Shobana

Shobana Chandrakumar Pillai; known mononymously as Shobana, is an Indian actress and Bharatanatyam dancer, who works predominantly in Malayalam, Telugu films, in addition to Tamil, Hindi, English and Kannada films. She is a recipient of two National Film Awards, one Kerala State Film Awards and two Filmfare Awards South. In 2011, Shobana received the Kalaimamani by Tamil Nadu Government. She established herself as one of the leading South Indian actresses of her time. In a career spanning over four decades, Shobana has starred in 230 films across several languages. She has earned two National Film Award for Best Actress for her performances in the Malayalam film Manichitrathazhu (1993) and the English film Mitr, My Friend (2001). The former also won her the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress. Additionally, she received two Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Malayalam for her performance in Innale (1990) and Thenmavin Kombath (1994). Shobhana is also a Bharatanatyam dancer who received her training under Chitra Visweswaran and Padma Subrahmanyam. She emerged as an independent performer and choreographer in her twenties and currently runs a dance school, Kalarpana, in Chennai. In 2006, the Government of India honoured her with the Padma Shri for her contributions towards the arts. In 2013, she received Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi Fellowship, also known as Kalarathna, for her contributions to the performing arts. She received honorary doctorates from Vinayaka Mission's Research Foundation in 2018, Dr. MGR Educational and Research Institute in 2019 and Sree Sankaracharya University of Sanskrit in 2022. Shobana was awarded Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian award, in 2025.