Meena
Meena at Viscosity Dance Academy Launch
Born	Meena Durairaj (1976-09-16)16 September 1976 (age 49) Madras,Tamil Nadu, India
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1982–present
Spouse	Vidyasagar ​ ​ (m. 2009; died 2022)​
Children	1

Meena Durairaj (born 16 September 1976), known professionally asMeena, is an Indian actress who predominantly works in South Indian films as well asHindi cinema. She is a classical dancer.^[1] Meena has acted inTamil,Telugu,Malayalam,Kannada, andHindi films. She became one of the most sought after actresses in the South Indian film industry in the '90s.^[2][3] Meena is also aplayback singer, TV show judge, and occasional dubbing artist.^[4] She has receivednumerous accolades, including twoFilmfare Awards South, threeTamil Nadu State Film Awards, twoNandi Award for Best Actress^[5][6][7] andCinema Express Awards. In 1998, she was honoured with theKalaimamani Award byGovernment of Tamil Nadu.^[8]

Meena was born on 16 September 1976^{[9][10][11][12]} and was brought up inChennai (then Madras),Tamil Nadu. Her mother Rajamallika is fromKannur district ofKerala.^[13][14]

Meena started her career in 1982 as a child artist in the filmNenjangal, featuringSivaji Ganesan in the lead role after he saw her at a birthday party.^[15] She has acted in several films along with Ganesan as a child artist.^[15] She has acted withRajinikanth in two movies namelyEnkeyo Ketta Kural andAnbulla Rajinikanth as a child artist.Anbulla Rajinikanth, in which she acted as a terminally ill child who warms up toRajinikanth —that became a major pointer in her career growth. Her debut in Malayalam as a child artist was in the movieOru Kochukatha Aarum Parayatha Katha, directed byP. G. Viswambharan. She appeared in over 45 films as a child.^[15]

Meena has been one of the top star pairs with every big star in South Indian movies.^[16] She made her debut in Telugu besidesRajendra Prasad inNavayugam in 1990. Her Tamil debut as a heroine was inOru Pudhiya Kadhai in the same year. Meena's first break came with the Tamil filmEn Rasavin Manasile (1991) oppositeRajkiran, which was directed byKasthuri Raja. Meena's portrayal as Solaiyamma won her fans' hearts. Later, the movie was remade in Telugu asMoratodu Naa Mogudu (1992) with Meena reprising her role.^[17][18][19]

Meena entered the Malayalam industry with the movieSanthwanam (1991) where she playedSuresh Gopi's character's daughter in the film released in 1991. Its success attracted more roles with senior Malayalam heroes. Meena has expressed a wish to do more films in Malayalam.^[15]

The Telugu filmChanti (1992), oppositeVenkatesh was nominated forFilmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu and the movie was a big hit at the box office.^[20] She made herHindi cinema debut oppositeChunky Pandey in the filmParda Hai Parda (1992). This was followed byAllari Pilla (1992), directed byKodi Ramakrishna.Allari Mogudu (1992) andSundarakanda (1992), both directed byK. Raghavendra Rao,President Gari Pellam (1992) withNagarjuna, directed byA. Kodandarami Reddy were her other films.

Though Meena was famous for her homely girl roles in all south Indian languages, she acted in glamour roles and created a niche for herself. She acted in heroine-oriented movies likePellam Chepithe Vinali (1992),Allari Pilla (1993),Bhale Pellam (1993) in Telugu.^[21]

In 1993, another film wasRajeswari Kalyanam, directed byKranthi Kumar. She wonNandi Award for Best Actress for her performance.^[5] She followed it up with films likeMuta Mesthri andYejaman. This performance won her theTamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actress.^[22][23] She plays Sudha, a smart and intelligent young wife inAbbaigaru.^[24] She also appeared in the comedy filmAllari Alludu.

Venkatesh and Meena, in particular, were a popular pair in Telugu cinema.^[25]

She has acted inP. Vasu'sSethupathi IPS (1994) co-starringVijayakanth.^[26] In her follow-up movie again withRajinikanth inVeera (1994) andMuthu (1995).^[27] Followed by movies asMaaman Magal (1995),Sengottai (1996),Avvai Shanmugi (1996) andBharathi Kannamma (1997).

She debuted in Malayalam as a lead actress with the 1997 releaseVarnapakittu, where in she is in a romance withMohanlal on screen. Later the duo was paired inOlympian Anthony Adam (1999),Mr. Brahmachari (2003),Natturajavu (2004),Udayananu Tharam (2005) andChandrolsavam (2005) among others.^[28]

In 2000, her role inRhythm won her theBest Actress award at the Cinema Express Awards.^[29]

A few of her notable works in Kannada films areSri Manjunatha (2001),Simhadriya Simha (2002),Game for Love (2003) andMahasadhvi Mallamma (2005). Her notable works were withKichcha Sudeep which are,Swathi Muthu (2003) andMy Autograph (2006).^[30]

In 2010, Meena returns to the big screen with the Kannada filmHendtheer Darbar. This was her first film after her marriage.^[31]

Meena returned to Malayalam cinema, playing wife to Mohanlal's character inDrishyam (2013) andBalyakalasakhi alongsideMammootty. She reprised her role in the 2014 Telugu remake,Drushyam.^[32] Meena returned to Tamil cinema inAnnaatthe (2021) withRajinikanth.^[33]

Meena has been a playback singer in two pop albums, calledPathinaru Vayathinile with actorManoj andKadhalism with actorVikram, which she began recording in 2001.^[34][35] The latter album remains unreleased after Vikram was unable to make time for the project.^[36]

Meena dubbed forPadmapriya Janakiraman inCheran's moviePokkisham.^[37]

Meena married Vidyasagar, a Bangalore-based software engineer, on 12 July 2009 at Arya Vysya Samaj Kalyana Mandapam.^[38] The couple has a daughter, Nainika, who made her acting debut at the age of 5 in the filmTheri (2016).^[39] Vidyasagar died on 28 June 2022 due to lung-related ailments.^[40]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toMeena (actress).

• Meena atIMDb

• Living people
• Actresses in Malayalam cinema
• Child actresses in Malayalam cinema
• Actresses in Telugu cinema
• Actresses in Kannada cinema
• Indian film actresses
• Indian television actresses
• Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners
• Filmfare Awards South winners
• Nandi Award winners
• Recipients of the Kalaimamani Award
• 21st-century Indian actresses
• Indian child actresses
• 20th-century Indian actresses
• 1976 births

• CS1 Telugu-language sources (te)
• CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list
• CS1 Tamil-language sources (ta)
• CS1 errors: generic name
• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from September 2024
• Use Indian English from February 2014
• All Wikipedia articles written in Indian English
• Articles with hCards
• All articles with unsourced statements
• Articles with unsourced statements from September 2024
• Articles with unsourced statements from April 2023
• Commons category link from Wikidata
• Year of birth unknown