Maggie to Neelaambari: Ramya Krishnan’s 5 iconic roles in Kollywood
As Ramya Krishnan celebrates her birthday today, take a look at five of her iconic roles in Tamil cinema.
Ramya Krishnan, a rarity in the acting industry, turned 52 on Thursday. Though known for her role as Rajamata in Baahubali, she has delivered several tremendous performances in movies outside of the franchise. On her birthday, let us take a look at five of her most memorable roles from Tamil films and series that will stay evergreen until the end of time.
Kamal Haasan-led Panchathanthiram, a comedy-drama has Krishnan playing Maggie, a high-end sex worker with a dash of wit and a sense of humor.Directed by KS Ravi kumar, Krishnan’s dialogue delivery and timing in the film were at a speed that the audience laughed at one joke while she was already two jokes ahead. She was also the main antagonist in the film.
One of the most vicious villains of Tamil cinema is Neelaambari played by Krishnan in Rajinikanth‘s Padaiyappa. Krishnan played a vengeful, evil woman whose only aim in life is to see the fall of the man whom she was once in love with.Krishnan breathed life into the character with her ease of embodying pure evilness and the character remains unmatchable even today.
Back in the ’90s, most movies in South India that were based on Gods and Goddesses and their divine power would invariably have Krishnan or Meena playing the central character: Amman (a form of Goddess).Amman (Ammoru in Telugu) had Krishnan playing a blue-skinned Goddess who would save the helpless and destroy the evil with the blink of an eye.
Director Gautham Vasudev Menon made his way to OTT with the web series Queen. Based on the life of late Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa, Krishnan played the former chief minister’s role. With her stern body language and powerful screen presence, Krishnan effortlessly slipped into the character of Jaya: a leader with a serious nature, and proved her versatility.
Legendary filmmaker K Balachander’s Vaaname Ellai saw Krishnan sharing the screen space with Anand Babu, Madhoo, Vishali Kannadasan, Rajesh, and Babloo Prithviraj. It narrates the story of five youngsters who decide to end their lives after facing numerous battles in life. They decide to live life to the fullest for 30 days before ending their lives and a life-altering thing happens to them.
