Dr. Chaithanya Unni – Medical entrepreneur and child artist of Malayalam cinema 1980s

Dr. Chaithanya Unni is a medical entrepreneur and a classical dancer. She is the maternal great-great-granddaughter of Malayalam’s great novelist O. Chandu Menon, author of Indulekha, the first major Malayalam novel. She came to limelight when she presented the novel on stage in art form on the occasion of 130^th anniversary celebration of the novel. She is an entrepreneur too, who owns 8 Day hospitals at Queensland, Australia and 3 cardiology specialist centres. She is known to public as a general practitioner and skin specialist. Actress Monisha Unni is her maternal first cousin.

Chaithanya Unni is the winner of Kerala state film award for best child artist

She was born into a family of intellectuals and artists. A descendent of great Malayalam writer O. Chandu Menon, many of her family members are classical dancers too. She grew up listening to the fairy tales told by her grandmother. She is now a dermatologist settled in Gold Coast, Australia.

She has worked as a child artist in Malayalam movies in the 1980s. She was only 3.5 years old when she bagged her debut film, Ee Thanalil Ithiri Neram in 1985. Her name was credited as Baby Chaithanya in the film, where she shared screen space with Mammootty, Rahman, Shobhana and Rohini. Baby Shalini was originally assigned this role. But when she impressed the film crew with her singing and dancing skills, she was roped in.

Since then she played a child artist in around 20 movies of 1980s which include Adhyayam Onnum Muthal, Thalasthanam, T. P. Balagopalan M. A etc. In 1988 she bagged Kerala state film award for best child artist for the movie, Ormayil Ennum. She started dreaming to pursue a career in psychiatry during her teens.

She graduated in Medicine from Kozhikode Medical College

She completed MBBS from Kozhikode Medical College, and moved to UK for advanced studies in 2004. Though she initially enrolled for psychiatry, later she studied Dermatology and Diabetics care in London. She married Dr. Ameer from Malappuram, and the couple decided to settle in Queensland in Australia in 2010.

It took a lot of hardships to set up their clinic and hospital. Initially the couple started a 2-room family medicine centre and started practising general medicine and dermatology full-time. Initially they gave preference to general medicine. Along with it she conducted research works on how to improve skin tone and developed exfoliation device. She appeared as a model for the marketing of their new product, and started sales through teleshopping.

Now her brand owns a wide range of skin care products which include – Anti-wrinkle creams, products to protect skin from pimples, anti-aging products. She also serves as a member of Australia-India Business Council of Queensland. She created Chandu Menon’s magic on stage after 130 years, which earned her immense popularity from art lovers.

Chaithanya Unni – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. She is the first cousin of Malayalam’s popular deceased actress, Monisha Unni. Her father is the younger brother of Sreedevi, Monisha’s mother.

2. She shared screen space with her cousin sister Monisha in the movie, Thalasthanam.

3. She is married to Dr. Ameer and has two sons.

4. She is known as Tania in Australia.

5. Her name was listed among top 100 entrepreneurs in ‘Young Entrepreneurs of the Year 2019’ of Australian Business News Community.