Raadhika Sarathkumar

Radikaa Sarathkumar is an Indian actress, film producer, film director and politician who works predominantly in Tamil and Telugu cinema, TV serials and web series as well as in Hindi, Malayalam and Kannada films. She is a recipient of a National Film Award, two Nandi Awards, three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and six Filmfare Award South.

Personal life

Radikaa is the daughter of actor M. R. Radha and Geetha. Her father is a Telugu from Chennai and her mother is a Sinhalese from Sri Lanka, native of Wennappuwa. Radikaa did her education in India, Sri Lanka and a course in London, which she discontinued. 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.

Radikaa 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.

Radikaa also has a daughter, Rayanne born in 1992, from her second husband, Richard Hardy. Rayanne married cricketer Abhimanyu Mithun in 2016. Radikaa has a grandson and a granddaughter.

Film career Radikaa made her cinematic debut in the 1978 Tamil movie Kizhakke Pogum Rail after accidentally meeting Bharathiraja. Thereafter, she acted in several Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Hindi and Malayalam films.

Through the late 1970s and the entire 1980s, Radikaa Sarathkumar was one of the busiest leading ladies in South Indian cinema.

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).

In 1994, she started a TV film production under her own banner, Radaan Mediaworks, in which she produced several TV serials hits, and also played a leading role.

She produced serials such as Idi Katha Kadu (Telugu), Chitti, Annamalai, Selvi, Arasi, Chellamay, Vani Rani, Thamarai and Chithi 2.

She was a judge on Vijay TV's Jodi Number One Season 4.

In September 2019, she was awarded as "Nadigavel Selvi" during audio launch of Market Raja MBBS.

Political career She joined the AIADMK before the 2006 Assembly elections 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.

In the 2024 Indian general election, Radhika contested as the BJP candidate from the Virudhunagar Lok Sabha constituency. She lost the election and finished third. Vijaya Prabhakaran (son of Late Vijayakanth) finished with 214,606 votes higher than Radhika.

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 7 April 2021. The court sentenced them to one year in prison and a fine of ₹3.3 crore.

Income tax raid The Income Tax department conducted a raid on Radaan Mediaworks India Limited, a media company owned by Radikaa Sarathkumar, in Chennai on 11 April 2017, days after the department interrogated her husband Sarathkumar and searched his house.

Awards and nominations Year Award Award category Work Result Reference 1981 Filmfare Awards South Best Actress – Telugu Nyayam Kavali 1985 National Film Awards Producer Meendum Oru Kaathal Kathai 1986 Filmfare Awards South Best Actress – Tamil Dharma Devathai 1987 Neethikku Thandanai Nandi AwardsBest Supporting Actress Karthika Pournami Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Special Award Poonthotta Kaavalkaaran1989 Best Actress Ninaivu Chinnam 1990 Filmfare Awards SouthBest Actress – Tamil Keladi Kanmani 1993 Cinema Express Awards Best Actress Kizhakku Cheemayile 1995 Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Special Award for Best Actress Pasumpon, Rani Maharani 1999 Nandi AwardsBest Supporting Actress Prema Kadha 2008 Vivel Chinnathirai Award Best ActressArasi 2010 Sun Kudumbam Viruthugal Best Overall Performance Award 2012 Special Jury Award for Best ActressChellamay 2014 Best ActressVani Rani 2015 Best Supporting Actress – Tamil Thanga Magan South Indian International Movie AwardsBest Actress in a Supporting Role 2016 Provoke Lifestyle Awards TV Sensation of the Year Various Serials

Filmography

Elections contested and positions held Lok Sabha elections