Manimegalai
Manimegalai is an Indian television presenter and video jockey who is working in Tamil television industry. Since 2010, she has regularly been a host for shows on Sun Network before joining Star Vijay in 2019.
She became widely recognised for her participation as a comali in Cooku with Comali along with hosting programs on Vijay TV.
Personal life
Manimegalai was born in Tiruppur district, Tamil Nadu to businessman Ramaayyappan and Jothimani. She has a younger sibling, Gunamani, who is a Visual Communications graduate. Until class 3, Manimegalai studied in Coimbatore, and then moved to Chennai with her family and continued her schooling at Shanthosh Vidyala Matriculation School. She completed her MBA in HR & Finance from SRM university.While at college she started performing as a video jockey on Sun Music. She met assistant choreographer Hussain Shaik Kadhar in 2017, and the couple married the same year.
Career
Television
Manimegalai debuted as a Video Jockey on 30 December 2009 at the age of 17 and hosted her first program called Super Hits on Sun Music. She then hosted live shows and reality shows on Sun Music, namely Franka Sollata, Black, Kollywood Diaries, etc.She rose to fame as a television anchor after hosting several live shows and celebrity interviews.
In 2016, Manimegalai was awarded the Best Anchor by the World Human Integration Council. She received the award from the then governor of Tamil Nadu Dr.K.Rosaiah. She was nicknamed Anchor Superstar by her fans.
She left Sun Network in January 2019 after working there for 9 years to participate in a reality show named Mr. And Mrs. Chinnathirai along with her husband on Vijay Television.
Manimegalai and Hussain were awarded the 2nd runner up and were appreciated for their finale performance in Mr. and Mrs. Chinnathirai. After which, she hosted some special shows and a reality show on Vijay Television. She also participated in the cooking reality show Cooku with Comali as a Comali for three seasons. Later, in season 5, she co-hosted the program alongside Rakshan.
Manimegalai quit as the host of Cooku with Comali following a disagreement with a, Priyanka Deshpande.
In 2025, Manimegalai began her journey with Zee Tamil and became a co-host for Dance Jodi Dance Reloaded season 3.
Public shows/events
Manimegalai also host other events like college cultural, audio launches and award functions. She hosted her first audio launch of the movie Tik Tik Tik in Jan 2018, and continued hosting numerous other audio launches and success meets of Kollywood movies, including '96 success meet.She also participates in comedy debate talk shows. Her first debate talk show was on 31 May 2019.
Acting
Manimegalai was initially chosen for the serial Bharathi Kannamma by director Praveen Bennet for the role of Venba which she turned down. On request by the director, she accepted to make a single shot appearance confronting the male lead's mother character.YouTube
Manimegalai and Hussain started the YouTube channel Hussain Manimegalai on 4 June 2020. A short clip from one of the videos of Hussain Manimegalai channel was posted on YouTube India's social media handles.Hussain Manimegalai YouTube channel had gained over a million subscribers and over 100 million views in total within a year of its start.
Shows
Selected television
Manimegalai has also hosted many special shows on festivals and movie promotion shows for Vijay TV, Sun TV, Sun News, K TV and Sun Music.She has also participated in various reality shows as guest in Sun Network as well as Vijay Television.
YouTube
Manimegalai has also hosted interviews and fans festivals of movie actors for Behindwoods TV YouTube channel.Awards and nominations
| Year | Award | Category | Channel/show | Result | Notes |
| 2010 | Vivel Miss Chinnathirai Awards | Miss Beautiful Hair | Won | A beauty pageant event | |
| 2016 | World Human Integration Council Award of Excellence | Best Anchor | Sun Music | Won | Received from the hands of then Governor Dr.K.Rosaiah |
| 2017 | Times of India | Chennai Times 15 Most Desirable Women on Television 2017 | 14th Position | This was the first edition | |
| 2018 | Times of India | Chennai Times 15 Most Desirable Women on Television 2018 | 14th Position | ||
| 2018 | Alegria Awards | Best Anchor | Sun Music | Won | |
| 2018 | Galatta Nakshatra Awards | Best Host Female | Sun Music | Withdrew herself out of the voting when she was leading in first position | |
| 2020 | Indiaglitz | Desirable Women on TV | Featured | ||
| 2021 | Blacksheep Awards | Entertaining Star Couple | Hussain Manimegalai YouTube Channel | Won | Received along with her husband Hussain |
| 2021 | Behindwoods Gold Icon Awards | Best Digital Content Creator | Hussain Manimegalai YouTube Channel | Won | Received along with her husband Hussain |
| 2021 | Vijay Television Awards | Favourite Comedian | Cooku with Comali, Vijay TV | Only female to be nominated in the category | |
| 2022 | Blacksheep Awards | Favourite Star Couple Vlogger | Hussain Manimegalai YouTube Channel | Won | Received along with her husband Hussain |
| 2022 | Galatta Digital Stars 2022 | Peoples Most Admired Couple on Digital Media | Hussain Manimegalai YouTube Channel | Won | Received along with her husband |
| 2022 | Galatta Iconic Women of Television 2022 | Favourite Anchor | Vijay TV | Award show honouring women of television on Women's day | |
| 2022 | 7th Annual Vijay Television Awards | Best Anchor - Female | Vijay TV | ||
| 2024 | Behindwoods Gold Icons | Most Popular Person on Reality Television | Won |