RAMYA, THE SANDALWOOD QUEEN AND POLITICIAN BORN 1982 NOVEMBER 29

RAMYA, THE SANDALWOOD QUEEN 

AND POLITICIAN BORN 1982 NOVEMBER 29

Divya Spandana (born 29 November 1982),[1] known by her stage name Ramya, is an Indian film actress and politician.[2] She predominantly acts in Kannada films and also appears in Tamil and Telugu films.

Divya Spandana
Member of Parliament for Mandya
In office August 2013 – 16 May 2014
Preceded by	N. Chaluvaraya Swamy
Succeeded by	C. S. Puttaraju
Personal details
Born	Divya Spandana 29 November 1982 (age 33)[1] Bangalore, Karnataka, India
Nationality	Indian
Political party	Indian National Congress
Alma mater	St. Joseph's College of Commerce
Occupation	Actress, politician
Profession	Politician
Religion	Hinduism

Ramya- made her acting debut in the 2003 Kannada-language film Abhi, opposite Puneet Rajkumar. She subsequently starred in several Kannada films alongside lead actors and, following successive commercial successes, established herself as one of the most sought-after actresses in the Kannada film industry, becoming referred to as the Golden Girl of Kannada cinema[3]

[4] and Sandalwood Queen. Based on an online poll conducted by The Times of India, Ramya won the Best Actor Female award for Sanju Weds Geetha.[5] She won Filmfare Best Actress Award twice for her roles in Tananam Tananam (2006) and Sanju Weds Geetha (2011) films. She also won Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress for Sanju Weds Geetha (2011).

In 2011, she entered politics by joining the Indian Youth Congress. She became a member of parliament from Mandya constituency in Karnataka after winning the by-election in 2013, becoming the youngest Member of Parliament in India at the time

Early life[edit]

Ramya was born in Bangalore, Karnataka on 29 November 1982 .[8][9] Her mother Ranjitha is a senior member of the Congress Party in Karnataka, while her foster father R T Narayan was an industrialist.[10][11] Ramya is from Vokkaliga caste by birth.[12][13] Her parents originally hail from Mandya. She studied at St. Hilda's school in Ooty, and in Sacred Heart School (Church Park), Chennai, Tamil Nadu.[14]

Career[edit]

She made her acting debut in the 2003 Kannada-language film Abhi, alongside Puneet Rajkumar. The same year, she had another release in Kannada with Excuse Me, which also did well at the box office, and also stepped into Telugu filmdom with the film Abhimanyu.

In 2004, Spandana debuted in the Tamil film industry, also under the name Ramya, with the film Kuththu alongside Silambarasan Rajendar, which managed only a mediocre run at the box office as did her next Tamil film Giri. Her debut film, however, gave her the name 'Kuthu' Ramya, by which she was then popularly known in Tamil Nadu. 

She had two releases in Kannada as well, Ranga S. S. L. C. and Kanti, out of which the latter, a love story set against the backdrop of borders and language issues, was declared a major success. In 2005 she had four releases, all being Kannada films, with the latter three films Aakash, Gowramma and Amrithadhare becoming major box-office successes, whilst also garnering critical acclaim for Ramya's performance and establishing her as a leading actress in Karnataka.[15]

[16][17]

In 2006 she starred in Julie, a remake of the same-titled 1975 Hindi-language film. She played the role of a single, unwed mother in the film, which failed to attract audiences.[16] After her following release, Datta did average business at the box office, her next Kannada release, Jothe Jotheyali was a successful venture,[18][19] in spite of largely unfavorable reviews by critics.[20][21]

[22] Her final 2006 release, Kavitha Lankesh's Tananam Tananam, an average grosser that released to mixed reviews,[23][24] fetched Ramya her first Filmfare Award for Best Actress. She had described her role in the film as "little complex" and "challenging."[25] In 2007, Ramya starred in three feature films; the first releasing, Arasu, co-starring Puneet Rajkumar and Meera Jasmine, was a huge hit.[26] She then appeared as a sex worker , which was made to create awareness about AIDS and was part of Mira Nair's AIDS Jaago project.[27]

[28] Her fourth 2007 release was Polladhavan, where she acted against Dhanush. The film, released during the 2007 Deepavali period, was considered a dark horse success and made possible Ramya's breakthrough in Tamil.[29] Rajinikanth was all praises for the entire crew of Polladhavan.[30]

Her first 2008 release, the Kannada film Mussanjemaatu with Sudeep, was a big hit, for which she also received a nomination for a Best Actress Award at the 56th Filmfare Awards South. Her next film was the Tamil film Thoondil. Ramya later stated that she regretted accepting the film.[31] Later that year, she starred in the films Bombaat and Anthu Inthu Preethi Banthu, with the former becoming declared a "super hit" as well.[32]

 Her final release in 2008 was Gautham Menon's Vaaranam Aayiram for which she changed her screen name to her actual name Divya again, which is believed to have brought her more luck.[33] She had also dubbed in her own voice for Vaaranam Aayiram, which became a high critical as well as commercial success. She did not have any releases in 2009, since both her films Bhimoos Bang Bang Kids and Jothegaara got delayed heavily due to financial problems.[34]

Her first release of 2010 Just Math Mathalli which released on 26 January 2010 was a huge success and it also received rave reviews. Her role in the film was also very much appreciated.[35] She had two more releases that year, the long delayed Jothegaara eventually, and Kiccha Huccha. Her next release was the Tamil film Singam Puli opposite Jeeva, which released to mixed reviews, following which the romantic drama Sanju Weds Geetha released.

