Devayani

Devayani, born smack in the middle of Mumbai on June 22, 1974, isn’t just your run-of-the-mill actress—she’s got some serious chops both on-screen and behind the scenes as a producer. If you’ve watched Tamil cinema in the late ‘90s or early 2000s, there’s no way you missed her. She totally stole the show in “Kadhal Kottai” back in ’96. That film? It’s basically a classic now—romantic, a bit dramatic, and honestly, Devayani just nails that whole “longing for love” thing without being over the top. Not to mention she looked like everyone’s girl-next-door, which, let’s face it, is half the charm. But she didn’t just stop there. She switched gears in “Bharathi” (2000), which is this super intense biographical flick about the famous poet Subramania Bharati. In that, she played Chellamma, Bharati’s wife—a role that needed a lot of depth and subtlety. And guess what? She delivered, big time. Critics were all over her performance, and it’s not hard to see why. Then you’ve got “Aanandham” from 2001, where she played the perfect family woman in a huge ensemble cast. The film is all about family drama, love, and, honestly, the kind of everyday struggles that hit home for a lot of people. Again, Devayani brought a realness to her character that just made the whole thing click. Oh, and fun fact—she’s married to director Rajakumaran. So yeah, pretty much a power couple in the industry. Devayani’s career is basically a masterclass in versatility and staying power in Indian cinema.