Bhavana (actress)

Bhavana was born as Karthika Menon in Thrissur, Kerala, as the daughter of Pushpa and assistant cinematographer G. Balachandran. She has an elder brother, Jayadev.[2][3] She did her schooling at Holy Family Convent Girls High School, Thrissur.

Bhavana has described herself as a restless person and someone who's "hard to handle". She grew up with a dream to become an actress.[4] As a five-year-old, she used to imitate actress Amala's scenes from the Malayalam film Ente Sooryaputhrikku in front of the mirror and was even willing to jump from a building and break her arm, like Amala's character, did in the film.[4]

At age 16,[4] she debuted in the Malayalam film Nammal taking the stage name Bhavana opposite newcomers Sidharth Bharathan, Jishnu and Renuka Menon.[5] The film was a big success and she got several offers in Malayalam.[6] She won many honors and received a Kerala State Special Jury Mention for the film.[7] Bhavana was an 11th Standard student when she got her break in the film.[8]

In 2010, she starred in her first Kannada film alongside Puneeth Rajkumar, Jackie which was a blockbuster. Following the film's huge success, the film was dubbed into Telugu and Malayalam.[9] Bhavana was said to star with Emraan Hashmi and Amitabh Bachchan in a Bollywood film.[10] Her second Kannada film Vishnuvardhana with Sudeep opened to a big response. She appeared in the Malayalam films Ozhimuri[11] and Trivandrum Lodge in 2012,[12] and Honey Bee[13] and Ezhamathe Varavu in 2013. She played Roshni Mathew, a single mother employed in an IT company, in Shyamaprasad's Ivide, a crime thriller based on the serial killing of IT techies in major US cities.[14]

In 2016, she starred in a film with Benedict Doray. Recent films of Bhavana include Swapnathekaal Sundaram and Adventures of Omanakuttan.[15]

In 2022, it was announced Bhavana would return to making Malayalam movies, with Adhil Maimoonath Asharaf's debut feature Ntikkakkakkoru Premondaarnn.[16]

In February 2017, she was kidnapped[17] while returning home from a shoot and subjected to sexual assault by a gang of men. In April 2017, there were multiple reports in the media that actor Dileep had links to the main accused.[18] In July 2017, Dileep was arrested by the investigating team,[19] which said in its charge sheet that there was circumstantial evidence for Dileep's alleged conspiracy with the other accused men.[20] Dileep was released on bail in October 2017.[21] In 2022, amid further media reports alleging Dileep's attempt to intimidate an investigating officer, new charges were filed against him and five others.[22]

After the assault, Bhavana withdrew from the industry for five years.[23] Bhavana made her first comment about the case in 2022.[24]

Bhavana's assault partly contributed to the creation of the Malayalam film industry Women in Cinema Collective, formed to protect female actors.[24] A couple of months after Bhavana spoke out, the Kerala state assembly is planning legislation to protect women working in the film industry.[23]

The engagement ceremony of Bhavana and Kannada film producer Naveen was held in March 2017.[25] They married on 22 January 2018.[26]

• Bhavana at IMDb

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