Kamalinee Mukherjee

Kamalinee Mukherjee is an Indian actress. She has predominantly appeared in Telugu films as well as a few Malayalam and Tamil films.

After graduating with a degree in English literature, she completed a workshop on theatre in Mumbai. She made her acting debut in Phir Milenge (2004), a film that was based on the subject of AIDS. She then appeared in the Telugu film Anand also in 2004.

Early life Kamalinee was born 4 March 1984 and brought up in Kolkata, India. Her father is a marine engineer and her mother is a jewellery designer. She is the eldest of the three siblings in the family. Owing to her "love for being on the stage" She also underwent several years of training in Bharatanatyam.

Acting career Breakthrough After a chance meeting, actor-director Revathi offered her a role in her second directorial venture, Phir Milenge, a film about AIDS. Though initially apprehensive about her entering into the acting profession, her parents were very supportive.

Around the same time, Sekhar Kammula, a national award-winning director from the Telugu film industry, was in the process of casting for his next Telugu film, Anand. After noticing her in an advertisement, Kammula selected her for the role. Mukherjee said that the role of an independent and modern woman, which was just like her own personality, appealed to her. The film won six prestigious 2004 Nandi Awards bestowed by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. Among these, Mukherjee won the Nandi Award for the Best Leading Actress. She also won two awards for being the best debutante actress of the year.

2005–present After receiving appreciation for her portrayal of a strong-willed, independent and modern woman in Anand, her next film was Meenakshi, in 2005. Despite the film not finding much commercial success, Mukherjee said that she did not regret doing the film and that it was a big learning curve. In 2006, she appeared in two Telugu language films (Style and Godavari) and one Tamil language film (Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu). Style is a dance-based film with actor-choreographers Prabhu Deva, Raghava Lawrence, Charmee Kaur and Raja.

Godavari, which was Sekhar Kammula's next film, starred Sumanth and Mukherjee in the lead roles. This drama film, which had the Godavari River in the backdrop, dealt with a romantic love story between the lead characters. Mukherjee portrayed the role of a woman with independent thinking and tremendous inner strength, under the "backdrop of middle/upper middle class sensibilities, new aspirations, identity crisis, independence, yearnings and moreover, parental concerns". The film received predominantly positive reviews, and Kamalinee's role was particularly praised. While one reviewer said that she was "beautiful ... both in looks and in her measured acting style," another reviewer praised her for the "intense yet cool portrayal". Following Aparajita Tumi, Kamalinee also appeared in K Raghavendra Rao's devotional film, Shirdi Sai with Nagarjuna. Her next project was new-age Malayalam director, V. K. Prakash's Natholi Oru Cheriya Meenalla, where she played a quirky character opposite Fahadh Faasil.

In 2016, Kamalinee worked with award-winning director Karthik Subbaraj in his second directorial venture, a woman-oriented film, Iraivi. After her special-appearance song in Malayalam director Vysakh's 2014 film Cousins, she was cast opposite Mohanlal in the box office record-breaking Pulimurugan. Pulimurugan was the second highest-grossing Malayalam film.

Other activities

Kamalinee is a supporter of the non-profit organizations CHORD India and World Vision, which are both involved in rehabilitation, welfare and the education of children. She produces beauty tutorial videos along with her two younger sisters, Mrinalinee and Shohinee, for Mrinalinee's YouTube channel Mirror Mirror. In 2014, she launched Chinese-American poet Wand Ping's anthology Ten Thousand Waves in Hyderabad, India at a poetry reading event. Kamalinee was also part of the poets panel at the Bengaluru Poetry Festival in August 2016 where she read a selection of her poems alongside award-winning poet Dr. Neal Hall. She is an avid baker and cook and enjoys experimenting with cuisines from around the world.

Filmography Year Film Role Language Notes 2004 Phir Milenge Tanya Sahni Hindi Debut film Anand Rupa Telugu Telugu Debut as lead actress; Nandi Award for Best Actress Nominated: Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu 2005 Meenakshi Meenakshi 2006 Style Priya Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu Kayalvizhi Raghavan Tamil Tamil Debut; Cameo appearance Godavari Seetha Mahalakshmi Telugu Nominated: Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu 2007 Classmates Razia Pellaindi Kaani Gayatri Happy Days Shreya Madam Cameo appearance 2008 Gamyam Janaki Nominated: Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu Jalsa Indu Cameo appearance Brahmanandam Drama Company Arpitha 2009 Kadhalna Summa Illai Janaki Tamil partially reshot version of GamyamGopi Gopika Godavari Gopika Telugu Nominated: Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu 2010 Savari Janaki Kannada Kannada Debut Police Police Harika Telugu Kutty Shranku Pemmena Malayalam Malayalam debut Maa Annayya Bangaram Manjula Telugu Nagavalli Gayathri 2011 Virodhi Sunitha 2012 Aparajita Tumi Ushoshi Bengali Bengali Debut Shirdi Sai Radhakrishna Bai Telugu 2013 Natholi Oru Cheriya Meenalla Prabha Thomas Malayalam Ramachari Geetha Telugu Jagadguru Adi Shankara Ubhaya Bharathi Cameo appearance 2014 Govindudu Andarivadele Chitra Cousins Herself Malayalam Cameo appearance - Song 2016 Iraivi Yazhini Tamil Pulimurugan Myna Malayalam