Shamili

Shamlee (born 10 July 1987 ) is an Indian former actress who has worked in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam films. Her roles include the mentally challenged child Anjali in the 1990 Tamil-language film Anjali, for which she won the National Film Award for Best Child Artist, and a child trapped inside a bore-well in the Malayalam-language film Malootty, which won her a Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist. She has also won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Female Child Actor for her performance in her Kannada debut Mathe Haaditu Kogile.

Early life Shamlee is from a family of actors, being the younger sister to actor Richard Rishi and actress Shalini. She was born to Babu and Alice. Her father migrated to Madras with an ambition of becoming an actor and the family settled there.

Career Shamlee started acting at the age of two in Tamil Cinema with the Vijaykanth starrer Rajanadai. In 1990, she acted in Bharathan's Malootty, a film based on Jessica McClure. Her performance won her critical appreciation and the Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist. Her breakthrough came with Mani Ratnam's Anjali, in which she portrayed a mentally challenged child, which earned her widespread critical acclaim across South India and the National Film Award for Best Child Artist. At that time, Shamlee was regarded as one of the youngest income tax assessees ever. After Anjali, Shamlee became inarguably the most sought out child artist in South Indian cinema and, thus in subsequent years, acted in many roles in all four South Indian languages.

In 2009, she played her first female lead role in Anand Ranga's directorial debut Oy! (2009) alongside Siddarth with her performance receiving a mixed response. Between 2010 and 2015, Shamili studied and worked in Singapore and later returned to Chennai to work on the production of Veera Shivaji alongside Vikram Prabhu in 2016, which was panned by critics. Her performance also received negative reviews with indiaglitz claiming “Shamlee gets a forgettable debut as a heroine in Tamil. Her lip sync is poor and the scenes involving her do no help her either”. and sify also stating she is “as stiff as a wax statue with barely any emotion”. Shamili also acted in the Malayalam film Valleem Thetti Pulleem Thetti the same year, which was also panned and received negative reviews.

Filmography As child artist

Year Movie Role Language Notes 1989 Rajanadai Shamili "Shamu" Tamil 1990 Magadu Baby Telugu Tamil dubbed as Meesaikaran Anjali Anjali Tamil - National Film Award for Best Child ArtistTamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Child Artist Malootty Malootty Malayalam - Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari Bujji Telugu Mathe Haaditu Kogile Pallavi Kannada - Karnataka State Film Award for Best Child Artist Durga Durga,Mallika Tamil 1991 Thai Poosam Velayutham Sendhoora Devi Sindhu,Nandu Pookkalam Varavayi Geethu Malayalam Anbu Sangili Geethu Tamil Keechu Raallu Jyoti Telugu Bhairavi Kannada Kilukkampetti Chikkumol Malayalam Shwetaagni Kannada Vaasalile Oru Vennila Ammu Tamil 1992 Police Lockup Kannada Killer Sneha Telugu Sivasankari Tamil Devar Veettu Ponnu Sangari,Savithri Naga Bala Telugu Nani Parvathalu Panakalu Mahalakshmi Sukravaram Mahalakshmi 1993 Joker Apple Kadambari Kannada Chinna Kannamma Saranya Tamil Sambhavi Kannada Nippu Ravva Engineer's daughter TeluguHindi dubbed as Mawali Raj Thanga Pappa Abhirami Tamil - Cinema Express Award for Best Child Artist Dakshayini Kannada Hoovu Hannu Triveni Sivarathiri Tamil 1994 Makkala Sakshi Kannada Chinna Nee Naguthiru Bhuvaneshwari Anga Rakshakudu Telugu Doragariki Donga Pellam Baby Vani 1995 Nirnayam Parukkutty Malayalam Karulina Kudi Kannada 1996 Lalanam Ammu Malayalam 1998 Harikrishnans Ammalu Jagadeeshwari Jagadeeshwari Kannada Thayin Manikodi Rosie Tamil 2000 Kandukondain Kandukondain Kamala

As lead actress Year Film Role Language Notes 2009 Oy! Sandhya Jagarlamudi Telugu 2016 Valleem Thetti Pulleem Thetti Sreedevi Malayalam Veera Sivaji Anjali Tamil 2018 AmmammagarilluSita Telugu