Devayani – Still making her mark in Tamil Cinema

Devayani (real name Sushma Jayadev) was born in Mumbai on 22 June 1974. After a brief foray into Hindi, Bengali and Malayalam films, she made her Tamil debut in a significant role in K.S. Adhiyamaan’s Thottaa CHinnungi before striking fold with her first demale lead opposite Ajithkumar in Agathiyan’s national award-winning film, Kaadhal Kottai.

The film’s success opened up many doors for her and she followed this with a string of films opposite actors like Mammooty, Vijay, Vikram, Sarathkumar and Karthik. She also shared the screen with Kamalhaasan with memorable roles in Thenali and Panja Thanthiram.

She met Rajakumaran when he was directing her film Vinnukkum Mannukkum, and the couple were married in 2001.

Devayani found even greater fame with the success of her SUN TV mega serial, Kolangal which ran successfully from 2003 to 2009.

Devayani turned director through the critically acclaimed children’s film Kuttai Rani which had music by Isai Gnani Illaiyaraja. The film has attracted global praise after its screening at the Jaipur International Film Festival.

Devayani celebrates her 51^st birthday today.