Sethu Lakshmi – Popular character artist of Malayalam cinema

Sethu Lakshmi is a very popular and state award winning character artist of Malayalam cinema. She hails from Thiruvananthapuram, and also owns decades of experience in the field of theatre. She also appears in television. She won the prestigious Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actress for ‘‘How Old Are You’’ in 2014 and also Asiavision Awards for best supporting actress for the same. Her role as co-passenger of Manju Warrier is memorable. She is a permanent fixture in Sathyan Anthikad films in the recent past, and is a recipient of 4 Kerala State Theatre Awards, two for best actress and two for supporting roles.

Sethu Lakshmi hails from Nilakal in the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram city. Hers was a love marriage, when she fell in love with her makeup artist Arjunan while working in theatre. Following opposition from family, she eloped with her lover. In 2005 she began her active career in films through Iruvattam Manavaatti. She was earlier seen in a brief role in 1990 film, Ee Kanni Koodi, and thus she returned to films after a break of 15 years. She joined television in 2006 with the show, Suryodayam.

The versatile actress handles both emotional and comic roles with ease. In 2018 her comic role as Biju Menon’s mother in Padayottam earned her a lot of accolades. She portrays various kinds of character roles on screen and is known for natural acting. Now she is quite busy in cine field. Thattumpurath Achuthan, Aami, Mohanlal, Sunday Holiday, Left Right Left, Pulimurugan, Aadu 2 etc are a few more noted roles. Bharya, Thatteem Mutteem, Aliyan VS Aliyan etc are some of her television roles.

Sethu Lakshmi – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. How Old Are You is one of the memorable roles of her career, and later she reprised the same role in its Tamil version, 36 Vayadhinile.

2. She has 4 children, and all are artists associated with their home theatre troupe – Chirayinkeezhu Anugraha.

3. Though associated with theatre for many years, like some of the popular screen mothers of today, she made late entry to films.

4. She played supporting roles in Sathyan Anthikad’s films Rasathanthram, Vinodayathra and Bhagyadevatha.

5. She has a great passion of dancing and has completed Natana Bhooshan in 1963 from Swathi Thirunal College of Music.

6. Her son Kishore has been ailing with kidney issues for many years, and most recently she received help from all corners for his treatment. She openly asked help from others through Facebook. Sethu Lakshmi also got a heart attack when his condition was critical. Actress Ponnamma Babu came forward to give him a kidney, but it was not possible as she had age related health issues.