Mallu actress Swetha Menon talk

Shweta Menon

Shweta Menon is an Indian model, actress and television anchor. She has predominantly acted in Malayalam and Hindi language films, besides appearing in a number of Tamil productions. Actor Anoop Menon is her cousin.

Starting her career as an actress in Malayalam feature films in the early 1990s, she ventured into modeling and becoming noted, after participating and winning at several beauty pageants, which led to her debut in Bollywood. Following appearances in over 30 Hindi films, in which she generally conveyed a glamorous image, her acting career took a turn by the mid-2000s, with her returning to Malayalam cinema and accepting substantial roles. She received critical praise and several accolades including Kerala State Govt Award for Best Actress for her performance in Paleri Manikyam: Oru Pathirakolapathakathinte Katha (2009) and Salt N' Pepper (2011).

She started her career as an actress in the Malayalam film Anaswaram (1991), directed by Jomon, playing the female lead opposite Mammootty, after which she focused on modeling. She competed in the Miss India contest in 1994 and finished third runner up behind Sushmita Sen, Aishwarya Rai and Fransesca Hart.[3] She became the first Gladrags female super model in 1994 (Kelly Dorjee was the male super model) and then, Miss Asia Pacific semi-finalist in 1994 in Manila Cebu Island, Philippines. She is 5 feet, 6.5 inches tall. She subsequently made her debut in Bollywood and appeared in over 30 films; some of her Bollywood films include Asoka (2001), Maqbool (2003) and Corporate (2006).

Menon returned to Malayalam in 2006 with Thantra and then went on to do famous Malayalam films such as Keerthi Chakra (2006) and the award-winning Paradesi. Her performance as Sarojini, a middle-class woman who fights against extreme odds, in Madhya Venal earned her a special mention by jury chairman Bahman Ghobadi, a famous Iranian director at the International Film Festival of Kerala. In 2010, she won the Kerala State Government's Best Actress for her portrayal of Cheeru, a village woman in the film Paleri Manikyam: Oru Pathirakolapathakathinte Katha directed by Ranjith. She won the Mathrubhumi-Amrita TV Special Jury Award and the Asianet Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for the same film. In 2011, Shweta Menon starred in the remake of Rathinirvedam, essaying the titular character, originally played by Jayabharathi.


In 2010, Shweta approached a local court and the Women's Commission in Kerala after the distributor of her movie tied up with Musli Power, a sex stimulant drug, to jointly promote the movie. "Met with Womens Commission regarding the Kayam ad and they offered me full backing. Thank you all and I hope justice will be done," she tweeted. While media profusely supported her with wide coverage, many saw it as a bold attempt by an actor against what she perceived as gross injustice to her.