Rima Kallingal

Born in 1984 Thrissur, Rima Kallingal began practising dancing when she was three years old.[2] A dancer by profession, she has been a part of a dance company called Nritarutya and has had performances on national and international stages. She studied in Stanes Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School, Coonoor up to Fifth grade.[3] She completed her schooling from Chinmaya Vidyalaya, Thrissur, graduating in 2001. She holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Christ University, Bangalore.[4][5] She is also skilled in Taekwondo (Korean martial art), Chao (Manipuri martial art) and Kalari.[2]

She was a semi-finalist of the Asianet reality show Vodafone Thakadhimi. She moved to Bangalore to pursue a modelling career and later participated in the Miss Kerala beauty pageant, in which be she became the first runner-up, losing to Shree Thulasi in a tie-breaker.[6]

She was spotted by director Lal Jose on a magazine cover, who cast her for a goat herder role in a Tamil film Mazhai Varappoguthu.[7] The project didn't materialise, but she was offered the lead female character of Varsha by director Shyamaprasad for Ritu, which eventually marked her acting debut.[6] She was 25 when she acted in the film.[4]

In 2012, she acted in the film 22 Female Kottayam which became a big success,[4] commercially as well as critically.[8][9] She received praises[10] and won many awards for her portrayal of Tessa.[11] She also won the Kerala State Government award for Best Actress. After 22 Female Kottayam she told that she had made some mistakes in her career and stated "Yes, I have done a few films I never should have, but I am determined not to repeat those mistakes".[8]

In 2013, Rima turned television anchor with the Mazhavil Manorama show "Midukki".[12][13] Following which the Kerala Film Chamber imposed a ban on her which was revoked later.[14]

In 2014 she set up her own Dance institute Mamangam in Kochi, Kerala.

Rima married director Aashiq Abu on 1 November 2013, in a simple ceremony held in Kakkanad Registration office, Kochi. As part of the occasion, they donated Rs 1 million towards the welfare of poor cancer patients at the General Hospital, Ernakulam, and Rs 25,000 to meet a day's expense of the dietary kitchen at the hospital.[15][16][17][18]

On Kerala Piravi day, Kochi Music Foundation organised the musical event 'Karuna' at Rajiv Gandhi Indoor Stadium at Kadavanthra in Kochi promising that the proceedings from the event will be donated to the Chief Minister's Disaster Relief Fund (CMDRF) to help flood victims. The organisers of this fest included filmmaker Aashiq Abu, singer Shahabaz Aman, and music director Bijibal. However, an RTI document shared by state Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha secretary Sandeep G Varier on Facebook last week revealed that the Chief Minister's office was yet to receive the funds, sparking a controversy. Other members of the Kochi Music Foundation also included Aashiq Abu’s wife and actress Rima Kallingal, writer Syam Pushkaran and singer Sithara (Singer). They were widely critisied in social media.

Following the controversy, Ernakulam MP Hibi Eden, through a Facebook post, demanded that Aashiq Abu should make it public whether he has made payment to the government. Following this, Aahsiq Abu posted the image of the cheque for an amount of Rs 6.22 lakh to the Principal Secretary (Finance), CMDRF.The date of the cheque is 14.02.2020. It clearly shows that Rs 6.22 lakh was handed over to CMDRF only after the issue has become a controversy.[19]

• All films are in Malayalam, unless otherwise noted.

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