Abitha

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title: "Abitha" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["actresses-in-tamil-cinema", "living-people", "indian-film-actresses", "actresses-in-malayalam-cinema", "20th-century-indian-actresses", "21st-century-indian-actresses", "indian-television-actresses", "actresses-in-malayalam-television", "actresses-in-kannada-cinema", "actresses-in-tamil-television", "1985-births"] description: "Indian film and television actress" topic_path: "arts" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abitha" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Indian film and television actress ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Abitha
image	Abitha-1.jpg
birth_name	Jenila
othername	Janeesha
spouse	Sunil
children	2
occupation	Actress
::

| name = Abitha | image = Abitha-1.jpg | imagesize = | caption = | birth_name = Jenila | birth_date = | birth_place = | death_date = | death_place = | othername = Janeesha | spouse = Sunil | children = 2 | website = | known_for = | occupation = Actress

Abitha is an Indian actress who appears in Tamil language films and television serials. She appeared in notable productions including Sethu alongside Vikram. She is famous for her role as Archana in the serial Thirumathi Selvam, which aired from 2007 to 2013 in Sun TV starring opposite Sanjeev. She was the winner of Sun Kudumbam Viruthugal for Best Actress twice by Sun Kudumbam Viruthugal for Thirumathi Selvam in the years 2010 and 2012.

Career

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. 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. 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. After Sethus 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.

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. 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. Later that year she featured in Unarchigal alongside Abbas and Kunal.

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.

Filmography

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Language	Notes
1997	Ettupatti Rasa	Ponrasu's daughter	Tamil	Credited as Janeesha
1998	Golmaal	Reshma
1997	Masmaram	Jasmine	Malayalam
1999	Devadasi	Mala	Malayalam
Sethu	Abithakuchalambal (Abitha)	Tamil	Nominated- Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actress
2001	Seerivarum Kaalai	Kamakshi
Poove Pen Poove
2002	Puthiya Alai
2004	Arasatchi	Shwetha Ashok Mehta
Aagodella Olledakke		Kannada
2006	Unarchigal	Amrutha	Tamil
Suyetchai MLA	Lakshmi
2007	Nam Naadu	Sathya's wife
2017	En Kadhal Devathai
2023	Thee Ivan
::

Television

::data[format=table]

Year	Title	Role	Channel	Language
1997	Criminal		Doordarshan	Tamil
1998	Gokulam Colony
2002	Varam	Swarna	Sun TV
20022006	Nagamma		Gemini TV	Telugu
2003	Kungumam		Sun TV	Tamil
2003–2005	Priyanaka		ETV	Telugu
2005	Kadamattathu Kathanar	Unnimaya	Asianet	Malayalam
2006–2007	Raja Rajeshwari	Raja Rajeshwari	Sun TV	Tamil
2006–2007	Sorgam	Surya
2007–2013	Thirumathi Selvam	Archana
2008–2010	Thangamana Purushan	Raasi	Kalaignar TV
2008	Manikoondu	Special Appearance	Sun TV
2009	Simran Thirai	Shalini	Jaya TV
2009–2010	*Adhiparasakthi *	Renuka Devi	Raj TV
2011	Thendral	Archana	Sun TV
2013–2014	Ponnunjal	Nandhini Vishwa
Muthaaram	Ranjini Murali
2019	Lakshmi Stores	Dr. Shyamala / Shanthi
2022–2023	Maari	Deivanai	Zee Tamil
2022	Super Mom Season 3	Contestant
2025–Present	Chinnanchiru Kiliye	Suguna	Zee Tamil
::

References

References

1. "Sun Kudumbam Viruthugal 2012 Winner List".
2. (23 November 2006). "I was thrilled when 'Sethu' was a big hit". The Hindu.
3. "Tamil Movie News: March edition".
4. Warrier, Shobha. (17 August 2004). "Vikram's obsession gets its reward". [[Rediff]].
5. (27 May 2010). "Grill Mill - Abitha". The Hindu.
6. (5 August 2003). "New Tamil films in the making".
7. "Tamil Movies Online ::::: News".
8. (24 August 2004). "Location news - Pirantha naal".
9. [http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/14007.html Archived copy] {{webarchive. link. (26 January 2013)
10. [http://www.indiaglitz.com/channels/tamil/article/10549.html Archived copy] {{webarchive. link. (26 January 2013)
11. "டோடோவின் ரஃப் நோட்டு — Tamil Kavithai - தமிழ் கவிதைகள் - நூற்று கணக்கில்!". Cinesouth.com.
12. (11 May 2009). "Wedding bells for Abitha". The Times of India.
13. (5 June 2022). "New show 'Maari' set to launch soon; Abitha set for a comeback after 3 years".

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