Pooja Umashankar

Pooja Umashankar
Pooja Umashankar
	Pooja in 2012
Born	Pooja Gauthami Umashankar; Colombo, Sri Lanka
Education	Baldwin Girls' High School, Bangalore; Mount Carmel College, Bangalore
Occupation(s)	Model, actress
Years active	2003–2016
Spouse	Prashan David Vethakan (m. 2016)

Pooja Gauthami Umashankar is an Indian-Sri Lankan actress who has primarily appeared in Indian Tamil and Sri Lankan Sinhala cinema.

Early and personal life

Pooja's father, H. R. Umashankar, is an Indian Kannada Brahmin from Sringeri, in the Chikmagalur district of Karnataka while mother, Sandhya, is a Sri Lankan Sinhalese.^[1] Her father worked with Hindustan Unilever in Valparai as a manager. After she did her pre-schooling in Sri Lanka, she came to India and went to Poornapragnya in Aldur, Chikmagalur and then to Nirmala Convent in Mysore.^[1] Later she continued her education at Baldwin Girls' High School in Bangalore and did graduation (B.Com.) and Post Graduation (MBA) at Mount Carmel College, Bangalore.^[1]

Pooja can speak Kannada, Sinhala, Tamil, and English.^[1]

In December 2016, she married Prashan David Vethakan, who is a Sri Lankan businessman.^[2]

Career

Pooja was introduced by a friend of her to cinematographer-turned-director Jeeva, who signed her for the role of Anglo-Indian girl in his Tamil venture Ullam Ketkumae.^[3] Pooja said that at that time she planned to finish that film and return to her original job and did not take an acting career into consideration. She stated: "I said to myself I'd act in just this film, see what it's like, make good use of the money and get back to studying".^[3] She was soon offered a role opposite R. Madhavan, which she could not decline and made her rethink her decision.^[3] Ullam Ketkumae's massive delay meant that her second film, the romantic comedy Jay Jay (2004), directed by Saran, became her first official release.^[4] Pooja received favorable reviews for her performance in Jay Jay;^[5] G. Ulaganathan from Deccan Herald wrote: "Spirited, lively, Pooja's sparkling eyes and smile do leave an impression". She next played the romantic interest of Ajith Kumar in another Saran film, Attahasam, which, in spite of mixed critical response, went on to become a financial success.^[6] Pooja, too, met with criticism, with critics citing that she had "only limited role" and was "wasted [...] in an insignificant and half-baked role".^[7] Pooja's subsequent release happened to be Ullam Ketkumae that featured her in one of the five leading roles alongside Shaam, Laila, Arya and Asin. The film fetched positive remarks and emerged as a sleeper hit.^[8] She went to appear in commercial Tamil films such as Thambi and Pori. In 2007, Pooja also appeared in a Malayalam film, Panthaya Kozhi, before landing the lead female role in Bala's Naan Kadavul. Her portrayal of Hamshavalli, a blind beggar, was critically appreciated and earned her several accolades, including the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil and Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Female Character Artiste. Following Naan Kadavul, Pooja went on a sabbatical, appeared just in cameo roles in TN-07 AL 4777, Drohi and the Telugu film Orange.

Her big budget film Kusa Pabha released in early 2012 and became the highest grosser ever in the history of Sri Lankan film industry. Critics praised Pooja for her role of Pabawathi.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Language	Notes
2003	Jay Jay	Seema	Tamil
2004	Attahasam	Sapna	Tamil
2005	Ullam Ketkumae	Irene	Tamil
2005	Jithan	Priya	Tamil
2006	Anjalika	Anjalika, Uththara	Sinhala
	Pattiyal	Sandhya	Tamil
	Thambi	Archana	Tamil
	Thagapansamy	Marikozhundhu Shanmugam	Tamil
2007	Pori	Pooja	Tamil
	Asai Man Piyabanna	Ranmalee / Maleesha	Sinhala
	Oram Po	Rani	Tamil
	Panthaya Kozhi	Chempakam	Malayalam
	Yahaluvo	Manorani	Sinhala
	Naan Kadavul	Hamshavalli	Tamil
2010	Suwanda Denuna Jeewithe	Rashmi	Sinhala
	Drohi	Roja	Tamil	Guest appearance
	Orange	Meenakshi	Telugu	Guest appearance
2011	Smoking Kills	Pooja	English	Short film
2012	Kusa Paba	Pabawathi	Sinhala
2012	Mirage	Priya	English	Short film
2013	Vidiyum Munn	Rekha	Tamil
2015	Kadavul Paathi Mirugam Paathi		Tamil	Guest appearance
2016	Paththini	Kannagi (Paththini)	Sinhala
2016	Sarigama	Mariya	Sinhala
2024	Sihinayaki Adare	Jennifer	Sinhala
2024	Minnu		Sinhala	cameo role^[9]

Television

Show	Role	Language	Notes
Daskon	Princess Pramila	Sinhala	Teledrama
Derana City of Dance season 5	Judge	Sinhala	Reality show
Aatam Paatam Kondatam	Judge	Tamil	Reality show
Derana City of Dance season 6	Judge	Sinhala	Reality show
Dance Jodi Dance	Judge	Tamil	Reality show

