Kasthuri

After rejecting the opportunity to appear on the Tamil reality television show Bigg Boss Tamil in 2018, she joined the third season of the show in 2019 as a wildcard contestant.

Kasthuri is an active commentator regarding social issues through an occasional column with the Times of India and via Twitter, and her tweets have sometimes elicited debate in the media. In early 2017, she questioned Rajinikanth's ability as a potential politician, and her opinion garnered criticism from the actor's fans. In late 2018, she criticised Rajinikanth's ignorance over the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case and engaged in a further exchange with Rajinikanth's supporters. Kasthuri spoke out as a part of the Me Too movement in India, suggesting that her reluctance to give into patriarchal behaviour meant that she was removed from several film projects. She revealed that one male actor took a particular vengeance against her for her rebuff to his advances, and subsequently made it difficult for her to work on other projects.

In 2014, she was photographed as a part of Jade Beall's book The Bodies of Mothers: A Beautiful Body Project. The images from the shoot were later illegally shared by Indian websites, and Kasthuri announced that she would take legal action against the sites.

Kasthuri was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Her father Shankar was an engineer from IIT and her mother, Sumathi, was an advocate. Post-marriage, Kasthuri shifted base to Tucson, US. She has a son (b. 2012) and a daughter. Her daughter is a leukaemia survivor.

In the late 2000s, Kasthuri returned to India owing to her mother's ailing health and decided to make a comeback as an actress. However, several of the films that she signed during the period were dropped or unreleased including Selva's Nootrukku Nooru, Milind Rau's Kadhal 2 Kalyanam and Venkat's Kadhirvel, where she was signed to perform in an item number. Her first release during her second stint was the action drama Malai Malai (2009), and she followed it up with a single song appearance in the comedy Thamizh Padam (2010). Throughout the mid-2010s, she continued to shift base between the US and India, and acted in more films in guest appearances and in single song appearances. She also notably portrayed a key supporting role as an investigative agent in Adhik Ravichandran's Anbanavan Asaradhavan Adangadhavan (2017), appearing alongside Silambarasan. The film garnered fanfare prior to release, but the commercial failure of the film saw a proposed sequel cancelled.

Kasthuri works as quiz master at staged events and on television. She had taken an early interest during childhood in participating in quiz events, and later continued making competitive appearances, and notably appeared as a contestant on BBC's Mastermind India in 2000. She later made a comeback to hosting television-based quiz shows in the 2010s, and worked on Vina Vidai Vettai for Puthuyugam TV.

Kasthuri was then cast alongside Kamal Haasan in Shankar's action drama Indian (1996), where she portrayed a pivotal supporting role a poor student. She later won critical acclaim for her role as Akkalamma in the Telugu devotional film, Annamayya (1997), where she starred alongside Nagarjuna and Ramya Krishnan. She then appeared opposite Prashanth in Agathiyan's romantic drama Kaadhal Kavithai (1998), and won attention for her glamorous performance in a song. As her roles diminished in Tamil and Telugu films, Kasthuri began to take up supporting roles towards the end of her first stint.

During her education at Ethiraj College for Women, Kasthuri became interested in modelling and later went on to win the Femina Miss Madras beauty pageant for 1992. She received film offers and subsequently made her acting debut through Kasthuri Raja's Aatha Un Koyilile (1991), where she portrayed a wealthy girl in a village. She continued to work in small budget Tamil films such as the horror drama Rasathi Varum Naal (1991) and Manivannan's Government Mappillai (1992), before working alongside Prabhu on more mainstream films such as Gangai Amaran's Chinnavar (1992) and P. Vasu's Senthamizh Paattu (1992). During the same period, she worked on her first Telugu and Malayalam films as a lead actress. After garnering popularity for her early films, she was cast opposite Rajinikanth in P. Vasu's Uzhaippali (1993), but was later dropped from the project.

In the mid-1990s, Kasthuri was the subject of a 30-minute documentary film Kasthuri: A South Indian Film star made by Richard Breyer and N. C. Rajamani. Kasthuri then continued to work as the lead actress in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films, notably appearing in successful films such as the horror drama Athma (1993), the political satire Amaidhi Padai (1995) and as the title character in Chinna Mani (1995). At the height of her popularity, her Telugu film Merupu (1996) co-starring Anand and Vikram, was dubbed and released in Tamil as Miss Madras, owing to her success in the competition.

Kasthuri Shankar (born 15 June 1976) is an Indian film actress who has appeared in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada language films. After winning the Miss Madras 1992 beauty pageant, Kasthuri began an acting career through Kasthuri Raja's Aatha Un Koyilile (1991). She appeared in lead roles throughout the mid-1990s, before taking a career break post-marriage. In the early 2010s, she made a comeback and took on roles as a supporting actress and as a television host.