Soundarya - Film Career

Film Career

Soundarya was the daughter of Kannada film producer and writer K. S. Satyanarayan. She was born in Mulbagal and raised in Bangalore. She made her debut while in her first year of MBBS when she was offered a role by a friend of her father's in the Kannada film Gandharva (1992). Her first Telugu film was 'Manavarali Pelli' (1992). She discontinued her studies after Ammoru (1995).

She moved on to Telugu films, where she achieved greater popularity and success.

She acted in around 90 Telugu films, such as Pavithrabandham, Pelliichesukundam with Venkatesh, found to be a popular pair. Annaya, Chudalani undhi with Chiranjeevi and others like Nagarjuna, Srikanth, Rajendraprasad, Jagapathibabu, Krishna, etc. She acted in several female-oriented roles like Thommidi nelalu, Arundhathi, Maa inti adapaduchu, etc. Directors like Ragavendra rao, S.V.Krishna Reddy, Kodi Ramakrishna, Kranthi Kumar gave her lead roles.

Soundarya acted in one Hindi film, Sooryavansham. She was in Tamil films, such as Arunachalam and Padayappa alongside Rajinikanth, Kaadhala Kaadhala alongside Kamal Haasan and others. She produced and acted in the Kannada film Dweepa Aptamithra, with Vishnuvardhan. She performed in Malayalam movies opposite Jayaram and Mohanlal.

Dweepa won the Golden Lotus, which is given for best film of the year. It also won the Karnataka state awards for Best Actress, Best Film and Best Cinematography, and was featured in five international film festivals. She bagged seven Filmfare awards and three Nandhi awards from the government of Andhra Pradesh.

She was compared to great actress Savithri in her acting. She is the one of the finest actresses who believed in acting and not showing skin (glamour).

Soundarya was offered the role of Draupadi in the remake of Narthanashala. Soundarya along with Balakrishna started shooting, but the film got shelved for financial reasons; the actress died before shooting continued.