Padmapriya is a Tamil beauty and is popular in Malayalam, Telugu, and Tamil film industry. She is very popular for her beauty and her great asset is her face which can be set to give a very regional look depending upon the language, such as she looks like a typical Malayalaee girl in Kerala movies while transform herself completely to a local Tamil girl. She can easily be identified as a Kannadiga girl or Manavadu girl of Andhra Pradesh in any of her roles. Besides, her dancing skill further ensures her good roles in movies and she is able to rightly express the emotions in the character.
She is the daughter of Brig (Retd) V.K. Janakiraman and Mrs. Vijaya Janakiraman. Priya, as called by her friends and family members, is an MBA finance graduate at Kirloskar Institute of Advanced Management Studies. She has a brother Prabhakar Janakiraman who lives in the USA. She has worked with General Electric for three years as a risk consultant in Bangalore and in Gurgaon. She has also won Miss. Andhra Pradesh in 2001.
Padmapriya started learning dance at the age of six under the guidance of famous guru Natya Brahma V.S. Ramamurthy. She has become a famous danseuse and until now she has more than 200 performances to her credit. Her Krishna Leela Ballet, where she performed the role of Lord Krishna for Hyderabad Doordarshan in 1990 is telecast even today on almost all Krishna Jayanti festivals and was specially chosen for the SAARC exchange program - she also featured in Nritya Rupam, an innovative choreography by Jayalakshmi Eshwar at Delhi, which was also specially telecast by Delhi Doordarshan.
Career in Movies
Padmapriya made her debut role in Telugu film Seenu Vaasanthi Lakshmi in which she played the role of sexually exploited poor sister of a blind brother. This film was a remake of famous Malayalam film Vasanthiyum, Lakshmiyum pinne gnaanum which later again remade in Tamil as Kaasi. Her role of a poor girl was noticed by erstwhile assistant of Padmarajan Blessy, who was looking for a fresh face to act opposite to superstar Mammooty for his off-beat film Kaazhcha. This is a non-glamorous role of a mother of three, and how they struggled to accommodate another child from Gujarat earth quakes. This movie hit box office, and her roles praised by masses thus, she became the favorite actress in the western coasts of Malabar. Kaazhcha went on to become an off-beat classic in the history of Malayalam cinema.
She never looked back and went on performing in Sibi Malayil's Amritham opposite Jayaram, where she played the role of a Muslim girl falls in love with a Hindu. In the year 2005, she was also appeared as a heroine in blockbuster movie Rajamanikyam. Her other remarkable roles are in movies like Vadakkumnathan, Ashwaroodan, a movie based on social activist Ajitha's life. She was seen acting with Mammooty again in her 2006 released Karuthapakshi and with Sreenivasan in the Film Yes your Honor She has made a successful contribution in Tamil cinema as well. Director Cheran’s Thavamai thavamirunthu was a big hit. Her next successful role was in Pattiyal a film directed by Visnuvardhan in which she paired with Arya. Her upcoming movie in Tamil is Vasanth's Sattham Podathey where she will act opposite to Kerala & Tamil Nadu heartthrob Prithviraj.
Now this stunning actress will soon make her debut in Bollywood in a movie called Striker (2008) focused on carom players. In this movie she will star opposite to young Siddharth playing the male lead.
