Girija Shettar

Girija Shettar Biography

Girija Shettar is a former actress of south Indian cinema who has worked for a couple of years, most remembered for her Telugu flick – Geetanjali dubbed to many languages. She has acted only in 4 movies – Geetanjali and Hrudayanjali (Telugu) and Vandanam and Dhanushkodi in Malayalam and disappeared from big screen so quick. These three movies were released in the years 1989 and 1990. Though she received huge appreciation from audience as well as critics for her excellent performances in Geeetanjali and Vandhanam, she didn’t act in any more films. She was one of the most promising actresses of late 1980’s who could have created great magic onscreen during 1990’s.   

Girija Shettar was born on 20 July 1969 in Orsett, Essex to a Kannada doctor father and a British mother. She trained Bharatnatyam at the age of 18. Shettar debut big screen through Maniratnam's film Geethanjali, opposite south Indian superstar Nagarjuna. The movie released in 1989 was a big musical hit, with chartbuster songs like O Priya. Same year Malayalam comedy flick, Vandhanam opposite Mohanlal was also released. The movie directed by Priyadarshan is still regarded as a classic Malayalam movie. She appeared in one more Malayalam movie, Dhanushkodi in 1990. Her lagged Telugu project, Hrudayanjali (completed in 1992) was finally released in 2002, gathering four Nandi awards.      

Girija is currently a writer based in London. Her most recent published work is "This Year, Daffodils", booklet of haiku poetry published in 2011. She also writes for a shipping magazine. She completed a doctoral thesis in Integral Yoga Philosophy & Indian spiritual psychology from Cardiff University in 2003. Now she spends her time at Sri Aurobindo Ashram in Puducherry.

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Updated: January 08, 2014