Varalaxmi Sarathkumar

Varalaxmi Sarathkumar’s basically a powerhouse in South Indian cinema—yeah, she acts, she directs, she’s all over the place, and honestly? She’s killed it in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada films. Grew up in Chennai, studied at St. Michael’s and then Hindustan College, where she did Microbiology (random, right?). Then Scotland happened—she picked up a Master’s in Business Management at University of Edinburgh. Smart and talented. Not fair. After academics, she figured why not jump into acting, so she trained at Anupam Kher’s ‘Actor Prepares’ in Mumbai. Her debut? Podaa Podi in 2012, rom-com vibes, dancing in London, and she snatched up awards for Best Debut Actress. Not a bad start at all. Next up was Madha Gaja Raja, but thanks to money drama, it didn’t even hit theaters. She really broke out with Maanikya (2014), a Kannada film alongside Sudeep, and that did pretty well. Then came Tharai Thappattai, a musical drama—critics loved her, SIIMA award and all. Malayalam debut? Kasaba with Mammootty. The woman’s got range. Oh, and Vikram Vedha—yeah, she played a small but killer role with Vijay Sethupathi. Huge box office hit, awards came rolling in again. Then she flipped the script, playing the villain in Sandakozhi 2 and Sarkar, and honestly, she absolutely owned those negative roles. More awards, because of course. She’s been in a bunch of biggies—Maari 2, Krack, Naandhi, Michael—and even did some TV, like High Priestess and Addham. Basically, if you watch South Indian films, you’ve seen her. And she’s not slowing down anytime soon.