Sai Pallavi

**Sai Pallavi Senthamarai Kannan** (born 9 May 1992), is an Indian actress and dancer who mainly works in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam films. She has received numerous accolades, including six Filmfare Awards. She was featured by _Forbes_ magazine as one of India's 30 Under 30 in 2020.

After participating as a contestant in regional dance shows, and appeared uncredited roles in films, She had her first lead role in the top-grossing Malayalam film _Premam_ (2015). Her portrayal of a teacher in it earned her a Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut – South. In 2017, she ventured into Telugu cinema with _Fidaa_, winning the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu.

Pallavi has since established herself as a leading actress of South Indian cinema, starring in the films _Kali_ (2016), _Middle Class Abbayi_ (2017),  _Athiran_ (2019), a Netflix anthology film -_Paava Kadhaigal_ (2020), _Love Story_ (2021), _Shyam Singha Roy_ (2021), _Gargi_ (2022). This success was followed by a series of commercially unsuccessful films, such as _Diya_ (2018), _Padi Padi Leche Manasu_ (2018), _Maari 2_ (2018), _NGK_ (2019), _Virata Parvam_ (2022). Pallavi has since had commercial success in the 2024 Tamil-language biographical action war film _Amaran_.

Her performances in _Gargi_ and _Love Story_ earned the Filmfare Award for Best Actress in Tamil and Telugu, respectively, while her work in _Shyam Singha Roy_ and _Virata Parvam_ gained her the Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress – Telugu.

## Early life

Sai Pallavi was born on 9th May 1992 in Kotagiri, Tamil Nadu to Senthamarai Kannan and Radha. She has a younger sister, Pooja, who has also worked as an actor. Sai Pallavi grew up and was educated in Coimbatore. Her Mother Tongue is Tamil

## Film career

Sai Pallavi appeared in uncredited roles as a child actress in Kasthuri Maan (2005) and Dhaam Dhoom (2008).She had also done a Tamil Short Film named 'Kaatchi Pizhai' before her debut in the movies.

Sai Pallavi first came into public attention for her role as Malar in the 2015 Malayalam film _Premam_. She was then cast alongside _Dulquar Salman_ in the film _Kali_ (2016). She made her Telugu debut playing the role Bhanumati in the 2017 romantic film _Fidaa_, co-starring with Varun Tej. She made her Tamil debut with the film titled Diya (2018) directed by A.L Vijay. Her portrayal of _Malar_ in _Premam_ (2015) earned her the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut – South, SIIMA Award for  Best Debut Female,  IBN Live Award for Best Southern Debut and Asiant Film Award Most Poular Actress. _Kochi Times_ named her in its "List of 15 Most Desirable Women in 2016". She won the Filmfare Award for Best Telugu Actress for her performance in _Fidaa_ (2017). She acted in _Athiran_ with Fahad Fasil in 2019. In 2024 she played the biopic movie along with Sivakarthikeyan titled _Amaran_.

## Filmography

|Year|Title|Role|Director|Language|Notes|||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|2005|_Kasthuri Maan_|Child artist|A. K. Lohithadas|Tamil||||||
|2008|_Dhaam Dhoom_|An uncredited role|Jeeva|Tamil||||||
|2015|_Premam_|Malar|Alphonse Putharen|Malayalam|Malayalam debut Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut - South|||||
|2016|_Kali_|Anjali|Sameer Thahir|Malayalam|Nominated - Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Malayalam|||||
|rowspan="2"|2017|_Fidaa_|Bhanumathi|Sekhar Kammula|Telugu|Telugu debut Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Telugu||||
|_Middle Class Abbayi_|Pallavi "Chinni"|Venu Sree Raam|Telugu|||||||
|rowspan="4"|2018|_Diya_|rowspan="2"|Thulasi|rowspan="2"|A.L.Vijay|Tamil|rowspan="2"|Tamil debut|
|_Kanam_|Telugu|||||||||
|Padi Padi Leche Manasu|Vaishali|Hanu Raghavapudi|Telugu|||||||
|_Maari 2_|Arath Aananthi|Balaji Mohan|Tamil|||||||
|rowspan="2"|2019|NGK|Geeta Kumari|Selvaraghavan|Tamil|||||
|Athiran|Nithya||Malayalam|||||||
|2020|Paava Kadhaigal|Sumathi|Vetrimaran|Tamil||||||
|rowspan="2"|2021|_Love Story_|Mouni|Sekhar Kammula|Telugu|||||
|_Shyam Singha Roy_|Maitreyi / Rosie|Rahul Sankrityan|Telegu|||||||
|rowspan="2"|2022|Virata Parvam|Vennala|Venu Udugula|Telugu|||||
|Gargi|Gargi|Gautham Ramachandran|Tamil|||||||
|2024|Amaran|Indhu Rebecca Varghese|Rajkumar Periasamy|Tamil||||||

## Awards and nominations

|Year|Award|Category|Language|Film|Result||||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|rowspan="6"|2015|Asianet Film Awards|Special Jury Award|rowspan="10"|Malayalam|rowspan="6"|_Premam_||
|Asiavision Awards|New Sensation in Acting||||||||
|Filmfare Awards|Best Female Debut – South||||||||
|SIIMA Film Awards|Best Debut (Female)||||||||
|Vanitha Film Awards|Best Debut (Female)||||||||
|IBNLive|Best Southern Debut||||||||
|rowspan="4"|2016|Asianet Film Awards|Most popular actress|rowspan="4"|_Kali_||||
|Filmfare Awards|Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Malayalam||||||||
|SIIMA Film Awards|Best Actress||||||||
|Behindwoods Gold Medal|Best Actress||||||||
|rowspan="1"|2018|Filmfare Awards|Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Telugu|Telugu|_Fidaa_||||
|2018|SIIMA Film Awards|Best Actress in a Lead Role|Telugu|_Fidaa_|||||

## Infobox (person)

- **name**: Sai Pallavi
- **image**: Sai Pallavi at Mca-pre-release-event.jpg
- **caption**: Sai Pallavi in 2017
- **birth name**: Sai Pallavi Senthamarai Kannan
- **birth place**: Kotagiri, Nilgiris district, Nilgiris, Tamil Nadu, India
- **alma mater**: Tbilisi State Medical University
- **occupation**: Actress
- **years active**: 2005–present
- **parents**: Senthamarai Kannan (father)
 Radha Kannan (mother)