Actress Raadhika Sarathkumar in Diwali Special, Good Morning Tamizha | 29/10/2016 | PUTHUYUGAM TV
Radikaa Sarathkumar (also known as Radikaa) is an award winning India movie and television actress, entrepreneur and producer who works predominantly in the Tamil and Telugu film industries. She is the founder and CEO of Radaan Mediaworks Pvt. India Limited, which has produced serials such as Chitti, Annamalai, Selvi, Arasi, Chellame, Vaani Rani and Idi Katha Kadu (Telugu).
Radhika is the daughter of actor M. R. Radha and Geetha. Her father is from Chennai and her mother is a Sri Lankan Tamil. Radhika did her education in India, Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom. She has a younger sister Nirosha, who is also an actress and two younger brothers, Raju and Mohan. She also has two half-brothers Radha Ravi and M.R.R Vasu.
Radhika married actor Sarathkumar on 4 February 2001. They had been friends before their marriage and had been paired in two films: Namma Annachi (1994) and Suryavamsam (1997). The couple has a son named Rahul born in 2004. Radhika has a daughter Rayane born in 1992.
Her daughter Rayane married cricketer Abhimanyu Mithun in 2016. Radhika has a grandson and a granddaughter.
Film career
Radhika made her cinematic debut in the 1978 Tamil movie Kizhakke Pogum Rail. Thereafter, she acted in several Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and Malayalam films.
She has also produced a film titled Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai (1985), which won the Indira Gandhi Award for Best Debut Film of a Director.
She was awarded Best Telugu Actress for Nyayam Kavali (1981), Best Tamil Actress for Dharma Devathai (1986), Neethikku Thandanai (1987) and Keladi Kanmani (1990).
After becoming successful in cinema, Radhika wanted to do something different and decided to take on the small screen, a venture that everyone thought was a mistake and one she would regret. But determined to pursue something she believed in, namely producing television serials under her own banner, she started Radaan Mediaworks in 1994. After some initial hiccups, the company re-emerged successfully as a publicly listed company Radaan Mediaworks (I) Ltd in 1999.
She was a judge on Vijay TV's Jodi Number One Season 4.
She produced serials such as Idi Katha Kadu (Telugu), Chitti, Annamalai, Selvi, Arasi, Chellamay, Vani Rani, Thamarai and Chithi 2.
In September 2019, she was awarded as "Nadigavel Selvi" during audio launch of Market Raja MBBS.
She has won one National Film Awards as a Producer, six Filmfare Awards Souths, three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, one Cinema Express Award and one Nandi Awards.
Political career
She joined before the 2006 Assembly elections to join the AIADMK along with her husband R. Sarathkumar. On 18 October 2006, she was dismissed from AIADMK for anti-party activities. She was the vice president of All India Samathuva Makkal Katchi from 2007 until recently when she tendered her resignation.
For the 2024 Indian general election, Radhika is set to contest as the BJP candidate from the Virudhunagar Lok Sabha constituency.
Legal issues
Cheque bounce case
In 2014, Radiance Media Private Ltd. filed a petition claiming that Magic Frames, a company where Radhika and her husband Sarathkumar are partners, borrowed ₹1.50 crore and later her husband Sarathkumar took an additional loan of ₹50 lakhs in an agreement that the amount would be returned by March 2015. In 2017, Radiance media alleged that Magic Frames issued seven cheques as repayment and all of the cheques bounced for which seven cases were filed. In 2019, the Madras High Court had declined to quash the criminal proceedings in the pending cases after the couple moved the high court to quash them. Radikaa and Sarathkumar were convicted in the case by the Special Court on April 7, 2021. The court sentenced them to one year in prison and a fine of ₹3.3 crore. On the same day, her husband, Sarathkumar, received relief from the court for the sentence and the court issued arrest warrant to Radhika since she had not appeared in court.
Income tax raid
On April 11, 2017, the Income Tax Department conducted a raid on Radaan Mediaworks India Limited, a media company in Chennai owned by Radhika Sarathkumar. This action took place shortly after the department had interrogated her husband, Sarathkumar, and conducted a search of his residence.
கண்ணீருடன் விடை பெற்ற ராதிகா இனி ChandraKumari Serial புது நாயகி இவர்தான் ! Raadhika Sarathkumar
Award and nomination
Filmfare Awards South
1981 - Best Telugu Actress for Nyayam Kavali
1986 - Best Tamil Actress for Dharma Devathai
1987 - Best Tamil Actress for Neethikku Thandanai
1990 - Best Tamil Actress for Keladi Kanmani
2014 - Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award - South
2015 - Best Supporting Actress for Thanga Magan
South Indian International Movie Awards
2015 - Best Supporting Actress for Thanga Magan
Nandi Awards
1999 - Best Supporting Actress for Prema Kadha
National Film Awards
1985 – Indira Gandhi Award for Best First Film of a Director for Meendum Oru Kaadhal Kathai (Producer)
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards
1988 - Special Award for Best Actress for Poonthotta Kaavalkaaran
1989 - Best Actress for Ninaivu Chinnam
1995 - Special Award for Best Actress for Pasumpon, Rani Maha Rani
