Soundarya

Some Lesser Known Facts About Soundarya

• Soundarya was known for her works primarily in Telugu cinema in addition to Kannada, Tamil, Hindi, and Malayalam films.
• She was multilingual and knew languages like Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, English and Hindi.

• She married her maternal uncle and childhood friend, software engineer G. S. Raghu on 27 April 2003 and broke off the marriage in 2004.

• Soundarya established herself as the most popular Telugu actress of the 1990s and is best known for her performances in films such as Ammoru (1995), Pavitra Bandham (1996), Anthahpuram (1998), Raja (1999), Doni Saagali (1998), Dweepa (2002) and Apthamitra (2004).

• Her father was a Kannada film writer and producer.

• She discontinued her M.B.B.S. after her first year in Bangalore.

• In 1992, 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.

• Soundarya’s first film in Telugu was Rajendrudu Gajendrudu, directed by S. V. Krishna Reddy.

• Telugu actor Venkatesh once described her as “a thorough actress” of Indian cinema.

• In her first hit in Telugu, in 1993, she acted in the leading role alongside Rajendra Prasad in Rajendrudu Gajendrudu, directed by S. V. Krishna Reddy.

• She made more than 100 movies, predominantly in Telugu, in a span of 12 years.

• 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 an award-winning role in Ammoru, directed by Kodi Ramakrishna.
• She starred alongside Ramya Krishna and Suresh where she played the role of Bhavani, a devotee of Goddess Ammoru.

• She got major acclaim with Ponnumani, starring with Karthik and Sivakumar. She played the role of a mentally disabled person and received good reviews for her acting.

• According to D. Ramanaidu, the “Most Beautiful Pairs of Telugu cinema” are NTR, Savitri, ANR, Vanisri, Daggubati Venkatesh, and Soundarya.

• Soundarya had eleven releases in 1995.

• In Tamil, she got major acclaim for her debut film Ponnumani, opposite Karthik and Sivakumar for playing the role of a mentally disabled person.

• In Tamil, she was introduced in 1995 by Director R. V. Udayakumar in Ponnumani starring opposite actor Karthik.

• She worked with Tamil super-stars in films such as Arunachalam and Padayappa with Rajinikanth and Kaadhala Kaadhala, with Kamal Haasan.

• 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.

• In 1998 the critical success of Choodalani Vundi, directed by Gunasekhar, opposite Chiranjeevi took her to the pinnacle.

• She also starred alongside Kamal Haasan and Prabhudeva in Kaathala Kaathala in Tamil in the same year, dubbed in Telugu as Navvandi Lavvandi, directed by Singeetam Srinivas Rao.

• Her movies Pelli Peetalu and Sri Ramulayya, Ninne Premistha in Telugu, and Doni Saagali in Kannada were commercially successful.

• Her other releases, Padayappa opposite Rajinikanth, Azad opposite Nagarjuna and Premaku Velayera, Premaku Swagatam, and Arundhati further solidified her position.

• In the year 1999, she starred opposite Amitabh Bachchan in the Hindi movie Sooryavansham.

• She also made guest appearances in songs – with Akkineni Nageswara Rao in Mayabazar, directed by Dasari Narayana Rao, in Adhipathi, with Nagarjuna, and in Shubhalagnam, with Ali.

• Her impressive body of work included over 100 films.

• Though 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 the teamwork between 36 departments.

• Her last film was Apthamitra, a runaway hit starring Vishnuvardhan and Ramesh Arvind.

• Soundarya joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the year 2004.

• On 17 April 2004, Soundarya died in an aircraft crash along with her brother Amarnath while travelling to Karimnagar from Bengaluru during an election campaign to support Bharatiya Janata Party, which she had joined that year.

• It has been revealed that Soundarya, moments before boarding the ill-fated flight, expressed her desire to wear KumKum (a traditional red powder) and cotton sarees..