Shamlee


Shamlee is an Indian former actress who has worked in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam films. Her roles include the mentally challenged child Anjali in the 1990 Tamil-language film Anjali, for which she won the National Film Award for Best Child Artist, and a child trapped inside a bore-well in the Malayalam-language film Malootty, which won her a Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist. She has also won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Female Child Actor for her performance in her Kannada debut Mathe Haditu Kogile.

Early life

Shamlee is from a family of actors, being the younger sister to actor Richard Rishi and actress Shalini. She was born to Babu and Alice. Her father migrated to Madras with an ambition of becoming an actor and the family settled there. Later he fulfilled his ambition through his children.

Career

Shamlee started acting at the age of two in Tamil Cinema with the Vijaykanth starrer Rajanadai. In 1990, she acted in Bharathan's Malootty, a film based on Jessica McClure. Her performance won her critical appreciation and the Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist. Her breakthrough came with Mani Ratnam's Anjali, in which she portrayed a mentally challenged child, which earned her widespread critical acclaim across South India and the National Film Award for Best Child Artist. At that time, Shamlee was regarded as one of the youngest income tax assessees ever. After Anjali, Shamlee became inarguably the most sought out child artist in South Indian cinema and, thus in subsequent years, acted in many roles in all four South Indian languages.
In 2009, she played her first female lead role in Anand Ranga's directorial debut Oy! alongside Siddarth with her performance receiving a mixed response. Between 2010 and 2015, Shamili studied and worked in Singapore and later returned to Chennai to work on the production of Veera Shivaji alongside Vikram Prabhu in 2016, which was panned by critics. Her performance also received negative reviews with indiaglitz claiming “Shamlee gets a forgettable debut as a heroine in Tamil. Her lip sync is poor and the scenes involving her do no help her either”. and sify also stating she is “as stiff as a wax statue with barely any emotion”. Shamili also acted in the Malayalam film Valleem Thetti Pulleem Thetti the same year, which was also panned and received negative reviews.

Filmography

As child artist

YearMovieRoleLanguageNotes
1989RajanadaiShamili "Shamu"Tamil
1990MagaduBabyTeluguTamil dubbed as Meesaikaran
1990AnjaliAnjaliTamilWon - National Film Award for Best Child Artist
Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Child Artist
1990MaloottyMaloottyMalayalamWon - Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist
1990Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka SundariBujjiTelugu
1990Mathe Haditu KogilePallaviKannadaWon - Karnataka State Film Award for Best Child Artist
1990DurgaDurga,MallikaTamil-
1991Thai PoosamVelayuthamTamil
1991Sendhoora DeviSindhu,
Nandu		Tamil
1991Pookkalam VaravayiGeethuMalayalam
1991Anbu SangiliGeethuTamil
1991Keechu RaalluJyotiTelugu
1991BhairaviKannada
1991KilukkampettiChikkumolMalayalam
1991ShwetaagniKannada
1991Vaasalile Oru VennilaAmmuTamil
1992Police LockupKannada
1992KillerSnehaTelugu
1992SivasankariTamil
1992Devar Veettu PonnuSangari,
Savithri		Tamil
1992Naga BalaTelugu
1992NaniTelugu
1992Parvathalu PanakaluMahalakshmiTelugu
1992Sukravaram MahalakshmiTelugu
1993JokerAppleTelugu
1993KadambariKannada
1993Chinna KannammaSaranyaTamil
1993SambhaviKannada
1993Nippu RavvaEngineer's daughterTeluguHindi dubbed as Mawali Raj
1993Thanga PappaAbhiramiTamilWon - Cinema Express Award for Best Child Artist
1993DakshayiniKannada
1993Hoovu HannuTriveniKannada
1993SivarathiriTamil
1994Makkala SakshiKannada
1994Chinna Nee NaguthiruKannada
1994BhuvaneshwariKannada
1994Anga RakshakuduTelugu
1994Doragariki Donga PellamBaby VaniTelugu
1995NirnayamParukkuttyMalayalam
1995Karulina KudiKannada
1996LalanamAmmuMalayalam
1998HarikrishnansAmmaluMalayalam
1998JagadeeshwariJagadeeshwariKannada
1998Thayin ManikodiRosieTamil
2000Kandukondain KandukondainKamalaTamil

As lead actress