Abitha

As a teenager, Abitha used to go and see the television serial, Nancy starring Sanghavi, being filmed near her house in Thiruvottiyur. The director of that serial recognised her and spoke to her parents, roping her in to play the heroine's sister in their next TV serial Criminal.^[2] After doing a couple of serials, she did a low-budget film titled Golmaal as the sister of the lead lady and then B-Grade film titled Devadasi in Malayalam. At that time, director Bala roped her in for a leading role in Sethu alongside Vikram, which she signed after Keerthi Reddy and Rajshri had dropped out.^[3] Bala renamed her Abitha from her original name of Jenila for the film, after the character she was portraying. The film opened in December 1999 at a single noon show at a suburban theatre but built up through word-of-mouth publicity and ran for over one hundred days at several cinema halls across Chennai, becoming a critical and commercial success. Sethu won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil and secured wins in the Best Film category at the Filmfare Awards and the Cinema Express Awards, while Abitha won critical acclaim for her role of a Tamil Brahmin girl.^[4] After Sethu's success, Abitha was flooded with offers but chose to complete her studies and finish her PG in Sociology from Annamalai University. She revealed that by the time she decided to come back she had lost her contacts in the industry and was thereafter seen in only a couple of insignificant projects.^[5]

She appeared alongside veteran actor Ramarajan in Seerivarum Kaalai before starring in Poove Pen Poove alongside newcomer Ishaq Husseini. After the failure of those films she played the role of Arjun's sister in Arasatchi. Other films in the period, such as Pirantha Naal with Prakash Raj, Kashmir with Abhinay and Kandhavel with Murali were not completed and indefinitely shelved.^[6][7][8] In 2005, she got another breakthrough and signed on to play the lead role in Kannamma scripted by Karunanidhi, but to do so she unceremoniously opted out of another film titled Ullakadathal. Subsequently, the producers of that film complained and got her banned by the Producer's Council, leaving her out of both films.^{[9] [10]} Later that year she featured in Unarchigal alongside Abbas and Kunal.^[11]

Abitha was selected the best actress of Sun TV in the first two editions of Sun Kudumbam awards held in the years 2010 and 2012 for her performance as Archana in the show. She also starred in the serial Thangamana Purushan. She got married in 2009 and continued to work in serials following her marriage.^[12]