 The film opened to highly positive reviews, with Ramya being unanimously praised by critics for her performance, which was widely considered her best or one of her best in her career.[36][37][38] She was featured in Kannada movies like Dandam Dashagunam, remake of Kaakha Kaakha,Jhonny Mera Naam and Kadhal 2 Kalyanam in Tamil, starring alongside a newcomer Sathya,in 2011.

Her first release in 2012 was a comedy drama Sidlingu, in which she portrays the role of a school teacher.[39] The next release in 2012 was a light-comedy movie Lucky,alongside Yash.She was also seen in semi-mythological movie Katari Veera Surasundarangi,opposite Upendra.In August 2013, Ramya announced that she may quit acting if she wins the election, to pursue a career in politics.[40] But, later in 2014, She was seen in Aryan ,alongside Sandalwood King Shivaraj Kumar

Political career[edit]

Ramya joined the Indian Youth Congress in 2012.[41][42] Ramya became the Indian National Congress' Member of Parliament from Mandya constituency in Karnataka by winning the by-election in 2013. In the 2014 Indian General Election, she again contested from Mandya but was defeated by C. S. Puttaraju by a margin of 5500 votes.[43]

in 2016 she made controversial remarks about Pakistan[44] [45][46]

Other work[edit]

In 2013, Ramya made her debut in the small screen in a tele serial, Ashwini Nakshatra, and was seen in the role of a sutradhar in the serial, making an appearance every day in the first week, and she went on to introduce the main characters of the serial.[47]

Positions, awards and nominations[edit]

Brand Ambassador for Royal Challengers Bangalore IPL team

Most Googled Celebrity list in 2014, 2015

Member, Standing Committee on Human Resource Development (2012-2013)

Member, Consultative Committee of Information & Broadcasting (2013)

Indian Delegation, 7th SAARC Speakers and Parliamentarians Conference (2013) [48]

Filmfare Best Actress Award twice for her roles in Tananam Tananam (2006) and Sanju Weds Geetha (2011) films.

Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress for Sanju Weds Geetha (2011).

Filmography[edit]

No.	Year	Film	Role(s)	Language	Notes
1	2003	Abhi	Bhanu	Kannada
2	2003	Excuse Me	Madhumitha	Kannada
3	2003	Abhimanyu	Saira Banu	Telugu	Credited as Spandana
4	2004	Kuththu	Anjali	Tamil
5	2004	Ranga S. S. L. C.	Padma	Kannada
6	2004	Kanti	Reema	Kannada
7	2004	Giri	Devaki	Tamil
8	2005	Aadi	Aishwarya	Kannada
9	2005	Aakash	Nandini	Kannada
10	2005	Gowramma	Gowri Chandan	Kannada
11	2005	Amrithadhare	Amritha	Kannada	Udaya Award for Best Actress
12	2006	Sevanthi Sevanthi	Sevanthi	Kannada
13	2006	Julie	Julie	Kannada
14	2006	Dattha	Divya	Kannada
15	2006	Jothe Jotheyali	Divya	Kannada
16	2006	Tananam Tananam	Vanaja	Kannada	Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Kannada
17	2007	Arasu	Shruthi	Kannada
18	2007	Prarambha		Kannada	Short film[49]
19	2007	Meera Madhava Raghava	Meera	Kannada
20	2007	Polladhavan	Hema	Tamil	Credited as Divya Spandana
21	2008	Mussanjemaatu	Thanu	Kannada	Nominated, Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Kannada
22	2008	Thoondil	Divya	Tamil
23	2008	Meravanige	Spandana	Kannada	Guest appearance
24	2008	Bombaat	Shalini	Kannada
25	2008	Anthu Inthu Preethi Banthu	Preethi	Kannada
26	2008	Vaaranam Aayiram	Priya	Tamil
27	2010	Just Math Mathalli	Tanu	Kannada	Nominated, Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Kannada
28	2010	Jothegara	Priya	Kannada
29	2010	Kiccha Huccha	Aishwarya	Kannada
30	2011	Singam Puli	Swetha	Tamil
31	2011	Sanju Weds Geetha	Geetha	Kannada	SIIMA Award for Best Actress Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Kannada
32	2011	Dandam Dashagunam	Maya	Kannada
33	2011	Johny Mera Naam Preethi Mera Kaam	Priya	Kannada
34	2012	Sidlingu	Mangala	Kannada	Nominated – SIIMA Award for Best Actress Nominated – Filmfare Award for Best Actress - Kannada
35	2012	Lucky	Gowri	Kannada
36	2012	Katari Veera Surasundarangi	Indraja	Kannada
37	2012	Crazy Loka		Kannada	Special appearance
38	2014	Aryan	Shwetha	Kannada
39	2016	Nagarahavu (2016 film)		Kannada