Soundarya was born in a Kannada speaking family and brought up in Bengaluru, Karnataka.[6] Her parents are K. S. Sathyanarayana Iyer and Manjula.[7][2]
Her father was a Kannada film writer and producer. She discontinued her M.B.B.S. after her first year in Bangalore.[8][9] Soundarya's birthdate has been reported inconsistently by the media. While some sources indicate the birthdate as 18 July 1972,[1][2][10] the others including The Times of India stated it to be 18 July 1976.[11][12] On 27 April 2003,[13] she married G. S. Raghu, a software engineer by profession.[14][15]
Soundarya's first movie was the Kannada film Baa Nanna Preethisu, directed by S. Siddalingaiah, released in April 1992, immediately followed by Gandharva in July 1992. In the same year, she acted in the Telugu movie Raithu Bharatham, with Krishna, directed by Tripuraneni Sriprasad alias Varaprasad.
She began with lead roles in Kannada, her mother tongue, and went on to become the most popular actress in Telugu films. Her first film in Telugu was Rajendrudu Gajendrudu, directed by S. V. Krishna Reddy.[16] Real commercial recognition came to her with Hello Brother (1994), directed by E. V. V. Satyanarayana, in which she starred alongside Nagarjuna and Ramya Krishna.[17] She played an award-winning role in Ammoru, directed by Kodi Ramakrishna, starring alongside Ramya Krishna and Suresh and played the role of Bhavani, a devotee of Goddess Ammoru. She had eleven releases in 1995.[18]
In Tamil, she got major acclaim for her debut film Ponnumani, opposite Karthik and Sivakumar for playing the role of a mentally disabled person.
Continuous success, critical acclaim and popularity (1995–2002)
In 1997, she continued her successful run with Pavitra Bandham, Pelli Chesukundam, Amma Donga, Maa Aayana Bangaram, Osi Na Maradala and Aaro Pranam. She also starred alongside South Indian superstar Rajinikanth in Arunachalam, which became the highest-grossing film of 1997 in Tamil cinema. The industry regarded her to be the golden hand, as a former director's daughter, she always regarded the success not as a one-man show, but teamwork across 36 departments.[18]
In 2004 Balakrishna announced the remake of Nartanasala, and a launch event was held in Hyderabad. Soundarya was signed to play Draupadi[19] but the film was shelved following her death.
The aircraft, a Cessna 180, took off at 11:05 a.m. and turned west before crashing on the campus of the Gandhi Krishi Vigyan Kendra of the University of Agricultural Sciences. It had reached only a height of 100 feet (30 m) and burst into flames. B. N. Ganapathi, one of the two persons working on the experimental fields of the university, who rushed to the aircraft to save the occupants, said the plane wobbled before the crash.[22]
Legacy
Soundarya is regarded as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Telugu cinema and is the most successful actress after Savitri.[23] She was known as a versatile actress, who played distinctive roles. Critics noted that she had a fine sense of characterisation. Due to this ability, Soundarya struck a chord with the Telugu audience despite being a Kannada actress.[24]Ammoru, Pavithra Bandham, Doni Saagali, Raja, Sooryavansham, and Dweepa are her best known films that saw her playing strong women characters.[25]
^"49th National Film Awards"(PDF). Directorate of Film Festivals. pp. 18–19. Archived(PDF) from the original on 29 October 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
