Bhavana

Karthika Menon, better known by her stage name Bhavana, is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Malayalam and Kannada language films in addition to Tamil and Telugu films.

She is the recipient of two Kerala State Film Awards and a Filmfare Award.

Bhavana was born Karthika Menon on 6 June 1986 in Thrissur, Kerala.

She is the daughter of Pushpa and assistant cinematographer G. Balachandran.

She has an elder brother, Jayadev.

She did her schooling at Holy Family Convent Girls High School, Thrissur.

Bhavana has described herself as a restless person and someone who's "hard to handle".

When she was young, she dreamed of becoming an actress.

She debuted with the film Nammal (2002) and appeared in several successful Malayalam films like Chronic Bachelor (2003), C.I.D. Moosa (2003), Swapnakoodu (2003), Chathikkatha Chanthu (2004), Naran (2005), Chotta Mumbai (2007) and Marykkundoru Kunjaadu (2010), Tamil films including Chithiram Pesuthadi (2006), Jayamkondaan (2008) and Aasal (2010), and successful Kannada films like Jackie (2010), Vishnuvardhana (2011) and Romeo (2013).

She received two Kerala State Film Awards for Daivanamathil and Nammal.

At age 16, she debuted in the Malayalam film Nammal (2002), taking the stage name Bhavana with newcomers Jishnu Raghavan, Sidharth Bharathan and Renuka Menon.

The film was a commercial success.

She portrayed the role of Parimalam, a slum dweller who talks in Thrissur slang and received the Kerala State Special Jury Mention for the film.

She once said, that she felt almost unrecognizable in the film, and people who knew her didn’t realize that she had played Parimalam.

The following year she had six releases.

She had a cameo role in the Dileep and Kavya Madhavan starrer Thilakkam. In her next film, Chronic Bachelor, she played the sister of Mammootty.

The film was a commercial hit.

She starred with Dileep in C.I.D. Moosa, which turned out to be one of the best slapstick comedies in Malayalam cinema and a financial success.

She had a significant part in the ensemble romantic comedy Swapnakoodu, co-starring with Prithviraj Sukumaran, Kunchacko Boban, Jayasurya and Meera Jasmine.

Ivar and Valathottu Thirinjal Nalamathe Veedu failed at the box office.

In 2004, she appeared in a dance number with Dileep in Runway.

Youth Festival, Parayam and Amritam were box office failures.

She starred in Chathikkatha Chanthu alongside Navya Nair and Jayasurya which became a commercial success.

In 2005, she appeared in Rajesh Pillai's directorial debut Hridayathil Sookshikkan which opened to a negative reception.

Also appeared in Police, directed by V. K. Prakash and in Banglavil Outha. Her next film, Daivanamathil directed by Jayaraj met with critical acclaim.

She played the role of Samira, the girl who tries to change her husband and ends up in jail for his extremist activities.

She received the Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actress for the film.

She then appeared in Chanthupottu, which was a commercially successful film.

Her next film, Naran starring Mohanlal was also a commercial success.

She starred alongside Mammootty in Bus Conductor.

The film opened to mixed reviews but was a box office hit and also appeared in Udayananu Tharam.

In 2006, she made her debut in Tamil cinema with the release of Chithiram Pesuthadi with Narain.

The film initially failed to attract an audience due to its low key release.

The word of mouth helped the film regain its momentum and eventually have a re release that was well received by the audience, which led to the film's box office success.

She received the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil for her portrayal of Charumathi, an NGO worker who battles injustice.

She then starred in Chinthamani Kolacase, directed by Shaji Kailas and starring Suresh Gopi, which became a commercial success.

Kisan directed by Sibi Malayil became a failure.

Her next film starring Dileep was Chess, and despite having mixed reviews it became a box office hit.

Her Tamil film Kizhakku Kadalkarai Salai with Srikanth was poorly received.

She was an 11th standard student when she got her break in the film.