Kaniha

Biography

Divya Venkata Subramaniam, better known by her stage name Kaniha, is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema along with a few Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada movies. Kaniha made her debut in the 2002 Tamil film Five Star.

Kaniha turned down all projects that were subsequently offered to her, including films by S. Shankar and P. C. Sreeram, and went on to complete her graduation. Even before she finished her graduation, she completed her Telugu debut film Ottesi Cheputunna during her winter vacations, acting under another stage name Sravanthi. Regarding her performance, Idlebrain wrote: "Sravanthy looks homely in the film and suited the character. She performed well. She is good at dances as well".

After completing her studies, Kaniha decided to give herself a go at the Tinsel towns. She starred in the Kannada film Annavaru (2004), a remake of Mani Ratnam's Thalapathi (1991), stepping into Kannada filmdom, too. She followed the movie with a cameo role in Cheran's Autograph. 

Kaniha next appeared in a comedy-oriented role in a commercial film by K. S. Ravikumar, Aethiree along with Madhavan, Sada, in which she portrayed a "naughty Brahmin girl". Sify labeled her performance in the film as "outstanding". 

She went on to play the female lead in Dancer opposite the physically disabled Kutty, following which she returned to Telugu cinema, accepting to reprise her role in the Telugu remake of Autograph, Naa Autograph, playing the same role as in the original version. She proved to be an actress to reckon with in the Kannada film Sye, a remake of the Tamil film Dhill. She finally ventured into Malayalam cinema as the heroine of the campus-based film Ennitum.

Later in 2006, she appeared in her biggest project until then, Varalaru, directed again by K. S. Ravikumar, in which she shared screen space with Ajith Kumar and Asin. She won plaudits for her role as a mentally disordered girl. After a two-year gap, her most recent Kannada film Rajakumari opposite Ravichandran was released, in which she again got to play the female lead role.