Kalyani Priyadarshan – Star Kid & South Indian Actress of ‘Varane Aavashyamundu’ fame

Kalyani Priyadarshan is a promising young actress of South Indian cinema, and the daughter of veteran filmmaker Priyadarshan, and his former wife, Lissy, popular actress of Malayalam cinema 1980s, best known for her works with Priyadarshan and Mohanlal. Kalyani worked as art director and production designer in south Indian film industry before foraying into acting, and her debut flick – Hello, where she played female lead opposite Akhil Akkineni bagged her Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut – South and SIIMA. In 2019 she marked her Tamil debut with hit film, Hero, in a lead role. In 2020 she made an impressive debut in Malayalam through ‘Varane Aavashyamundu’.

Kalyani Priyadarshan was born in Chennai into a family with strong filmy background. Her father Priyadarshan is a hitmaker of Malayalam and Bollywood films, and has also directed award winning Tamil movie, Kanchivaram. Her mother Lissy remained one of the most sought actresses of Malayalam cinema in the second half of 1980s. Her parents divorced in 2014. She has one younger brother, Sidharth. Kalyani completed her studies in Chennai, Singapore and New York. She did architecture designing from Parsons School of Design, New York.

After studies when she moved back to India, she joined film industry as an art director and production designer for a few years since 2013. In 2017 she marked a promising screen debut in a lead role through Telugu hit, Hello. Since then she worked in Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam films, and most of these times she tasted success. She played female lead in Telugu movies – Chitralahari and Ranarangam. With a single film, ‘Varane Aavashyamundu’ opposite Dulquer Salman, she became immensely popular among Malayalis.

She shares screen space with Mohanlal for Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham. Vineeth Sreenivasan’s Hridayam is her upcoming movies, where she shares screen space with Pranav Mohanlal. Since young she was almost sure that celluloid is her field, though she was not sure if she would become an actress, director or something else. She was inspired by Nazriya Nazim to become an actress. Now she dreams to go some good roles.

Kalyani Priyadarshan – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. Her nickname is Ammu.

2. Her first stint with theatre was doing her studies in Singapore, and moving back to India got involved with theatre and acting workshops.

3. Her stint with Indian movies started with Bollywood films as a production designer, and worked as assistant production designer for Hrithik Roshan starrer Krrish 3. She worked under Sabu Cyril.

4. Her stint with Tamil movies began in 2016 when she worked as assistant art director for Vikram starrer Iru Mugan.

5. Her debut movie in Malayalam ‘Varane Aavashyamundu’ marks debut of Dulquer Salman as a producer and Sathyan Anthikad’s son Anoop Anthikad as director.

6. Her younger brother Sidharth marks his debut with Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham directed by his father. He works as VFX supervisor for the movie, after completing graphics course from US.

7. Kalyani also appears in a guest role the film Marakkar: Arabikadalinte Simham, sharing screen space with Mohanlal’s son Pranav Mohanlal. It was her first shot for any Malayalam movie. Interestingly Mohanlal and her mother Lissy have worked in many hit movies, directed by her father.

8. Among her favourite Priyadarshan movies, Thenmavin Kombath stands first.

9. Her father is her best critic and guru, who teaches her even simple lessons of acting. They watch movies together, and he teaches her how to act, including the movement of hands. He pauses the video at different shots and teaches her in detail.

10. Though her father is her number one critic, her mother is her biggest fan – Kalyani says.

11. She shared screen space with her mother for a TV ad, where they appeared as bride and mother.

12. She dreams that hers would be a love marriage. Just like a romantic film, she believes that she would feel a spark in her heart when she meets that special person.