Divya Venkatasubramaniam life and biography

Divya Venkatasubramaniam is an Indian actress who mainly acts in Tamil cinema. Her stage names include Kanika in Tamil and Malayalam (also misspelt as Kaniha, Kaniga or Kanihaa) and Shravanthi in Telugu and Kannada. She completed her engineering degree at BITS Pilani during which she acted in her first two movies. She became a full time actress thereafter. She has acted in Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada movies, making her a truly southern spice actress. She has also forayed into playback singing, dubbing and anchoring TV shows in her short career. Her notable films are 5 star produced by Mani Rathnam, Varalaru - History of Godfather directed by K.S.Ravikumar and Autograph produced and directed by Cheran.

Divya was born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India as the second daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Venkat Subramanian, both engineers. She grew up in a typical Tamil Brahmin household in the suburbs of Madurai. She studied at TVS Matriculation Higher Secondary School, Madurai and was a good student with quite a few accolades including the Tamil Nadu State Award for Educational Excellence in 1999.She then got admitted on merit to BITS ("Birla Institute of Technology and Science"), in Pilani, Rajasthan, from where she graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree.
Having developed her singing talents from her childhood, by participating in pop music and light music shows, Divya was interested in singing and related performing arts.

While she was still studying, she gave stage performances as a pop singer from time to time. When she was supposed to perform at the Miss Chennai event, a beauty pageant contest, in 2001, she was asked and finally persuaded to participate at the contest because of her height, after a model had backed out. Her tall figure worked to her advantage Despite lack of experience, she emerged victorious at that contest, which would later pave her the way for a film career.

Besides acting, Kanika has ventured into other fields as well, working as a dubbing artiste, playback singer and TV host, proving to be a versatile and talented person.

TV Shows:

Even at the prime of her career, Kanika moved to "small screen", hosting a couple of TV shows, which she believes is a refreshing change from movies. She had first hosted the second season of the popular comedy show Kalakka Povathu Yaaru on STAR Vijay in 2006, following which she had hosted the popular family based game show Mega Thanga Vettai, the annual Chutti Vikatan Children's Quiz Show both on Sun TV. Besides, she also essayed a lead role in the television serial Thiruvilayadal on Sun TV.

Dubbing and Singing:

Kanika's sweet voice and perfect Tamil pronunciation made possible her venture into playback singing and dubbing. Having a vast experience and being a professional singer before turning actress, Kanika got the offer to sing the theme song of her debut film Five Star.She then turned dubbing artiste, dubbing for actresses Genelia D'Souza in Sachein, Sadha in Anniyan and Shriya Saran in Sivaji: The Boss, whereas the latter two film were S. Shankar's films. Kanika once stated, that she probably got the offer to dub for Sadha and Shriya in Anniyan and Sivaji, respectively, who both played the roles of Brahmin girls in the films, because Shankar liked her accent, she used in the film Aethiree, in which she herself played the role of a Brahmin girl.

Awards:

- AMMA Awards(Malayalam)- Best Actress 2009 for her portrayal of the character Daisy in film Bhagyadevatha

- Asianet Film Awards 2010 - Special Jury Award for Pazhassiraja and Bhagyadevatha

- State Film Critics Awards 2009- Best actress for Bhagyadevatha

On 15 June 2008, Kanika entered married life, by wedding Shyam Radhakrishnan, a US-based software engineer . She, at first, decided to leave the film industry, finishing her career as an actress, and to settle down in the US, stating that she, however, would complete her hitherto signed movies. In January 2009 then, Kanika, unexpectedly, announced her comeback with the Sathyan Anthikkad-directed Malayalam film Bhagyadevatha.

Filmography:

2009 Bhagyadevatha - Nominated, Filmfare Award for Best Actress (Malayalam) ; Pazhassi Raja ; My Big Father
2010 Drona 2010, Christian Brothers

As dubbing artiste:
2005 Anniyan
2007 Sivaji: The Boss

As playback singer:
2002 "Engalukku"

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