Showing all artists born at Palakkad

Aparna Das is an Indian actress who acts mainly in Malayalam films. She made her acting debut in 2018 through Njan Prakashan.

Aparna was born on 10 September 1995 in Nemmara in Palakkad, Kerala. Her parents were settled in Muscat, Oman. She completed her primary education from Gangothri English Medium School, Nenmara and Indian School, Darsait. She is a graduate from Sri Krishna Arts and Science College, Coimbatore.After completing her Post-Graduation degree, she worked as an accountant. She also worked as a model for small companies and magazines.

While working in Muscat after completing her master’s in business administration, Aparna was cast in the satirical comedy film Njan Prakashan (2018) by Akhil Sathyan, son of Sathyan Anthikad, after he watched one of her TikTok videos thus making her debut in Malayalam cinema. Later she played the female lead in Manoharam (2019) opposite Vineeth Sreenivasan. Aparna is slated to appear in Priyan Ottathilanu, Drishti, and the Tamil film Beast.

Priya Vasudev Mani Iyer, better known by her stage name Priyamani (born 4 June 1984), is an Indian film actress and model who has starred in several Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada films. She is best known for earning a National Film Award for Best Actress for her role as Muththazhagu in the 2006 Tamil film Paruthi Veeran and for her role as Malavika in the 2008 Malayalam film Thirakkatha, for which she won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. After her commercial successes in Kannada films like Raam, Ko Ko, Anna Bond and Only Vishnuvardhana, she established herself as one of the leading contemporary actress in Kannada cinema.

Priyamani was born in Palakkad, Kerala to Vasudeva Mani Iyer and Latha Mani Iyer. She grew up in Bangalore. After completing her schooling, Priyamani modeled for print advertisements. As a result of her extended modeling, she began to earn opportunities to star in films. After being approached by several directors and being considered, she finally starred in director Bharathiraja's Kangalal Kaidhu Sei, which was released in 2004.

She is currently pursuing a degree in B.A. in psychology. Bollywood actress Vidya Balan is her cousin.

After her debut film Kangalal Kaidhu Sei, her Telugu debut, Evare Atagaadu, sank without a trace. Priyamani then made her debut in the Malayalam film industry, where she starred opposite Prithviraj in Satyam, but this film also performed poorly at the box office. Despite these commercial failures, she was signed by Tamil film director and cinematographer Balu Mahendra to star opposite Dhanush in the 2005 drama Adhu Oru Kana Kaalam. She won tremendous acclaim for her performance, but the film's under-performance meant that box office success still eluded her. In 2006, Priyamani starred opposite Jagapathi Babu in Pellaina Kothalo. The film was a surprise hit given its low budget and modest star cast, and it propelled Priyamani to fame in Tollywood.

After three years in search of a film that would get her noticed, Priyamani managed to prove her acting credentials and commercial appeal with 2007's Paruthiveeran, directed by the Tamil director Ameer Sultan, in which she was paired with debutant Karthi Sivakumar. A rural subject which told the story of a notorious young villager in Madurai, the film won tremendous critical acclaim and became a surprise box-office blockbuster. Priyamani's performance was unanimously praised: Indiaglitz cited "utterly cool and convincing" while another critic said "Priya Mani steals the show with her spontaneity and authenticity." She went on to win the National Film Award, followed by a South Filmfare Award, a Tamil Nadu State Film Award and an award at the Osian's Cinefan Festival of Asian and Arab Cinema. She had another blockbuster in Telugu, opposite Jr. NTR in the 2007 film Yamadonga and opposite Vishal in the Tamil film Malaikottai. She again received critical acclaim in 2008 for her role in the Malayalam film Thirakkatha, in which she played a role based on the turbulent real-life story of late film actress Srividya. She won another Filmfare Award for her performance. In Tamil, she had only single release in 2008: Thotta where she played a glamourous role for the first time.

In 2009 she had two Tamil releases, the masala film Arumugam and the remake of the Malayalam blockbuster Classmates, titled Ninaithale Inikkum, in which she was paired for the third time with Prithviraj. The former was a commercial failure, while the latter was considered a moderate success. Her Kannada debut opposite actor Puneet Rajkumar in Raam was also a commercial success. All three of her Telugu releases that year, however, did not do well at the box office. In 2010 she acted opposite Mammootty in the satirical film Pranchiyettan & the Saint which became the longest-running Malayalam film since 2005. She won a Filmfare nomination for her role as a Mumbai-based interior decorator in the film.

She was subsequently signed by director Mani Ratnam for his bilingual film, titled Raavanan and Raavan in Tamil and Hindi respectively. Soon after, she was roped in by Bollywood director-producer Ram Gopal Varma (RGV) for his big-budget trilingual film Rakht Charitra starring Vivek Oberoi and Surya Sivakumar. RGV decided to cast her after seeing her National Award-winning performance in Paruthiveeran. Her Kannada movie Only Vishnuvardhana with Sudeep became a blockbuster and later she starred in Anna Bond with Puneeth Rajkumar.

Swarnalatha (29 April 1973 – 12 September 2010) was an Indian playback singer. From 1987 onward, she rendered nearly 7,000 songs in many languages including Tamil, Kannada, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, Urdu, Bengali, Oriya, Punjabi and Badaga.

She won the National Film Award for Best Female Playback Singer for her rendition of the song "Porale Ponnuthayi" from the film Karuththamma. The song was composed by A. R. Rahman, under whose musical direction she recorded many memorable songs. Her distinctive voice, which could effortlessly reach high octaves, quickly made her a name to reckon with in the playback music industry.

