Abhirami
Born
Divya Gopikumar

July 1983 (age 40)
Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, India
Alma mater
Occupations
  • Film actress
  • TV host
Years active1995–2004
2014–present
Known forMiddle Class Madhavan
Virumaandi
Maara
Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs (season 3)
Spouse
Rahul Pavanan
​
(m. 2009)​
Children1
Parent(s)Gopikumar
Pushpa

Abhirami (pronunciationⓘ) (née Divya Gopikumar; July 1983[1]) is an Indian actress, television host and reality show judge. She has acted predominantly in Tamil and Malayalam films and few credits in Telugu and Kannada films.

Abhirami went on to established herself as an leading actress in the 2000s across the Malayalam and Tamil language industries after appearing in films such as Sradha (2000), Middle Class Madhavan (2001), Charlie Chaplin (2002), Raktha Kanneeru (2003) and Virumaandi (2004). After a 10 year hiatus, she returned back to the film industry in 2014 and acted in multiple films as a supporting actress until 2021 where she got a role as one of lead actress in the film Maara after 17 years. She also became a reality show judge through the show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Li'l Champs (season 3).[2]

Early life and education

She was born as Divya Gopikumar[1] in July 1983, to Gopikumar and Pushpa[1][3] in Kerala.She attended Christ Nagar English High School and Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, in Trivandrum and did predegree training from Mar Ivanios College, before graduating in programs for psychology and communications from the College of Wooster in Ohio.[4]

Her family migrated to the United States in 2004 when she got a job there. Her parents are yoga instructors in Ohio.[5]

Career

Abhirami made her debut in director Adoor Gopalakrishnan's film Kathapurushan.[6] While in college, Abhirami worked as a TV anchor for the program Top Ten which aired on the Asianet channel,[3] which according to Abhirami was "quite popular" and got her a film offer.[6] She also appeared in the 100-episode Malayalam serial Akshaya Pathram, directed by Sreekumaran Thampi.[6] She changed her screen name to Abhirami, the character name of the heroine of the film Gunaa, being "obsessed with the role and the name".[7]

She had a small role in the Malayalam film Pathram in 1999 and in the series Mercara directed by Jude Attipetty. Later she acted in the films Millennium Stars, Njangal Santhushtaranu, and Sradha before shifting to Tamil cinema. Her first Tamil film was Vaanavil (2001) opposite Arjun, which was a "big hit"[3] and was followed by Middle Class Madhavan and Samudhiram. A notable film in her career was Virumaandi, in which she appeared as a Tamil village girl from Madurai opposite Kamal Haasan.[1] Besides Tamil and Malayalam, she has appeared in Telugu and Kannada films and was a notable Tollywood actress.[8] In 2003, she appeared opposite Upendra in the film Raktha Kanneeru[9] and opposite Shiva Rajkumar in Sri Ram. In 2004, she retired from the film industry and settled in the United States for her studies. She went on to work as the marketing director of an MNC there.[10]

In 2013, Abhirami was the voice of Pooja Kumar in both parts of Kamal Haasan's Vishwaroopam[11] and she went on to host Rishimoolam, a talk show on the Tamil television channel Puthuyugam.[4][12] The following year, she returned to Malayalam films with Apothecary,[citation needed] in which she played the role of a gynaecologist.[13] She also appeared in Ithu Thaanda Police playing the role of Sub-Inspector Arundhati Varma.

She has also anchored the reality show Made For Each Other on Mazhavil Manorama.

Personal life

Abhirami is married to Rahul Pavanan, grandson of writer Pavanan.[4][10][14] They adopted a child.[15]

