Mamta Mohandas

Mamta was born and brought up in Bahrain even though she is from Kerala. She attended the Indian School, Bahrain till 2002. She first became a model and did a Bachelor's degree at Mount Carmel College, Bangalore. She did print ads for names such as IBM and Kalyan Kendra and on the ramp for the Mysore Maharajah and Raymonds. Mohandas is trained in Carnatic and Hindustani. Even during school days, she was a popular singer..She is a model too.

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

She acted alongside Suresh Gopi in the films Adbutham (2006) and Lanka (2006) and alongside Jayaram in Madhuchandralekha (2006). She was later roped into play heroine in Baba Kalyani with Mohanlal, but opted out later due to scheduling conflicts. She created controversy after the release of the movie Lanka.Later that year, she debuted in the Tamil film industry, starring in the Karu Pazhaniappan-directed film, Sivappathigaram opposite Vishal Krishna, which turned out to be an average grosser only.

In 2007 then, she eventually stepped into the Telugu film industry as well as 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 debut Kannada film Gooli. She then starred her first in the film Krishnarjuna, essaying the lead female role finally, which however did not 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 (2008 film) opposite Nagarjuna. In both the film she also worked as a playback singer, singing several songs, gaining great applause for both her acting and singing.

Besides acting, Mamta is known as an acclaimed playback singer in Indian films as well. Mamta, who is trained in Carnatic and Hindustani music, first sang playback in the Telugu film Rakhee, singing the title song, under Devi Sri Prasad's direction, making her debut in the Telugu film industry as a singer, before making her acting debut in Telugu. She went on to win the 2007 Filmfare Best Telugu Female Playback Singer Award for that song.

In Tamil, she has sung the song Kaalai Kaalai in the film Kaalai that starred Silambarasan in the lead role. She has now sung a song called Idai Vazhi for the comedy film Goa under noted composer Yuvan Shankar Raja's direction and soon she will be heard for the first time in her mother tongue, Malayalam, for her forthcoming movie with Prithiviraj titled Anwar.

Subsequently, she was offered to sing several songs for composer Devi Sri Prasad, including the chartbuster Akalesthe Annam Pedtha for the Chiranjeevi-starrer Shankardada Zindabad (later dubbed as Daddy Mummy in the Tamil film Villu), 36-24-36 for the film Jagadam, Mia for Tulasi and Ghanana (Funny) and the title song for the film King, in which she herself acted. Other music directors, she worked with include M. M. Keeravani (for her own films Yamadonga and Krishnarjuna, also Chandamama), R. P. Patnaik (for Andamaina Mansulo), Chakri (for Victory), Nithin Raikwar (for her own movie Homam (film)|Homam) and Thaman (for Jayeebhava).

Do you like this lens? Please give your valuable suggestion