Nayantara - Queen of the South

By: Subhadeep Bhattacharjee

Diana Mariam Kurien or as known to her fans as Nayanthara literally meaning “eyes like stars" was born on November 18, 1984 in Tiruvalla, Pathanamthitta district in Kerala. Her parents were Mr. Kurian Kodiyattu and Mrs. Omana. She did her schooling across the length and breadth of the country in places like Delhi, Bombay, Calcutta, Punjab and Karnataka as her father was working in the Indian Air Force. She joined Balikamadom High School, Thiruvalla form where she did her +2. It was from Marthoma College in Thiruvalla that she graduated in English literature. She is a very confident young lady and her hobbies are reading books and listening to music. Acting started to interest her during her college life and she credits her improvement in acting to her friend Mahesh Kadammanitta who constantly motivated her.

It was in 2003 while doing her C.A., life changed course and she was offered to act in a Malayalam film Manasinakkare directed by Sathyan Anthikkad. Here she paired opposite to actor Jayaram, the film has became a great hit in Kerala and thus paved the way for her entry into Tamil Cinema. In the next movie Vismayathumbathu directed by Fazil she played the role of a ghost who falls in love with the hero Mohanlal. She has broken the language divide and has uniformly acted in movies in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam and looked confident every time she hit the screen.

She has acted with some of the biggest names in the industry. In the movie Aaya directed by Hari she costarred with Sarath Kumar in Ayya. She even acted along side Superstar Rajinikanth in Chandramukhi. In 2007 she has a iutem number with Rajinikanth in Shivaji: The Boss which was one of the most eagerly awaited and talked about movies in the south for a long time. Other films where she has delivered good performances include Natturaajavu and Thaskaraveeran in Malayalam, Vallavan and Ghajini in Tamil and Yogi in Telugu.

Today Nayantara is one of the most sought after actress in Tamil, Telugu and the Malayalam film industry. She is comfortable working with any hero in the industry and not scared to do versatile roles, which was evident when she chose to do the character of a ghost in her second movie. She fully involves herself in the character that she plays on screen. These have been the reasons for her instant success in the cine world.

Year Movie Director

2008 Raja Vesham Vikram Boopathy Pandian
2008 Sathyam Rajesekhar
2008 Yaaradi Nee Mohini Jawahar
2007 Billa 2007 Vishnuvardhan
2007 Don Raghava Lawrence
2007 Tulasi Boyapati Srinu
2007 Sivaji: The Boss Shankar
2007 Dubai Srinu Vaitla
2007 Yogi V.V. Vinayak
2006 E S. P. Jhananathan
2006 Thalaimagan Sarath Kumar
2006 Vallavan Simbu
2006 Boss V.N. Aditya
2006 Lakshmi V. V. Vinayak
2006 Kalvanin Kadhali Tamilvaanan
2005 Sivakasi Perarasu
2005 Ghajini A. R. Murugadoss
2005 Rappakal Kamal
2005 Thaskara Veeran Pappan, Pramod
2005 Chandramukhi P. Vasu
2005 Ayya Hari
2004 Natturajavu Shaji Kailas
2004 Vismayathumbathu Fazil
2003 Manassinakkare Sathyan Anthikad