Mamta Mohandas

Mamta was born on 14 November 1984 to Mohandas and Ganga into a Malayali family which originally hails from Kannur. She attended the Indian School, Bahrain until 2002 and is an alumnus of the school. Mamta pursued a bachelor’s degree in computer science at Mount Carmel College Bangalore. She modeled for print ads for companies such as IBM and Kalyan Kendra, and modeled on the ramp for the Mysore Maharaja and Raymonds. Mamta is trained in Carnatic music and Hindustani music.

 

 

Mamta Mohandas is an Indian actress, film producer, and playback singer who predominantly works in Malayalam films along with Tamil and Telugu productions. She has acted in more than 50 films and won several accolades including two Filmfare Awards South, for Best Female Playback Singer in Telugu in 2006 and for Best Actress in Malayalam in 2010 and also Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actress in 2010. She has launched her own film production company under the banner Mamta Mohandas Productions.

 

Mamta debuted in the 2005 Malayalam film Mayookham, directed by Hariharan. Although the film did not do well at the box office, she attracted attention for her sensitive portrayal of Indira.

 

Subsequently, she acted alongside Mammootty in Bus Conductor, with Suresh Gopi in the films Adbutham (2006) and Lanka (2006), and alongside Jayaram in Madhuchandralekha (2006). She also played the female lead in Baba Kalyani with Mohanlal. Later that year, she débuted in the Tamil film industry, starring in the Karu Pazhaniappan directed film Sivappathigaram opposite Vishal, which turned out to be an average grosser.

 

In 2007 she acted with Mammootty in the film Big B. She eventually stepped into the Telugu film industry as well, when she appeared in a supporting role in the film Yamadonga, directed by SS Rajamouli. The film became one of the biggest hits of the year. She had lent her voice for a couple of songs in this film too. In 2008, she appeared in 7 films, predominantly in Telugu-language films. Her first release was her début Kannada film Gooli. She then starred in the film Krishnarjuna, playing the lead female role, which did not do well at the box office. Victory was her next assignment as lead actress, but that film also failed at the box office, following which she appeared in a cameo role in her only Tamil release that year, Kuselan, alongside Tamil superstar Rajinikanth. Three more Telugu releases featured Mamta, including Homam, directed by JD Chakravarthy and Srinu Vaitla’s King opposite Nagarjuna. In both these films, she also was a playback singer for several songs.

 

In 2009, she starred in the comedy film Guru En Aalu alongside Madhavan, and the thriller Passenger, sharing screen space with Dileep and Sreenivasan, respectively. While the former had an average run at the box office, the latter was declared a surprise sleeper hit in Malayalam. The film Passenger, in which she played the role of a television reporter, became a turning point in Mamta’s career. She was initially approached to play the lead role in the 2009 Telugu dark fantasy Arundathi. She refused the offer, and the movie went on to become one of the highest grossers that year. In 2010, she worked with Jayaram in the critically acclaimed Kadha Thudarunnu directed by Sathyan Anthikkad, for which she won her first Best Actress Award from Filmfare. This film also won her the Kerala State Film Award for Second Best Actress, the Vanitha award for best actress – Malayalam, the Mathrubhumi award for best actress – Malayalam and the Asianet award for the best actress- Malayalam. Other projects in 2010 included Musafir with Rahman, Anwar with Prithiviraj, and Kedi with Nagarjuna. Mamta’s first film in 2011 was the Malayalam film Race, in which she played the role of Niya, wife of a cardiac surgeon Abey (Kunchacko Boban). The film failed to do well at the box office. Her next release in Malayalam was Naayika. In 2012, she appeared in her third Tamil film, Thadaiyara Thaakka, directed by Magizh Thirumeni. In 2013 she starred in Paisa Paisa with Indrajith. In 2014 she starred in To Noora with Love as a Muslim character.

 

She made a comeback to Malayalam movie industry with Ranjith Shankar’s Mammootty starrer Varsham. She shared her screen space again with Dileep in Two Countries after doing a box office hit movie with him named My Boss.

 

In 2016, she starred opposite Mammootty in Thoppil Joppan, and she also signed the movie Baby Sitter alongside Biju Menon. In early 2017, she signed Crossroad, an anthology film in which she plays an orthodox Muslim. She also appeared in an extended cameo in Udaharanam Sujatha with Manju Warrier. In mid-2017, she signed Detroit Crossing aka Ranam opposite Prithviraj, but had to opt out because she did not have fresh dates to allocate for the project.

 

In 2020 Mamta was seen alongside Tovino Thomas in the crime thriller feature film Forensic in which she played the role of police officer Rithika Xavier IPS .

Talking about the relationship status of Mamta, she got engaged to Prajith Padmanabhan, a Bahrain-based businessman, on 11 November 2011. They got married on 28 December 2011 in Thalassery. On 12 December 2012, the couple applied for divorce.