Rohini Molleti

Biography

Rohini Molleti, known professionally as Rohini, is an Indian actress, screenwriter, and lyricist. She has mainly acted in Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam, films along with a few Kannada films. Having started her acting career at five, she has about 300 South Indian films to her credit.

She received the National Film Award – Special Mention and the Andhra Pradesh state Nandi Special Jury Award for Best Performance as Rangi in the 1995 film Stri.

She started her career in 1974 as a child actress. She was first seen as a wide-eyed five-year-old in Yashoda Krishna, a Telugu film. She is also a popular dubbing artist in the Telugu and Tamil film industries. She has voiced six characters in five of Mani Ratnam's films.

She lent her voice to actresses like Jyothika (Vettaiyaadu Vilaiyaadu), Aishwarya Rai (Iruvar and Raavanan), Manisha Koirala (Bombay)and Amala (Shiva). She has also been dubbed for Girija Shettar in Geethanjali.

She wrote lyrics for the Tamil film Pachaikili Muthucharam, before ending another hiatus by writing all songs in the album, Maalai Pozhudhin Mayakathilaey. Her acting skills were recognized and she was given the Kalaimamani award recently.

She writes episodes for Tamil TV serials. She started writing scripts for TV series way back in 1996 and adapted the Sahithya Academy Award-winning novel Verukku Neer for a telefilm in 2005.

She hosted the live TV talk show Kelvigal Aayiram for Vijay TV, which she said: "dealt with issues close to my heart". She moderated the Tamil program Azhagiya Tamizh Magal on Kalaignar TV and has worked as the anchor of Raj TV's show, Rohini's Box Office in which she reviewed the latest releases.

Being an activist for AIDS awareness, Rohini has also directed short films for M.G.R. Medical University and Tamil Nadu Aids Control Society.

In 2008, Rohini directed a 50-minute documentary Silent Hues about the film industry's Child actress, being one herself. In 2013, she directed a feature film Appavin Meesai which is yet to be released.