Kavya Madhavan

Going places
When she was just two-and-half-year old, she began her career on the stage and then made an entry into filmdom at the tender age of five. Now, at the young age of 16, she is one of the busiest heroines of Malayalam cinema. That’s Kavya Madhavan.

Kavya Madhavan, hailing from Neeleswaram in Kasargod district, was bright and active as a child. She gave performances on the stage and also did well, or rather very well, at her studies. But her parents, P Madhavan and Syamala Devi, had never thought of making her a filmstar. But it happened, as though it was destined. When director Kamal gave an ad in the newspaper for a child artiste in his film Pookaalam Varavayi, and when Kavya was included in the cast as a child artiste, no one ever thought that a star was making its appearance on the horizon. In that film, nobody noticed her or even remembered her name since there were many other names to be remembered. Followed some other films in which Kavya appeared, films like Azhakiya Ravanan, Oraal Maathram, Bhoothakannaadi and Krishnagudiyil Oru Pranayakaalaththu.

But nobody seemed to take much notice of this little girl who was blossom
ing into a heroine with a fresh and charming face. Nobody? Well, not exactly. Somebody was to take note of things. And that somebody was Lal Jose. Lal Jose, who was associated with Pookaalam Varavayi and Aazhakiya Ravanan, used to say that when he’d be making a film as an independent director, Kavya would be the heroine. And he did keep his word. When he directed Chandranudikkunna Dikkil, he cast Kavya in the female lead. And as Radha, the character she played in the film, she was finally taken note of as a heroine.
If in the film there were other people to be noticed and remembered, the audience had also made it a point to take note of her and remember her too. At the time of her debut as a screen heroine, she was a tenth standard student in Raja’s High School, Neeleswaram. But she took care of her scholastic career and took a break, a small break, to complete her studies and then returned to films with a bang. The character of Celine in Satyan Anthicad’s Kochu Kochu Santhoshangal made an impact on the viewers’ sensibility though there were others like Jayaram, Bhanupriya and Lekshmi Gopalaswami in the cast. Then followed Shankar Vaalathunkal’s Sahayaatrikaykku Snehapoorvam and Kamal’s Madhuranombarakaattu and recently Rajasenan’s Darling Darling. In Sahayaatrikaykku Snehapoorvam, she was cast as the heroine opposite none other than the teenage sensation Kunchacko Boban, and in Madhuranombarakaat-tu, though she wasn’t the leading lady, her character was well etched out and it was highly appreciated. In Darling Darling, she is cast as the leading lady opposite Dileep and Vineeth.

Rafi-Mecartin’s Thenkaasipattanam and TN Gopakumar’s Jeevan Mosai are some of her forthcoming ventures. In Thenkaasipattanam she is cast along with a host of leading artistes including Suresh Gopi, Lal, Samyuktha Verma and Geethu Mohandas. In Jeevan Mosai, an adaptation of Tara Shankar Banerjee’s Aarogyanikethan by noted journalist TN Gopakumar, she has a really challenging role to play as Manjari.

And so Kavya Madhavan, who is just doing her higher secondary education and has interest in dance, mono-act etc, is one of the prominent leading ladies of Malayalam cinema at present and holds enough promise of a brilliant career.

Unni R Nair