It
was
an
incident
that
shocked
the
whole
of
South
Indian
film
fraternity
and
audience.
On
April
17,
2004,
a
chapter
of
most
sought
after
actress
came
to
an
end
with
the
charter
plane,
in
which
she
was
travelling,
crashed
in
Bangalore.
Yes,
we
are
talking
about
Soundarya,
who
was
probably
only
the
actress
during
her
time
to
leave
a
lasting
impression
in
all
South
Indian
languages.
Soundarya
was
born
to
a
Smartha
Brahmin
family
in
Ashtagrama
village,
Mulabagal
taluk,
Kolar
district,
Karnataka
to
producer
Sathya
Narayana
and
Manjula.
The
actress,
who
made
her
debut
in
Kannada
films
with
Shashi
Kumar
starrer
Gandharva
in
1992,
aspired
to
become
a
doctor
but
changed
her
plans
after
her
Telugu
movie
Ammoru
became
a
massive
hit.
In
the
later
years,
Soundarya
was
showered
with
offers
from
Telugu
film
industry
and
became
busy
in
the
Tollywood
before
Ravichandran's
Sipayi
brought
her
back
to
Sandalwood
and
registering
her
first
blockbuster
in
Kannada.
It
is
also
noted
that
she
acted
with
many
top
actors
like
Rajinikanth,
Amitabh
Bachchan,
Vishnuvardhan,
Mammootty,
etc.
Her
biggest
commercial
hits
of
all
time
were
Padayappa
and
Aapthamitra,
which
was
her
last
film.
Soundarya,
who
won
many
Filmfare
and
other
awards,
was
honoured
with
National
Award
and
State
Award
for
her
Kannada
movie
Dweepa.
In
her
12-year
career,
she
acted
in
over
90
films
in
different
languages.
However,
the
actress
took
the
wedding
vows
with
her
childhood
friend
GS
Raghu,
a
software
engineer
by
profession,
on
27
April
2003.
Soundarya
also
entered
politics
by
joining
the
BJP.
But
the
tragedy
came
in
the
form
of
a
most
unfortunate
plane
crash
near
Jakkur
aerodrome
when
she
was
going
to
Andhra
Pradesh
for
an
election
campaign.
Though
her
physical
presence
may
not
be
felt
by
many,
her
fans
continue
to
believe
that
the
actress
is
still
alive
in
the
form
of
her
movies!