Vyshnavi Kalyani – Malayalam actress of ‘Ponman’ fame

Vyshnavi Kalyani is a budding actress of Malayalam cinema. In 2025 she gained recognition through her brief role as Chris Soniya (Mariyano’s younger sister) in the highly appreciated box office hit, Ponman (2025). She also appeared in Sree Dhanya Catering Service (2022), Adhinayakavadham (2024) and Pantham.

Vyshnavi Kalyani’s mother is a former theatre artist

Vyshnavi’s mother is a stage actress. She grew up in a theatre atmosphere, watching stage plays and slowly developed interest towards acting. Her maternal grandfather also owned a theatre group named Kollam Avani. Her mother appeared in mythology ballets in elderly characters and Vyshnavi grew up watching it. However some turning points in her life during graduation days distanced her from this art form and acting. Again during Covid pandemic days, she became active in social media through Tick Tok, Instagram reels etc. It helped her to bag the first Malayalam film.

It was in a blink of an eye role

She was called saying it’s a character role. But she got a passing shot, where she appeared as a bride in a song sequence ‘Unakka Munthiri’ for a few seconds. Though her role was short around 10-15 seconds, she was happy seeing her face on big screen. Also she was pleased to be a part of the crew. Then she bagged her first lead role through Malayalam movie 2 BHK, which went unnoticed.

Earlier, during auditions, she used to receive criticism because of her dark skin complexion and for being short. She often feels disheartened hearing such negative and heart-breaking words. Then Jeo Baby called her for the audition of Sree Dhanya Catering Service. The director who wanted a simpleton girl for the role, spotted her through the reels she posted in social media. Initially she was not confident enough to take the role. The director recited the famous poetry, ‘Pokkamillaymayaanente Pokkam’ of Kunjunni Mash, and she accepted the role instantly.

She got Ponman through audition

Kollam is her hometown. When she got a character based on Kollam, she could easily relate it. As she speaks in Kollam dialect, it helped the film’s director Jothish Shankar a lot. Her smile was also a plus point for this realistic character. She played Steffi Graf’s (played by Lijomol Jose) sister-in-law in this film. Vyshnavi is her real name. As there are many actresses in the industry with the same name, she added her grandmother Kalyani’s name to Vyshnavi.

Pantham is her upcoming release. She also did brief role in Shukran and a negative role in Anthya Kumbasaram. She has acted in a Tamil film, Mariyam which tells the survival story of a Sri Lankan girl. She is currently pursuing MA in Women’s Studies at Mother Theresa’s University, along with her acting career.