Ambika
Ambika in 2014
Born	Kallara, Thiruvananthapuram,Kerala,India
Years active	1976–1989 (as a leading actress) 1997–present (as a supporting artist)
Spouse	Premkumar ​ ​ (m. 1988; div. 1996)​
Family	Radha (sister)
Awards	Kalaimaamani (1984)

Ambika is an Indian actress known for her work predominantly across the entire southern film industry and in several tele serials. She has also acted in an English film (Indian-American), to date. She was one of the top South Indian heroines for more than a decade from 1976 to 1989. Her younger sisterRadha was also an actress. They acted together in a number of South Indian films during the peak of their career.^[1] The sisters runs a movie studio called 'ARS Studios', which they converted into a hotel complex in 2013.^[2]

Ambika was born to Kallara Kunjan Nair and Sarasamma atKallara, Thiruvananthapuram.^[3] Her mother Kallara Sarasamma was Mahila Congress leader during 2014.^[4] She has two younger sisters,Radha and Mallika, and two younger brothers, Arjun and Suresh.^{[citation needed]}

Ambika married an NRI, named Premkumar Menon in 1988. The couple has two sons and was settled in theUnited States. However, they divorced in 1996.^[5] She is currently settled inChennai with her sons.^[6]

Ambika started her career as a child artist in Malayalam cinema in 1976 with the filmChottanikkara Amma and later starred as a heroine in more than 200South Indian films. Her career as a heroine started with theMalayalam movieSeetha, which was released very late in her career. But with films such asNeelathaamara andLejjavathi, she became a busy actress within a few years not only in Malayalam,^[7] but also inTamil,Kannada andTelugu films.^{[citation needed]}

Ambika made her debut in Tamil in 1979 with the filmChakkalathi. Ambika's role as a young girl inK Bhagyaraj's Tamil filmAndha 7 Naatkal grabbed the eyeballs of movie buffs. In 1984 she acted inNaan Paadum Paadal directed by Sundarrajan which had Sivakumar, Mohan and Pandiyan in lead roles.^[8] Ambika shot to fame withKaakki Sattai (1985). At the zenith of her career she costarred with her sisterRadha inKadhal Parisu (1987), where both actresses demonstrated their acting prowess in the roles of two sisters, both with strong but conflicting personalities.^[9]

In 1986, she acted in the commercially successful Malayalam movieRajavinte Makan, which starredMohanlal. It was Ambika who got paid more than Mohanlal in the movieRajavinte Makan. Ambika was a busier and more popular than Mohanlal at that time.^[10] She also acted with him the following year in another box office hitIrupatham Noottandu.

The 1980s were the golden era for Ambika, as she acted in over she acted in over 200 movies in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, and Kannada, and most of the films were box office hits.^[11] Ambika did many films with the leading actors of her time such asKamal Haasan,Rajinikanth,Vijayakanth,Sathyaraj,Mammootty, Mohanlal,Dileep,Shankar,N. T. Rama Rao,Krishna,Krishnam Raju,Dr. Rajkumar,Ambareesh andChiranjeevi.^[12]

After getting divorced, she returned to India from the U.S. Later in the year 1997, she started acting again in the filmsPeriya Manushan,Simhada Mari, andMaa Nannaku Pelli. She acted inVikraman's projectMariyadhai (2009), in which Vijayakanth played the double roles of father and son. Unlike Ambika, her younger sisterRadha never returned to movies after marriage and got completely engrossed in supporting her husband's business in different locations, across all Indian cities.^{[citation needed]}

She has acted in manyadvertisements. She is adesigner too.^[13] She has also judged manyreality shows.^[14] She has been playing the lead role in the serialMrs. Hitler aired on Zee Tamil TV, and also made a special appearance in the role of a senior government officer named Vanitha in the serialAnbe Vaa which aired on Sun TV.^[15] She made a cameo in the television serialMangalyam. She also took on the role of judge in the reality showDrama Juniors.^[16]

In order of languages in which she acted the most to the fewest films.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toAmbika (actress).

• Ambika atIMDb
• Ambika at MSN

• Indian film actresses
• Living people
• Actresses from Thiruvananthapuram
• Actresses in Tamil cinema
• Actresses in Malayalam cinema
• Actresses in Kannada cinema
• 20th-century Indian actresses
• 21st-century Indian actresses
• Indian television actresses
• Actresses in Malayalam television
• Actresses in Tamil television
• Actresses in Kannada television
• Actresses in Telugu cinema
• Actresses in Telugu television
• Child actresses in Malayalam cinema

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