Awards

Year	Award	Category	Work	Result	Achievements
2006	Sarasaviya Awards	Most Popular Actress	Anjalika	Nominated
2006		Best Actress	Anjalika	Nominated
2007		Best Actress	Asai Man Piyabanna	Nominated
2007		Most Popular Actress	Asai Man Piyabanna	Nominated
2009	Tamil Nadu State Film Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Naan Kadavul	Won
2010	Filmfare Awards South	Best Actress		Won
2010	Vijay Awards	Best Actress		Won
	World Malayalee Council	Best Actress		Won
2013	Derana Film Awards	Most Popular Actress	Kusa Pabha	Won
	Derana Film Awards	Best Actress		Nominated
	Hiru Golden Film Awards	Most Popular Actress		Nominated
	Norway Tamil Film Festival Awards	Best Actress	Vidiyum Munn	Won
	Ananda Vikatan Cinema Awards			Won
2014	Filmfare Awards South			Nominated
	Vijay Awards			Nominated
	SIIMA - Tamil			Nominated
	BehindWood Gold Medals	Best Actress		Won
2016	SLIM-Nielsen Peoples Awards	Most Popular Actress		Won
2016	Sarasaviya Awards	Best Actress	Sarigama	Won
2017	Derana Film Awards	Most Popular Actress	Paththini	Won
2017	Janabhimani Honorary Award			Won	Honor From Sri Lankan Government^[10]
2018	Hiru Golden Film Awards	Most Popular Actress		Won
2019	SLIM-Nielsen Peoples Awards	Most Popular Actress		Won
2020	SLIM-Nielsen Peoples Awards	Most Popular Actress		Won
2021	SLIM-Nielsen Peoples Awards	Most Popular Actress		Won

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "I am enjoying every moment of acting". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 30 May 2007. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013.
^ "Actress Pooja gets married". The Times of India. 16 January 2017.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Screen presence". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 27 April 2007. Archived from the original on 27 May 2007.
^ "Oram Po… here she comes". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 30 November 2007. Archived from the original on 2 December 2007.
^ "Jay Jay – Tamil Movie Review" Archived 22 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine. thiraipadam.com
^ "Ajith tastes success!". Ia.rediff.com. 23 November 2004. Archived from the original on 18 July 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
^ "Movie Review:Attakasam". Sify. Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
^ "'Ullam Ketkume' – A sleeper hit!". Sify. 7 June 2005. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
^ "තුන්පත් රෑනක සොඳුරු අනන්තය "මින්නු"". www.sundaytimes.lk.
^ "Honorary Award". poojaumashankar.tumblr.com.

External links

Pooja Umashankar at IMDb
Pooja Umashankar on Facebook

[The_Hindu-1] "I am enjoying every moment of acting". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 30 May 2007. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013.

[2] "Actress Pooja gets married". The Times of India. 16 January 2017.

[hindu2007-3] "Screen presence". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 27 April 2007. Archived from the original on 27 May 2007.

[4] "Oram Po… here she comes". The Hindu. Chennai, India. 30 November 2007. Archived from the original on 2 December 2007.

[5] "Jay Jay – Tamil Movie Review" Archived 22 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine. thiraipadam.com

[6] "Ajith tastes success!". Ia.rediff.com. 23 November 2004. Archived from the original on 18 July 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.

[7] "Movie Review:Attakasam". Sify. Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 12 July 2012.

[8] "'Ullam Ketkume' – A sleeper hit!". Sify. 7 June 2005. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.

[9] "තුන්පත් රෑනක සොඳුරු අනන්තය "මින්නු"". www.sundaytimes.lk.

[10] "Honorary Award". poojaumashankar.tumblr.com.

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v t e Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actress
1972–1979	Jayalalithaa (1972) Jayalalithaa (1973) Lakshmi (1974) Sujatha (1975) Sujatha (1976) Sujatha (1977) Latha (1978) Shoba (1979)
1980–1999	Saritha (1980) Sridevi (1981) Poornima Jayaram (1982) Lakshmi (1983) Saritha (1984) Radha (1985) Radhika (1986) Radhika (1987) Archana (1988) Bhanupriya (1989) Radhika (1990) Gautami (1991) Revathi (1992) Revathi (1993) Revathi (1994) Manisha Koirala (1995) Shruti (1996) Meena (1997) Kausalya (1998) Ramya Krishnan (1999)
2000–2019	Jyothika (2001) Laila (2002) Simran (2003) Laila (2004) Sandhya (2005) Asin (2006) Bhavana (2007) Priyamani (2008) Parvathy Thiruvothu (2009) Pooja (2010)) Anjali (2011) Samantha (2012) Nayanthara (2013) Malavika Nair (2014) Nayanthara (2015) Ritika Singh (2016) Nayanthara (2017) Trisha (2018) Lijomol Jose (2020–2021) Sai Pallavi (2022) Nimisha Sajayan (2023)