavil Manorama	Grand finale jury
	Famously Filmfare	Malayalam Kannada	MX Player	Host
2019–2020	Comedy Stars	Malayalam	Asianet	Recurring Judge
2019–2020	Comedy Stars Weekend Challenge		Asianet
	Dance Jodi Dance 3.0	Tamil	Zee Tamizh
2020	Dhee Champions	Telugu	ETV Telugu
2021	Dhee 13
2022	Dhee 14 Dancing Icon

Short films

Year	Title	Role	Language	Channel	Notes
2017	Hand of God	Eleena	Malayalam	Mazhavil Manorama
2019	White	Blind lady	English	YouTube

Awards and nominations

Priyamani awards and nominations

Priyamani in an interview
Awards and nominations Award Wins Nominations
Totals^[a]
Wins	09
Nominations	14
Note Certain award groups do not simply award one winner. They recognize several different recipients, have runners-up, and have third place. Since this is a specific recognition and is different from losing an award, runner-up mentions are considered wins in this award tally. For simplification and to avoid errors, each award in this list has been presumed to have had a prior nomination.

Year	Award Category	Language	Work / film	Result	Ref.
2006	National Film Award for Best Actress	Tamil	Paruthiveeran	Won	^[73]
	Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actress			Won
2007	Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil			Won	^[74]
	Vijay Award for Best Actress			Won
2008	Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Malayalam	Malayalam	Thirakkatha	Won	^[75]
2009	Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Kannada	Kannada	Raam	Nominated
2011	Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Malayalam	Malayalam	Pranchiyettan and the Saint	Nominated
2012	Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Kannada	Kannada	Chaarulatha	Won	^[76]
	Suvarna Film Award for Best Actress			Won
	SIIMA Award for Best Actress – Kannada			Won
2016	Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress – Telugu	Telugu	Mana Oori Ramayanam	Nominated	^[citation needed]
2017	Kalaimamani Awards	Tamil	Contribution to Tamil Cinema	Won
2020	Filmfare OTT Awards for Best Actor Series (Female) : Drama	Hindi	The Family Man	Nominated	^[77]
	Filmfare OTT Awards Best Actor, Drama Series (Female) – Critics Choice			Won	^[78] ^[79]

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External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Priyamani.

• Priyamani at IMDb
• Priyamani on Instagram