Filmography

As actress

Key
† Denotes films that have not yet been released
List of films and roles
Year Title Role Language Notes Ref.
1995 Kathapurushan Child Artist Malayalam
1999 Pathram Shilpa Mary Cherian
Njangal Santhushtaranu Geethu Sanjeevan
2000 Sradha Swapna
Millennium Stars Radha
Melevaryathe Malakhakkuttikal Devika Variyar (Devu)
2001 Megasandesam Kavitha
Vaanavil Priya Tamil
Middle Class Madhavan Abhirami
Dosth Anamika
Samudhiram Lakshmi
Charlie Chaplin Mythili Ramakrishnan
2002 Thank You Subba Rao Susi Telugu
Karmegham Maheswari Tamil
Samasthanam Aisha
2003 Laali Haadu Sangeetha Kannada
Raktha Kanneeru Chandra
Charminar Keerthi Telugu
Sri Ram Vasundhara Kannada
2004 Cheppave Chirugali Radha Telugu
Virumaandi Annalachmi Tamil
2014 Apothecary Dr. Nalini Nambiar Malayalam [16]
2015 36 Vayadhinile Susan Tamil Special appearance [17]
2016 Ithu Thaanda Police Arundhati Varma Malayalam
Ore Mukham Prof.Latha
2017 Chowka Indira Sharma Kannada
2018 Amar Akbar Anthony Amar's mother Telugu Special appearance
Ottakoru Kaamukan Meera Malayalam
2019 Dasharatha Krutika Kannada
Aniyan Kunjum Thannalayathu Bincy Malayalam
2020 Marjara Oru Kallu Vacha Nuna Chithira
2021 Maara Selvi Tamil Amazon Prime film
Sulthan Annalakshmi Cameo Appearance
Kotigobba 3 IAS Durga Kannada
2022 Nitham Oru Vaanam Krishnaveni Tamil
2023 Baba Black Sheep Eshwari
Are You Ok Baby? Vidhya [18]
Garudan Sreedevi Malayalam [19]
2024 Thug Life † TBA Tamil Announced [20]

As a dubbing artist

Television

References

  1. ^ a b c d "A chat with Abhirami". The Hindu. 14 May 2003. Archived from the original on 24 January 2016. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  2. ^ "Veteran actress Abhirami reveals about her daughter for the first time on Mother's Day - Tamil News". India Glitz (in Tamil). Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  3. ^ a b c "Welcome to". Sify. Archived from the original on 2 October 2017. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  4. ^ a b c "Abhirami makes a bold reentry into tinseltown". The Times of India. 10 February 2014. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  5. ^ "അഭിരാമി തിരിച്ചുവരാന്കാരണം കമലഹാസനാണ്‌". Mangalam.com. Archived from the original on 7 June 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  6. ^ a b c "Abhirami on acting in Kamal Haasan's Sandhiyar". Rediff.com. Archived from the original on 15 July 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  7. ^ "Welcome To". Sify. Archived from the original on 12 September 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  8. ^ "Abhirami gets a new Telugu film". Music India Online. 31 May 2008. Archived from the original on 28 June 2008.
  9. ^ "Telugu cinema Review - Rakta Kanneeru - Upendra, Abhirami, Ramya Krishna". Idlebrain.com. 27 February 2004. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  10. ^ a b "Mangalam Varika 10-Mar-2014". mangalam.com. Archived from the original on 10 March 2014. Retrieved 11 March 2014.((cite web)): CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  11. ^ "Abhirami has dubbed the voice for Pooja Kumar in Vishwaroopam aka Viswaroopam". Behindwoods.com. 24 September 2013. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  12. ^ Jeyanthan, R. C. (8 December 2013). "அறிவும் அழகுதான்". The Hindu (in Tamil). Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  13. ^ Nita Sathyendran (8 August 2014). "Ace act". The Hindu. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  14. ^ "വിവാഹം ആരെയും അറിയിക്കാതെ..." Mangalam.com. 10 March 2014. Archived from the original on 31 May 2015. Retrieved 2 June 2015.
  15. ^ "Actress Abhirami and her husband adopt a baby girl; introduce their Kalki on Mother's Day!". The Times of India (in Tamil). Retrieved 14 May 2023.
  16. ^ C Palicha, Paresh. "Review: Apothecary could have been better". Rediff.com. Retrieved 11 February 2015.
  17. ^ "Abhirami is back, plays Jyothika's friend". Sify. Archived from the original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 6 April 2015.
  18. ^ "Are You Ok Baby Cast & Crew". filmibeat.com.
  19. ^ Bureau, The Hindu (26 June 2023). "'Garudan' teaser: Suresh Gopi bashes up goons with a motorbike helmet". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 18 October 2023.
  20. ^ Bureau, The Hindu (6 November 2023). "'Thug Life' is the title of Kamal Haasan-Mani Ratnam's 'KH234'; Trisha, Dulquer Salmaan, Jayam Ravi join cast". The Hindu. ISSN 0971-751X. Retrieved 6 November 2023.
  21. ^ "Pooja Kumar Interview". Behindwoods. Retrieved 24 January 2013.
  22. ^ Sundar, Anusha (20 April 2023). "I don't want to settle for a bland akka or anni character: Abhirami". The New Indian Express. Retrieved 23 April 2023.
  23. ^ "சினிமாவில் பெண்களுக்கு மட்டும் ஏன் இந்த பாகுபாடு நடிகை அபிராமி கேள்வி". ETV Bharat News (in Tamil). Retrieved 23 April 2023.

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