Acting since she was 41-days old, Sujitha won nationwide fame playing a boy in Mammootty hit; did the same role in 3 remakes with Chiranjeevi, Govinda

In her debut movie Abbas (Tamil), the newborn played the grandchild of legendary actor KR Vijaya. The daughter of a couple from Thiruvananthapuram, settled in Chennai, Sujitha’s parents, TVS Mani and Radha, had no connection to cinema whatsoever.

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Mother’s dream led Sujitha, brother to world of cinema

However, they were both movie lovers, and Radha wished to see her children, Sujitha and her elder brother Suresh (Surya Kiran), reach Tinseltown. Just as she hoped, both Sujitha and Suresh landed in movies. After Abbas, she appeared as K Bhagyaraj and Urvashi’s daughter in Mundhanai Mudichu (1983) and subsequently played small roles in a few other Tamil and Malayalam movies.

However, Sujitha’s rise to massive fame arrived when she played a young boy in legendary director Fazil’s Mammootty-starrer Poovinu Puthiya Poonthennal (1986). In the film, Sujitha portrayed Benny alias Kittu, a speech and hearing-impaired boy. After witnessing his parents being murdered by two men, Benny runs away from home and ultimately falls into the hands of an alcoholic man, Kiran (Mammootty), who is reeling under the pain of his family’s tragic death. Kiran thus becomes Benny’s guardian angel as his parents’ killers try to hunt him down.

Sujitha faced the camera for the first time when she was just 41 days old. (Credit: Instagram/@sujithadhanushoff)

The Poovinu Puthiya Poonthennal effect

Also starring Nadiya Moidu and Suresh Gopi, Poovinu Puthiya Poonthennal became a massive success, and Sujitha’s performance as the young boy received widespread acclaim. The film was subsequently remade in multiple languages, and she reprised her role in at least three versions.

While Fazil himself remade it in Tamil as Poovizhi Vasalile (1987) with Sathyaraj replacing Mammootty, the Telugu version, Pasivadi Pranam (1987), was helmed by A Kodandarami Reddy and featured Chiranjeevi in the lead role. Poovinu Puthiya Poonthennal was later remade in Hindi as Hatya (1988), with Govinda in the lead role. Unsurprisingly, all the movies became massive hits, and Sujitha received nationwide acclaim.

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She worked as a child artiste in about 40 movies across various languages. Afterwards, she began acting in roles that matched her real age and even appeared in a few Mani Ratnam movies in the 1990s, including Roja, Bombay, and Iruvar. She rose to greater fame with roles in films such as Summer in Bethlehem, Vaalee, Ingane Oru Nilapakshi, Jai Chiranjeeva, Aayirathil Oruvan, and Thaandavam, among others.

Sujitha’s family

In many interviews, she has said that her brother Surya Kiran influenced her career the most. Surya Kiran also began his journey in cinema as a child artiste under the name Master Suresh and appeared in movies such as My Dear Kuttichathan, the first Indian movie to be filmed in 3D format. Sujitha has said that her trips to film locations with her brother and mother ultimately led her to choose acting as her lifelong path. Surya Kiran passed away in 2024. Sujitha’s husband, Dhanush, is an ad filmmaker, and they have a son together.

Sujitha with her husband, Dhanush, and their son. (Credit: Instagram/@sujithadhanushoff)

She has so far appeared in nearly 100 films across Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Hindi. She has also acted in several television serials. It was her character Unnimaya in Harichandanam that made her a household name among the Malayalam small-screen audience. She has also done notable roles in Malayalam soap operas like Devimahathmyam, Indira, Sangamam, Snehasangamam, and Kumarasambhavam. Besides, Sujitha played a prominent role in the superhit Tamil serial Pandian Stores.