Meera Vasudevan – Indian film actress best known for her lead role in ‘Thanmathra’

Meera Vasudevan is an Indian actress and model, who works in movies and television. She has appeared in Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu language films, and is best known for playing Mohanlal’s wife Lekha in National award winning movie, ‘Thanmathra’ released in 2005. She marked her screen debut with 2003 Bollywood rom-com Rules: Pyaar Ka Superhit Formula playing lead role opposite Milind Soman, and later moved towards south. Though her entry to south Indian films was impressive, she couldn’t sustain in the film industry, and then moved to television. After a hiatus she has now returned to big screen.

Rules: Pyaar Ka Superhit Formula marked Meera’s screen debut in 2003

Meera Vasudevan was born in Mumbai in year 1982 into a Tamil family. Both her parents worked in government sector. She started her modelling career during her academic years, and also appeared in TV ads. She became a part of ICC Setmax campaign, which opened doors to cine world. The ad campaign, Om Crickataye Namah was an instant hit. As a film actress she marked her screen debut with 2003 movie, Rules: Pyaar Ka Superhit Formula, which flopped at box office. Same year she marked her Telugu debut with Golmaal and Tamil debut with Unnai Saranadainthen. Her Tamil movie opened to critical acclaim and she bagged Tamil Nadu State Film Special Award for Best Actress.

Thanmathra is Meera’s most memorable role till now

She played the memorable role of the wife of an Alzheimer’s patient in ‘Thanmathtra’. A screen shot from “Mele Vellithingal” song

She continued working in Hindi, Tamil and Telugu films, and also marked her screen debut in Malayalam cinema through Thanmathra in 2005. Though she appeared in many Malayalam movies later, she is still recognized for this single role by Malayali film audience. But later she witnessed commercial failures one after other, mainly because of wrong choice of roles. She appeared in more than 25 films before choosing the medium to television.

She appeared in Malayalam movies such as Decent Parties, Vairam: Fight For Justice, 916, Gulmohar, Ekantham, Orkkuka Vallappozhum, Kakki, Oruvan etc, mostly playing lead role. She played the supporting role of Naina in Saif Ali Khan starrer Thodi Life Thoda Magic, and played lead role in sports fantasy film, Chain Kulii Ki Main Kulii and family drama, Jaadu Sa Chal Gayaa. Kathi Kappal, Jerry etc are her Tamil releases.

She won Kerala State TV Award For Best Actress for Kanalpoovu in 2007

Her television career began with 2002 Hindi series, Devi, where she played the character role of Uma. She also appeared in Sanjoy and Shagun, before she bagged her first Bollywood film. In 2006 she played lead role aside Seetha in Tamil drama Penn, which earned her a lot of fans. The following year she joined Malayalam small screen through Kanalpoovu. After that she took a break from entertainment industry, and returned to big screen in 2016 after her second divorce. Though she appeared in many movies, all of them went unnoticed. Now she has a handful of Malayalam projects such as Krithi, Silencer, Appuvinte Sathyanweshanam, Thakkol etc.

Meera Vasudevan – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. She was married twice, and both resulted in divorce. First relationship came to end following domestic violence and the second separation happened because of personal indifferences. She has one son from second marriage, and she brings him up as a single mother.

2. She was first married to the son of cinematographer Ashok Kumar in 2005. After legal separation she remarried Malayalam actor John Kokken in 2016. The relationship lasted for only 4 years.

3. Her younger sister Ashwini has appeared as a child artist in Bollywood films in the 1990s. She is best known for her performance in Jaanam Samjha Karo.

4. She was just 22 years old when she played mother to 18 year old boy in Thanmathra.

5. After she gained immense popularity in Mollywood soon after the release of Thanmathra, offers came pouring in. However language became a main problem, and she appointed a manager who used her name for personal gains. In her opinion it was a wrong choice made. Believing his words, she signed many projects which were huge flops. He also diverted many of her projects to other artists, which damaged her career.

6. At the age of 16 she was a bookworm suffering from obesity issues. When she reached college she started directing plays and also dance choreographies. Suddenly she took decision to join films and reduced body weight. She reached films through modelling.

7. Post-delivery, her weight reached 95 kilos in 2014. Through strict regimes and hard work she reduced 35 kilos. Now also she gives extra care for exercises.

8. She is a story teller who creates new stories for her son. He gives her two or three characters, and doing sleep time she tells a story connecting these characters. She wants to publish all these stories as a children’s book.