Sasha Selvaraj, better known by her stage name Ranjini, is a Singaporean actress known for her roles Indian cinema, specifically Tamil, Telugu, and Malayalam films. Ranjini made her debut in the 1985 Tamil film Muthal Mariyathai directed by Bharathiraja.^[1] In 1987, she acted in Lenin Rajendran's Swathi Thirunal, a biopic on the Travancore ruler of the same name. Her third Malayalam film Chithram (1988), written and directed by Priyadarshan, went on to become a huge box office success which is still holding the records for numerous feats in the Malayalam movie industry.

Mohanlal-Ranjini was considered a golden duo in Malayalam cinema as all their films were commercial successes.^[2] Koothara, directed by Srinath Rajendran, marked her comeback to acting after a hiatus of two decades.

Career

Ranjini was born in Singapore as Sasha to Selvaraj and Lilly, belonging to fourth generation residents of Singapore, with roots from Tirunelveli, Tamilnadu.^[3] She was introduced to films by famous director Bharathiraja, a friend of her father. Bharathiraja gave her the screen name of "Ranjini" for his 1985 film Muthal Mariyathai. Ranjini, whose family was in Singapore then had flown down to Chennai taking a break from studies with the hope that the shooting would get over within two weeks.^[4]

Her first Malayalam film was Swathi Thirunal in 1987, a National Award feature directed by Lenin Rajendran. The film was a critical success and she won The Cinema Express Award for Best Actress. She went on to act in Malayalam films like Chithram, Mukunthetta Sumitra Vilikkunnu (1988) and Kottayam Kunjachan (1990). Ranjini quit acting in films at the peak of her career to move to London, where she continued her studies.^[5] Her last film was Customs Diary (1993), directed by TS Suresh Babu.

Ranjini was in the committee of "Nirbhaya-Kochi", an initiative of district administration under Ernakulam District Collector, MG Rajamanickam IAS (The Welfare for Women & Children Safety) in 2014. She was also in the founding committee of "Stree", a project for Women and Health under Maradu municipality in 2016. She regularly appears as a panelist on TV debates for various social topics on National, Malayalam and Tamil Channels. In 2018, she was one of 12 elite panelists invited by The National Commission for Women to a discussion on sexual harassment in the workplace.

Ranjini is known for her voice against The Supreme Court verdict on women-entry at Sabarimala.She was also instrumental in stopping TV counselling shows i.e. Nijangal & Solvathellam Unmai.

Personal life

She married Malayali businessman Pierre Kombara.^[4] In London, she also did a degree in credit management and later acquired a law degree. She also worked for the BBC for a short time.^[4] She is a graduate lawyer and is currently working as a joint director in an overseas education institution in Kochi, Kerala.

Ranjini is also an avid wildlife and environmental activist.

Filmography

Television

References

External links

• Ranjini at IMDb