Sumalatha

Sumalatha (born 27 August, 1963) is a popular Indian film actress, best known for her role in Malayalam-language film Thoovanathumbikal. Born in Chennai, she was raised in Mumbai and Andhra Pradesh and remains based in southern India.Sumalatha began acting at age 15, after winning an Andhra Pradesh beauty contest.

Filmography

Sumalatha has appeared in Malayalam films including Thazhvaram, Izabella, New Delhi, and No.20 Madras Mail. Her most famous role was in Thoovanathumbikal, directed by Padmarajan. Sumalatha played aspiring sex worker Clara, opposite Mohanlal's well-heeled bachelor Jayakrishnan. The film's plot centres on an encounter between the two, which transforms Jayakrishnan's hypocritical double-life as a family man and playboy.

Personal life

Sumalatha reportedly speaks six languages, and has acted in four.[2] She is married to veteran actor and Karnataka politician Ambareesh, and is a close friend of actress Suhasini Maniratnam, her co-star in a Telugu movie. The friendship between the two provided the material for a candid scene in the film, when director Kodandarami Reddy noticed Suhasini combing Sumalatha's long hair on the train journey to the film set. Reddy asked his cameraman, Ashok Reddy, to film the two, and added the scene to the movie's final cut.

She has acted in a handful of Telugu films. She co-starred with Chiranjeevi in Swayamkrushi, Veta, Kaidhi and Agnigundam. She even acted in the film Sri Manjunatha directed by the veteran K.Raghavendra Rao. Incidentally she acted along with her husband Ambareesh.Her last movie in Telugu is Boss(27 Sep 2006). She played Sreya's mother role in that movie.She also appeared in a Kannada movie Kallarali Hoovagi with her husband, which went on to win a National Award.