Navya Nair

Personal life

Navya Nair was born on 14 October 1985 to Raju & Veena Raju who hails from Cheppad, a village near Harippad in Alleppey District. The film director K. Madhu is her uncle. She studied at Bethany Balikamadom High School, Nangiarkulangara till 10th grade and then at MSM Higher Secondary School, where her mother was a teacher. She married Mumbai-based businessman, Santhosh Menon, on 21 January 2010 and they have a son Sai Krishna, born on 22 November 2010.

Film career

She was still at school when offered her first film role, starring opposite Dileep in Ishtam in 2001. There followed roles in partnership with Dileep, in films such as Mazhathullikkilukkam, Kunjikoonan, Kalyanaraman, Pandippada, Gramaphone and Pattanathil Sundaran.

The most popular character of Navya is that of 'Balamani' in Nandanam. She won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress in 2002 for the same. She has been paired with Mohanlal, Mammooty, Suresh Gopi, Jayaram, Dileep, Prithviraj, and Jayasurya.

She started acting in offbeat movies, such as Saira and Kanne Madanguka when her chances in commercial films decreased. Saira was the opening film in the section Tous Les Cinemas Du Monde at the Cannes International Film Festival in 2007, which was the 4th Malayalam film screened at the Cannes International Film Festival. Saira has participated in 21 other international film festivals like USA, Brazil, Israel, Russia, Italy, Greece, Zimbabwe, Belgium, Bangladesh etc. She won the state award again in 2005 for her performance in Kanne Madanguka and Saira.

Her debut in Tamil cinema came with Azhagiya Theeye and her first role in Kannada cinema was in Gaja but the most notable one was the 2009 Tamil movie Aadum Koothu, which won the National Award for the best Tamil film. The T.V.Chandran film revolved around a character called Manimekala played by Navya Nair. She was considered for the National award for Best Actress, which happened for the third time, the first two times being in 2002 for Nandanam and in 2005 for Saira.She has around 50 movies to her credit.

After marriage, she stopped her full-time acting career. She came back to film through "Scene Onnu Nammude Veedu" in 2012. After a gap of almost 2 years from then she did "Drishya", a Kannada remake of Malayalam megahit thriller "Drishyam".As like in Malayalam, the film has become a superhit and gave Navya a great come back.she still waiting for challenging roles.

Television

After marriage she made her comeback as a judge in Munch Dance Dance in Asianet and she has done another reality show in Asianet "Bharthakkanmarude Sradhaku" as judge and host. She has acted in some advertisements also. She also judged Sunfeast Delishus Star Singer Season-7 on Asianet.She also attended Badai Bungalow in the same channel. Currently she is taking part in Laughing Villa a comedy reality show in Surya TV.

Writing and dance career

"Navya Rasangal" is the first published book of Navya Nair. It is her autobiography. She is a well trained classical dancer and has performed in many stages. She has won many awards as a dancer.she created the dance fusion and introduced it in 2015 surya festival named "SHIVOHAM"which tunrned to be huge hit and played in hundreds of stages as she is a dancing queen.

Awards

Kerala State Film Awards

Asianet Film Awards

Mathrubhumi Film Awards

Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Malayalam – Nandanam

Kalaimamani