Malayalam movies are blessed with talented actresses that are also beautiful. Unlike in other industries were actresses are only there for glamour, these actresses do occasionally get some strong roles.
1) Meera Jasmine - She is my pick for the best actress in Malayalam. From her debut movie ’Suthradaran’ itself she has been impressing me in every single movie. In Sutradaran she played a cute, innocent girl and the way she acted in that movie was really endearing. Next came Kasthuriman, which had a dream role for any female actress. It was one of the most realistic and unfortunately rare female roles one would find in Indian cinema, and meera lived the character. Her performance and the role would stay in one’s mind for a few days at least. Then there was the movie ’Perumazhakaalam’ which was another great female oriented story. Meera was both endearing and convincing as the young Muslim wife pleading for her husband’s life. Her performance in Paadam Onnu Oru Vilaapam, won her a national award for the best actress in year 2003, which was quite a feat for a relatively new actress. Meera continued to impress in Achuvinte Amma and Rasathanthram. She is sure to get more great roles and awards in the future and in my opinion, she is one of the best things to happen in Malayalam movies.
2) Kavya Madhavan - Kavya has been around in malayalam cinema for quite a while now. She usually does these typical heroine roles which are just playing the love interest of the hero basically. But when given a good role she offers quite a few surprises. Her performance in the movie Mizhi Randilum is what I would call her best. It was simply an eye opener for me regarding Kavya’s acting abilities. She played two different characters in the same movie so differently that one would actually think those were two different actresses. Her performance in Perumazhakaalam was also very impressive. The only criticism I have for Kavya is she has to watch her weight. Otherwise it would be very difficult for viewers to accept her as a heroine.
3) Bhavana - young, beautiful and talented, Bhavana is another good actress in Malayalam. Her beautiful looks and talent has not been exploited properly in malayalam movies. She impressed in her cameo role in the movie nammal which was also her first movie. I thought she even overshadowed Meera Jasmin in Swapnakoodu.
Her other good performance was in the movie ’Chronic bachelor’ in which she acted as Mamooty’s sister. She’s now focusing on tamil movies more and one hopes she also acts in malayalam occasionally.
4) Navya Nair - I feel she’s being unfairly criticized by everyone. Her main problem is her acting style is exactly the same in every single movie unlike the above 3 actresses. I would still call her pretty talented based on her performance in ’Nandanam’ ’Mazhathullikilukkam’ and ’Ishtam’.
5) Gopika - She proved her talent in tamil with her performance in Autograph. She is yet to get a great role in malayalam. Her performance in ’Chanthupottu’ is worth mentioning.
Basically its the top three that really impresses me. Several others have acted in malayalam movies recently, but not in significant roles or movies.