Indraja (actress)

Indraja, whose real name is Rajathi, was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu in a Carnatic musical family. She is the eldest of three sisters, the other two being Bharathi and Sobha. During school days, she won prizes in singing and drama competitions. A trained classical singer and dancer, she learned Kuchipudi dance form Madhavapeddi Murthy.[2] She was preparing to be a journalist.[4][5] She hosted TV shows like Thaka Dhimi Tha.

Indraja was cast as a child actress in Rajinikanth-starrer Uzhaippali movie. With Jantar Mantar, her first movie as a grown-up, she adopted the name of her character in that movie, 'Indraja' as her stage name. Later, S. V. Krishna Reddy's Yamaleela catapulted her to instant stardom. The film ran for over a year.[2] She acted in Thadayam and Rajavin Parvaiyile but she was not able to make much headway in Tamil movies, as both movies failed to make an impact at the box office.[2]

She played the female lead roles in a number of successful Malayalam films, such as the 1999 action drama Ustaad alongside Mohanlal, crime thriller F.I.R alongside Suresh Gopi, 2002 comedy-drama Chronic Bachelor alongside Mammootty, 2004 comedy drama Mayilattam opposite Jayaram, and 2005 action drama Ben Johnson alongside Kalabhavan Mani are some of her most notable Malayalam films. After a hiatus post her marriage, she has returned to movies with some notable roles in several Telugu movies.

Indraja is married to stand up actor Mohammed Absar on 7 September 2005. The couple have a daughter.[6]

• Indraja on IMDb