Suparna Anand – ‘Vaishali’ of Malayalam cinema

Suparna Anand is a former Malayalam actress of late 1980s and early 1990s who played lead roles in classic hits – Vaishali and Njan Gandharvan. She played Anil Kapoor’s sister in Bollywood blockbuster Tezaab and was seen in the megahit song, Ek Do Teen. She was formerly married to her Vaishali co-star, Sanjay Mitra during 1996 – 2008.Though she appeared in a few Bollywood films, it was her appearance in quite a few Malayalam movies which gave her stardom.

Suparna Anand was born into a business family of Delhi in 1969. She started her film journey as a child artist in Hindi and Gujarati films in the late 1970s, and got promoted to adult roles in 1986. She stayed in cine world till 1997 before she settled with married life. When she got her first Malayalam offer through Vaishali, film shooting of Tezaab was already started, and both the films got released in 1988. Bharathan offered her Vaishali the next day of her 16^th birthday. She gained recognition in Malayalam cinema because of her physical features and good looks, along with her acting skills.

The titular role of Vaishali proved to be a turning point of both her personal and professional lives, as she married her co-star Sanjay Mitra. She also received more offers from Malayalam cinema after the success of this film. Yet after appearing in 4 hit films in a row, she said good bye to Malayalam cinema. Though she dreamt a magical journey in Bollywood, she got only supporting roles, and was last seen in Aastha: In the Prison of Spring, released in 1997.

Suparna Anand – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. She started her career when she was 6 years old as a child artist and signed her first lead role when she turned 16.

2. Her father gifted her a new home on the 16^th birthday party in Mumbai, as she was pursuing a career in Bollywood. The next day morning Malayalam director Bharathan visited her at the new residence in the early morning, and gave her the once-in-a-lifetime titular role of Vaishali. She accepted the role in the afternoon though she was a bit reluctant because of unknown language.

Indraneelimayolum song from Vaisali

3. Both her classic Malayalam films – Vaishali and Njan Gandharvan also came into spotlight because of some bold sequences filmed in the movies, which is not so frequent in Malayalam films.

4. The first scene she shot for Vaishali was a lip kissing scene for Indraneelimayolum song, which appears in the film climax. At that time Suparna and Sanjay Mitra were only strangers and newcomers to industry, and they took 4 or 5 retakes.

5. Vaisali marked screen debut of Sanjay Mitra, while Suparna had already appeared in a few Bollywood films.

6. Both her memorable roles – Vaishali and Njan Gandharvan had a tragic end with lead character having separation from lover, and both are included in the list of most memorable unsuccessful love stories of Malayalam cinema ever.

7. Suparna Anand and Sanjay Mitra have done one Bengali film together in 1991 titled Ananda Niketan. Their friendship grew closer after this movie, and they got married in 1996. They have two children. Now they are settled with different life partners.

8. She prefers a calm and peaceful life away from limelight and currently settled in Delhi with her second husband. She has stayed away from media after her first marriage with Sanjay Mitra.

9. She appeared in just 5 Malayalam movies in her entire career – Utharam, Nagarathil Chennu Raaparkkaam, Witness, Vaishali and Njan Gandharvan and these films were commercially successful. Yet those 5 roles were sufficient enough to give her stardom and also the effect of doing more than 100 films.   

10. Njan Gandharvan was her last movie in Malayalam, after which she left Malayalam film industry. It was also Nitish Bharadwaj’s single Malayalam release. Just like the unexpected death of its director Padmarajan soon after film’s release, the lead pair also left the industry.

11. She has done one movie in Tamil titled Dravidian in a supporting role in 1989.

12. She took over her father’s interior and furniture business and currently busy with her second career choice after acting. She lost her father at a younger age.

13. 10 years after their divorce Suparna Anand and Sanjay Mitra shared screen space for the first time for a celebrity chat show Onnum Onnum Moonnu hosted by Rimi Tomy in 2019, and they enacted romantic scenes of Vaishali for audience, 30 years after the release of the film. They also appeared together for an award function of Asianet television earlier.

14. Her second husband is into real estate business.

15. “Palapoove” and “Devi” of Njan Gandharvan and “Indraneelimayolum”, “Indupushpam” and “”Theduvathethoru” of Vaishali are some of the evergreen Malayalam songs filmed on Suparna.