Divya Venkatasubramaniam (born was on July 3, 1982) is a Tamil actress. Her screen names include Kanika in Tamil & Malayalam (also misspelt as Kaniha, Kaniga or Kanihaa) and Shravanthi in Telugu & Kannada. She completed her engineering degree at BITS Pilani during which she acted her first two movies. She became a full time actress thereafter. She has acted in Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada movies, making her a truly southern spice actress. She has also forayed into playback singing, dubbing and anchoring TV shows in her short career. Her notable films are 5 star produced by Mani Rathnam, Varalaru - History of Godfather directed by K.S.Ravikumar and Autograph produced and directed by Cheran.
Early life
Kanika was born on July 3, 1982 as the second daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Venkat Subramanian, both engineers. She grew up in a typical Tamil Brahmin household in the suburbs of Madurai Madurai
Career
Even as she was doing Engineering, Kanika was also making waves as a beauty pageant and pop singer. She was crowned Miss Madurai in 1999 and she later emerged as 2nd runner-up in Miss Chennai in 2001. On her crowning of Miss Chennai, she was the cynosure of all eyes during the competition and attracted director Susi Ganesan so much that he was so insistent on her performing the lead role in his dream movie Five Star. She eventually accepted the offer and gave a good account of herself.
A Break
Kanika knew her priorities very well and shunned all the offers to complete her graduation. The fact she rejected offers from people like Shankar, P.C. Sreeram, Cheran etc to pursue her studies raised the eyebrows of many Kollywood onlookers. Even before she finished her graduation, she completed her Telugu debut "Ottessi Chepputunna" during her vacations.
Versatile Actress
After meritoriously completing her engineering, Kanika decided to give herself a go at the Tinsel towns. She gave a good account of herself in the Kannada picture Annavaru, a remake of Tamil movie nd neat role in the film Autograph and earned critical acclaim. To prove her versatility with all genres of cinema, Kanika gave a stunning performance in a comedy oriented role in the commercial movie Aethiree. When no heroine was willing to pair with the one legged wonder hero Kutty for the film "Dancer", Kanika gladly accepted the offer and did a neat job. She accepted to redo her own part in the movie "Autograph" for its telugu version "Naa Autograph". She proved to be an actress to reckon with in the Kannada movie "Sye", a remake of Tamil movie "Dhill". She also ventured into Malayalam Cinema as the heroine for the campus based movie Ennitum. She won a lot of applause and acclaim for her latest role opposite Ajith in the movieVaralaru.
Films in the Pipeline
Kanika is simultaneously working on two big movie projects. She is signed up for a historical Malayalam movie "Pazhassi Raja" opposite Mammootty and directed by the reputed directorHariharan. She is also essaying the lead role in a Kannada movie "Rajakumari" opposite Ravichandran, one of Kannada movie legends.
TV Shows
Normally actresses move over to TV serials and game shows in the twilight of their career. However Kanika even at the prime of her career hosted a couple of TV shows, which she believes is a refreshing change from movies. She had anchored a comedy show "Kalakka Povathu Yaaru" for STAR VIJAY. She had hosted with elan the popular family based game-show "Mega Thanga Vettai" for SUN TV. She also hosted the annual Chutti Vikatan Children's Quiz Show for SUN TV. She also essayed a lead role in the television serial Thiruvilayadal in SUN TV.
Dubbing and Singing
Kanika's sweet voice made possible her venture into playback singing and dubbing. She sang the theme song of her debut movie "Five Star". She has dubbed for actress Genelia in Sachein, Sadha in Anniyan and for Shriya in Sivaji: The Boss.
Marriage
Kanika married Shyam Radhakrishnan, brother of former actress Jaishree Chandrasekar. She said that she would complete her signed movies and settle for a career in Engineering in USA
Filmography
2008 Rajakumari Kannada Ravichandran, Balaji Rajakumari
2008 Pazhassi Raja Malayalam Mammootty, Sarath Kumar Makam
2006 Varalaru Tamil Ajith, Asin Thottumkal Gayathri
2006 Ennitum Malayalam Tiju Dennis, Swarnamalya, Siddarthan Sneha
2006 Sye Kannada Sudeep, Pasupathy Divya
2006 Naa Autograph Telugu Ravi Teja, Bhumika Chawla, Gopika Sandhya
2005 Dancer Tamil Kutty, Robert Divya
2004 Autograph Tamil Cheran, Sneha, Gopika Thenmozhi
2004 Aethiree Tamil Madhavan, Sadha Gayathri
2004 Annavaru Kannada Ambarish, Suhasini Subbulakshmi
2003 Ottesi Chepputanna Telugu Srikanth Divya
2002 Five Star Tamil Prasanna Eashwari