Abitha

As a teenager, Abitha used to go and see the television serial Nancy starring Sanghavi being filmed near her house in Thiruvottiyur. The director of that serial recognized her and spoke to her parents, convincing her to play the heroine's sister in their next TV serial Criminal.[2] After doing a couple of serials, she did a low-budget film titled Golmaal as the sister of the lead lady and then in a film titled Devadasi in Malayalam.

At that time, director Bala brought her in for a leading role in Sethu alongside Vikram, which she signed after Keerthi Reddy and Rajshri had dropped out.[3] Bala renamed her Abitha from her original name of Jenila for the film, after the character she portrayed. The film opened in December 1999 at a single noon show at a suburban theatre but built up through word-of-mouth and ran for over 100 days at several cinema halls across Chennai, becoming a critical and commercial success. Sethu won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil and secured wins in the Best Film category at the Filmfare Awards and the Cinema Express Awards, while Abitha won critical acclaim for her role of as an innocent Tamil Brahmin girl.[4]

After the success of Sethu, Abitha was flooded with offers but chose to complete her studies and finish her PG in Sociology from Annamalai University. She revealed that by the time she decided to come back she had lost her contacts in the industry and was thereafter seen in only a couple of insignificant projects.[5] Film producers were also reluctant to cast her after her glamorous appearance in Malayalam film Devadasi came to prominence post-Sethu's release, contradicting her demure image in the latter film.[6]

She appeared alongside veteran actor Ramarajan in Seerivarum Kaalai before starring in Poove Pen Poove alongside newcomer Ishaq Husseini. After the failure of those films she played Arjun's sister in Arasatchi. Other films in the period, such as Pirantha Naal with Prakash Raj, Aanaa Andha Madam Agatti Sandai Madam with Mansoor Ali Khan, Kashmir with Abhinay, Risk with Guru, and Kandhavel with Murali were not completed and indefinitely shelved.[7][8][9][10][11] In 2005, she got another breakthrough and signed on to play the lead role in Kannamma scripted by Karunanidhi, but to do so she unceremoniously opted out of another film titled Ullakadathal. Subsequently, the producers of that film complained and got her banned by the Producer's Council, leaving her out of both films.[12][13] Later that year she featured in Unarchigal alongside Abbas and Kunal.[14] Her next film was Suyetchai MLA, which had a delayed release in 2006, and featured her opposite Sathyaraj and she was last seen in Nam Naadu as the wife of Saranraj.

Abitha made her small screen debut as the main lead actress in Thirumathi Selvam in 2007 in which she starred opposite Sanjeev.[15] The serial was a superhit, ruling the Tamil small screen for five and a half years from 2007 to 2013. Abitha was selected the best actress of Sun TV in the first two editions of Sun Kudumbam awards held in the years 2010 and 2012 for her performance as Archana in the serial. She also starred in the low profile serial Thangamana Purushan.

She got married to Sunil, a Malayali chief accountant in a chemical company at St Mary's Catholic Church in Kottayam in 2009 and continued to work in serials following her marriage. She has two daughters.[16]

• Abitha at IMDb