Personal life

She was born in the village Kizhakkaepparra near Athikkode near Chittur, Palakkad, Kerala, to K. C. Cherukutty and Tamil mother Kalyani. Swarnalatha had many brothers and sisters and was the last born of a big family of music lovers. Her father was a good harmonium player and singer. Her mother also had an interest in music. Swarnalatha was trained on the harmonium and keyboard.  Swarnalatha's family later moved to Bhadravathi (Paper Town) in Shimoga District, where she had her education.  Born in a family of musicians (father K. C. Cherukutty was a singer and harmonium player, while sister Saroja was her music guru initially), Swarnalatha took to music when she was in her teens.

Career

When Swarnalatha was still a child, her family moved to Chennai to seek film opportunities for her singing talent. The first opportunity came from M. S. Viswanathan in 1987, when she performed a duet with K. J. Yesudas, "Chinnanchirukiliye Kannamma" in the film Neethikku Thandanai.  Subsequently, many other music directors approached her to perform their songs. She also had the opportunity to work with director P. Venu. She was recruited by legendary musicians like Ilaiyaraaja and A. R. Rahman. She also recorded a few Hindi songs, the most notable one being "Hai Rama Yeh Kya Hua" from Rangeela along with Hariharan.

She was one of the most versatile singers of her times, as she was able to sing melodies like "Maalayil Yaaro Manathodu Pesa" from Sathriyan or "Porale Ponnuthayi" from Karuthamma as well as Rahman's experimental songs like "Mukkabla" from Kadhalan or "Mottu Vittadha" from Pavithra. Swarnalatha was the first female playback singer to fetch the National Award in A. R. Rahman's music for the song "Porale Ponnuthayi". Once in an interview, she said that she was moved to tears when she finished the recording of this song and received praise from A. R. Rahman. She recorded many other songs with music directors Deva, Vidyasagar, Harris Jayaraj, Anu Malik, Shankar-Ehsaan-Loy, Raj-Koti, Yuvan Shankar Raja, Mani Sharma, Hamsalekha and many others. She sang all the songs of Lata Mangeshkar and Shamshad Begum in the movie Anarkali (the Tamil dubbed version of the Hindi movie Mughal-e-Azam) and she was praised by the Bollywood music director Naushad Ali. And also in one interview she was asked what was the best moment in your life time? Is that during the National award session, asked by the Interviewer Setu. But nobody expected that she would say not that, but she said that she got appreciations by the legend Noushad ali ji (Hindi music composer) for the songs sung in Anarkali (dubbed version of Mughal-e-azam).

Death

Swarnalatha died at a private hospital in Chennai at the age of 37 due to cardiac arrest followed by interstitial lung disease (lung infection) after being admitted because she had difficulty in breathing. The singer had been undergoing treatment for lung infection for over a year and had not recorded for films during the period of infection.

K. S. Sethumadhavan (born 1931, in Palakkad) is an Indian film director and screenwriter working in Malayalam cinema. He has also directed films in Hindi, Oriya, Tamil, Kannada, and Telugu. Since the early 1960s he has directed over 60 movies. He has directed many landmark films in the Malayalam film history such as Odeyil Ninnu, Yakshi, Kadalpalam, Achanum Bappayum, Ara Nazhika Neram, Panitheeratha Veedu, Anubhavangal Palichakal and Punarjanmam. He has won numerous awards including ten National Film Awards and Nine Kerala State Film Awards including Four for Best Direction.

K. S. Sethumadhavan was born to Subrahmanyam and Lakshmi in Palakkad, Kerala, India in 1931. He has three sisters and one brother. His childhood was spent in Palakkad and in North Arcot, Tamil Nadu. He completed his degree in biology from Government Victoria College, Palakkad. He debuted in the film industry as the Assistant Director to K. Ramnath. He later assisted directors L. V. Prasad, A. S. A. Swamy, Sunder Rao and Nandakarni.

He debuted as an independent film director with Veeravijaya, a Singhalese film in 1960. His first Malayalam film was Jnanasundari, produced by T. E. Vasudevan under the banner of Associates Pictures based on a short story by Muttathu Varkey. He then went on to direct over 60 films including noted films Odayil Ninnu, Daaham, Sthanarthi Saramma, Koottukudumbam, Vazhve Mayam, Ara Nazhika Neram, Anubhavangal Palichakal, Karakanakkadal, Achanum Bappayum, Punarjanmam, Chattakkari, Oppol and Marupakkam. His only Oriya film was Manini.

His film Achanum Bappayum won the Nargis Dutt Award for Best Feature Film on National Integration, a part of National Film Awards, in 1973. His Tamil film Marupakkam won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in 1991. Thus it became the first Tamil film to win the award, the feat was repeated by Kanchivaram in 2007.

In 1996, his Telugu film Stri won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu. He won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Director 4 times: for films Ara Nazhika Neram (1970), Karakanakkadal (1971), Pani Theeratha Veedu (1972) and Oppol (1980). He was the jury member for the National Film Awards in 1975 and 1980. In 1982, he was the chairman of the jury for the Kerala State Film Awards. He was the chairman of the National Film Awards jury in 2002,and was awarded the J. C. Daniel Award for the year 2009, honouring his achievements and contribution to Malayalam Cinema. In 2011, he was honoured with the Chalachitra Ratnam Award by the Kerala Film Critics Association.