Mamta Mohandas

The Indian name Mohandas is a patronymic, not a family name; thus, the person should be referred to by her given name, "Mamta".

Mamta Mohandas is an Indian film actress and playback singer who predominantly works in Malayalam films along with a Telugu and Tamil productions . She has won several allocades including two Filmfare Awards South, for Best Female Playback Singer in Telugu in 2006 and for Best Actress in Malayalam in 2010 and also Kerala State Film Awards for Second Best Actress in 2010.

Early life

Mamta Mohandas was born on 14 November 1985 to Ambalappat Mohandas and Ganga into a Malayali family which originally hails from Kannur (Kerala). She attended the Indian School, Bahrain until 2002 and is an alumna of the School. She pursued a Bachelor's degree at Mount Carmel College Bangalore. She modeled for print ads for companies such as IBM and Kalyan Kendra and modeled on the ramp for the Mysore Maharajah and Raymonds. Mamta is trained in Karnatic and Hindustani music.^[3][4]

Career

Mamta debuted in the 2005 Malayalam film Mayookham, directed by Hariharan. Although the film did not do well at the box office, Mamta attracted attention for her sensitive portrayal of Indira.^[5]

Subsequently, she acted alongside Mammootty in Bus Conductor, with Suresh Gopi in the films Adbutham (2006) and Lanka (2006), and alongside Jayaram in Madhuchandralekha (2006). She also played the female lead in Baba Kalyani with Mohanlal. Later that year, she débuted in the Tamil film industry, starring in the Karu Pazhaniappan directed film Sivappathigaram opposite Vishal (actor), which turned out to be an average grosser.

In 2007 she acted with Mammootty in the blockbuster film Big B. She eventually stepped into the Telugu film industry as well, when she appeared in a supporting role in the film Yamadonga, directed by SS Rajamouli. The film became one of the biggest hits of the year. She had lent her voice for a couple of songs in this film too. In 2008, she appeared in 7 films, predominantly in Telugu-language films. Her first release was her début Kannada film Gooli. She then starred in the film Krishnarjuna, playing the lead female role, which did not do well at the box office. Victory was her next assignment as lead actress, but that film also failed at the box office, following which she appeared in a cameo role in her only Tamil release that year, Kuselan, alongside Tamil superstar Rajinikanth. Three more Telugu releases featured Mamta, including Homam, directed by JD Chakravarthy and Srinu Vaitla's King opposite Nagarjuna. In both these films she also performed as a playback singer in several songs.

In 2009, she starred in the comedy film Guru En Aalu alongside Madhavan, and the thriller Passenger, sharing screen space with Dileep and Sreenivasan, respectively. While the former had an average run at the box office, the latter was declared a surprise sleeper hit in Malayalam. The film 'Passenger' in which she played the role of a television reporter 'Anuradha', became a turning point in Mamta's career.Mamta was initially approached to play the lead role in the 2009 Telugu dark fantasy "Arundathi".But she refused the offer and the movie later went on to become one of the highest grosser that year. In 2010, she worked with Jayaram in the critically acclaimed Kadha Thudarunnu directed by Sathyan Anthikkad, for which she won her first Best Actress Award from Filmfare. This film also won her the 'Vanitha award for best actress – Malayalam', the 'Mathrubhumi award for best actress – Malayalam' and the 'Asianet award for the best actress- Malayalam '. Other projects in 2010 included Musafir with Rahman, Anwar with Prithiviraj, and Kedi with Nagarjuna. Mamta's first film in 2011 was the Malayalam film Race, in which she played the role of Niya, wife of a cardio surgeon Abey (Kunchacko Boban). The film failed to do well at the box office.^[6] Her next release in Malayalam was Naayika.^[7] In 2012, Mamta appeared in her third Tamil film, Thadaiyara Thaakka directed by Magizh Thirumeni.^[8] In 2013 she starred in Paisa Paisa with Indrajith. In 2014 she starred in To Noora with Love in which she plays a Muslim character.^[9] She has made a comeback to Malayalam movie industry with Ranjith Shankar's Mammooty starrer "Varsham". She shared her screen space again with Dileep in "Two Countries" after doing a box office hit movie with him named "My Boss" In 2016, she starred opposite to Mammootty in Thoppil Joppan and she also signed a movie Baby sitter alongside Biju Menon. In early 2017, she signed Crossroad (2017 film) an anthology film in which she plays an orthodox Muslim. She also appeared in an extended cameo in Udaharanam Sujatha with Manju Warrier. In mid 2017,she signed Detroit Crossing aka Ranam opposite to Prithviraj but had to opt out because she did not have fresh dates to allocate for the project.

Other work

In 2012, Mamta starting working in television too, hosting the quiz show Kayyil Oru Kodi on Surya TV. It was later cancelled.^[11] She also judged the popular show D 4 Dance.

Mamta was the brand ambassador of Kochi International Fashion Week (KIWF) which was held from 4 to 7 August. She is the brand ambassador along with actress Bhavana for team Kerala Strikers for the Celebrity Cricket League (CCL) held in 2013, captained by Mohanlal, who is also one of the owners of the team, and vice-captain Indrajith.

Television

Personal life

Mamta got engaged to Prajith Padmanabhan, a Bahrain-based businessman on 11 November 2011. They got married on 28 December 2011 in Kozhikode.^[12] On 12 December 2012, the couple applied for divorce.^[13]

Mamta is a cancer survivor, and is known to have battled Hodgkin's lymphoma from 2010.^[14] In April 2013, she had a relapse of the cancer and underwent treatment.^[15] She is currently residing in Downtown Los Angeles as a part of her cancer treatment.^[2]

Awards

Kerala State Film Awards

• 2010: Second Best Actress – Kadha Thudarunnu

Asianet Film Awards

• 2010: Best Popular Actress – Kadha Thudarunnu
• 2010: Nominated - Best Actress - Kadha Thudarunnu
• 2013: Best Popular Actress – My Boss

Filmfare Awards South

• 2006: Won- Best Female Playback Singer in Telugu – Rakhi
• 2009: Nominated- Best Actress – Passenger
• 2010: Won- Best Actress – Kadha Thudarunnu
• 2013: Nominated- Best Actress – Arike
• 2013: Nominated- Best Playback Singer – Female - Arike
• 2014: Nominated- Best Actress – Celluloid
• 2016: Nominated- Best Actress – Two Countries

Vanitha Film Awards

• 2010: Best Actress – Kadha Thudarunnu
• 2016: Best Star Pair - Two Countries

IIFA Utsavam

• Nominated - 2017: Best Playback Singer - Female -Aadupuliyattam

Asiavision Awards

• Nominated - 2013: Best Actress -Celluloid, My Boss^[16]
• Won - 2016 : Woman of the Year
• Won - 2017 : Pride of South India

2nd South Indian International Movie Awards

• Nominated - 2013: Best Female Playback Singer – Arike
• 2016: Nominated- Best Actress – Two Countries

Mathrubhumi-Kalyan Silks Chalachitra awards

• 2010: Best Actress – Kadha Thudarunnu^[17]

Kerala Film Critics Association Awards

• 2005: Best Debut Actress – Mayookham
• 2012: Second Best Actress – Celluloid

Asianet Comedy Awards

• 2016-Best Actress - Two Countries

Other awards

• 2013: The Pearl Malayalam Film Award for Second Best Actress – Celluloid

Filmography

References

External links

• Mamta Mohandas on IMDb