Remya Nambeesan
Ramya Nambeesan (born 1 January 1986) is an Indian actress and playback singer who appears in Malayalam and Tamil films. She has acted in more than 60 films. Early life and family. Ramya Nambeesan was born in Chottanikkara, Cochin, Kerala to Subrahmaniam Unni and Jayasree. Her father is a former theatre artiste, who was an active member of troupes such as "Jubilee" and "Harishree". She has a brother, Rahul, who has worked as the music director in the Malayalam movie "Philips and the Monkey Pen" and as a playback singer in the film "Thattathin Marayathu". She attended the  Mahatma Gandhi Public School, Ambadimala near Chottanikkara. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in Communicative English from St. Teresa's College, Ernakulam. Career. Ramya first appeared as a child artist in the critically acclaimed drama film "Sayahnam" in 2000, directed by R. Sarath. She further played minor supporting roles in the following years in films including Sathyan Anthikad's satire film "Narendran Makan Jayakanthan Vaka" (2001), the art film "Sthithi" (2002), under R. Sarath's direction again, and "Gramaphone" (2003) and "Perumazhakkalam" (2004), both directed by Kamal. She collaborated a third time with Sarath for the short film "Bhoomikkoru  Charamageetham" (2006), a cinematic version of a poem by O. N. V. Kurup. She played her first leading role, as a bold dance teacher, in the 2006 film "Aanachandam"; it was a highly unsuccessful venture, which went unnoticed soon after its release. Regarding to her performance in the film, a critic from "Rediff" noted that she was "refreshing in bits", while another reviewer cited that she was "refreshing enough for a village based film". Her subsequent projects, "Changathipoocha" (2007) and "Panthaya Kozhi" (2007) released to mixed reviews and offered hardly any scope for her, failing to propel her career. The  next release, "Chocolate" (2007), which featured Remya as one of three leading females, gained her considerable attention, after the film went on to become a high commercial success. In 2008, she accepted her first non-Malayalam project, "Andamaina Mansulo" in Telugu, which was followed by her first Tamil film, the romantic drama "Raman Thediya Seethai". "Anthiponvettam" was her only Malayalam film of 2008, which opened to largely negative reviews, while she received positive feedbacks on her performance, with a critic from "IndiaGlitz" describing her as "a saving grace in the entire movie". In the following two years, she appeared in  just three films. She played the female lead in "Saarai Veerraju" (2009; Telugu) and "Aattanayagann" (2010; Tamil) and played a minor supporting role in "Nammal Thammil" (2009; Malayalam) —all of which proved critically and commercially unsuccessful, although her performance in the former was lauded. "IndiaGlitz" claimed that she was the "best performer" in the film, further adding that she had "raised to the occasion and carried the deglamorised role perfectly". In 2011, Ramya who till then had appeared in a series of repetitive roles as a village belle, undergoing an image makeover, choosing more serious, substantial and versatile roles. Her  first release of that year was "Traffic", starring an ensemble cast. She portrayed Shwetha, a "stylish seductress", a character with negative shades. Although her role in the film was short, her performance was appreciated by critics. She next appeared in the thriller film "Chaappa Kurish" as Sonia, a secretary who has an affair with her colleague. She shot a long kissing scene with her co-star Fahad Fazil in the film – supposedly the first ever in Malayalam cinema — which upon release was termed as controversial, causing a great stir in the industry. Ramya later stated: "An actress should always be  ready to take risks if her character demands so. Even when I was aware that the two-minute intense scene could create waves, I was sure that it was inevitable as it suited the plot. A sense of necessity made me accept that scene. I think director Sameer Tahir brought out the best in me. In fact, I enjoyed doing the scene". She went on to state that she did not regret "doing it"; she further credited the Tamil film industry for "propelling" her image makeover. She was part of two Tamil productions, "Ilaignan", scripted by former Chief Minister of  Tamil Nadu M. Karunanidhi, and the romantic comedy "Kullanari Koottam". She performed a comical role as Priya, a zoology student, in the latter, and received positive feedback. Pavithra Srinivasan from "Rediff" noted that she was "pretty, expressive, and does well with what she's been given". She next appeared in a low-budget Telugu film by Ravi Babu, "Nuvvila", featuring a cast of almost all newcomers, in which she played a "girl with a fetish for cooking". In "Bachelor Party" (2012) she was seen in a "very stylish role", and "Ivan Megharoopan" (2012) featured her in a cameo appearance. She  also signed up Saji Surendran's comedy film "Husbands in Goa" (2012), in which she played a "docile wife", and an offbeat film by Priyanandanan, titled "Oru Yathrayil" (2013). She completed the shoot of "Damaal Dumeel" (2014), which is a black comedy thriller directed by Shree. She play a new-gen girl, opposite Vaibhav in the film. And "Naalu Policeum Nalla Irundha Oorum" (2015), in which she is paired opposite Arulnithi. But later, the actress again made a mistake by accepting similar kinds of roles; especially the characters with negative shades, in the second innings as well. Ramya Nambeesan, who  is extremely busy in Malayalam and Telugu, is back in Tamil with "Sethupathi" (2016). The bubbly actress says that she is choosy about her scripts and does not want to be typecast. Nambeesan been critically applauded for essaying most wonderfully the wife of Sethupathi (portrayed by actor Vijay Sethupathi). One of the high points of the movie is her riveting performance that includes a range of emotions—from love to anger to fear. She made a debut in the Kannada "Style King" (2016) opposite Ganesh. Ramya Nambeesan and Sibiraj had worked in critically acclaimed 2017 film "Sathya" (2017). She was  successively in Tamil films with "Mercury" (2018), "Seethakaathi" (2018), "Agni Devi" (2019) and "Natpuna Ennanu Theriyuma" (2019). Remya Nambeesan was seen in the Malayalam movie "Virus" (2019) directed by Aashiq Abu. Other work. Before her entry into the film industry, she was hosting a phone-in music show "Hello, Good Evening" on the Malayalam channel Kairali TV. Having learned carnatic music from her childhood, she has sung several numbers for devotional albums on Chottanikarai Bhagavathi. In 2011, composer and music director Sharreth called Ramya to record a song for the Malayalam biographical film on P. Kunhiraman Nair, "Ivan Megharoopan", after  she had expressed her desire to sing to Sharreth at a reality show. She has since sung playback for several films including her own films like "Bachelor Party", "" and "Arikil Oraal" which she has acted in and for films she was not part of, like "Thattathin Marayathu" and "Amen". Her singing has been praised and got her offers from other South Indian film industries too. She has sung for the Telugu film "Telugabbai", for the Tamil film "Pandiya Naadu" and will be singing for a Kannada film. She got nominated for a Filmfare Award for Best Female Playback Singer – Malayalam  for her song "Andilonde" from "Ivan Megharoopan". She won many other awards for the song "Muthuchippi Poloru" from "Thattathin Marayathu", which was also one of the top Malayalam songs of 2012. She has worked with leading, award-winning music directors like Shaan Rahman, Prashant Pillai, M. Jayachandran, Gopi Sunder and D. Imman. In 2014 she sang an Ayyappa devotional song, "Muttath ninnu Chirikkum", which garnered 1.5 lakh hits in YouTube. In 2020, she conceived and directed a short video film titled "Unhide". She has acted in short films like "The Little Riddle", "Me" etc.