Once a sought-after actor who worked with Vikram and Ajith, she stepped away from cinema after mother’s cancer diagnosis; now famed as a wildlife photographer

Née Sadaf Mohammed Sayed to a Muslim father and a Hindu mother, her parents moved from Belagavi to Ratnagiri after their marriage, severing ties with their families, who were opposed to their interfaith union.

By: Entertainment Desk
Kochi | September 8, 2025 07:02 PM IST

Sadaa was born Sadaf Mohammed Sayed to a Muslim father and a Hindu mother.

Sadaa with actor "Chiyaan" Vikram in director S Shankar's Anniyan. (Credit: IMDb)

While many assume that breaking into show business is the hardest part, surviving there can be an even bigger challenge, especially for women. Besides fighting misogyny and sexism in various forms on and off-screen, women are also forced to tackle the industry’s ageist tendencies, often pushing them into limiting roles. Amidst all this, they might also face personal battles in life, making survival in itself all the more challenging. The career of actor Sadaa stands as a testament to this. Once ranked among the most sought-after female actors in South India, working alongside A-listers in the Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada industries, her career took a nosedive last decade, resulting in her appearance in only three films in the past seven years.

Née Sadaf Mohammed Sayed to a Muslim father and a Hindu mother, Sadaa’s parents moved from Belgaum (Belagavi) in Karnataka to Ratnagiri in Maharashtra after their marriage, severing ties with their families, who were opposed to their interfaith union. Sadaa, the couple’s only daughter, was a dance aficionado and a hardcore Madhuri Dixit fan, who never let any cultural events in her college pass by without grooving to the dance numbers of the “Dhak Dhak Girl”. While she was pursuing engineering, she was discovered by the makers of the Telugu film Jayam (2002), the actor shared during a 2005 chat with The Hindu. Helmed by Teja, she was featured in the movie as the female lead, opposite Nithiin. The film’s success and her subsequent win of the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu brought more offers her way. In 2003, she worked with Allari Naresh in Praanam and Jr NTR in Naaga.

Also Read | Boney Kapoor spent Rs 210 crore on Maidaan, ordered food from Taj for 800 people; cost of bottled water alone could fund small-budget film

That same year, she made her Tamil debut. Reprising her role from Jayam in its Tamil remake of the same title, Sadaa won hearts there too, thus becoming a sensation across South India. In the blink of an eye, offers to play the female lead in massive projects started coming her way. The next year, she appeared in movies like Donga Dongadi, Aethirree, and Varnajalam, working alongside Manoj Manchu, R Madhavan, and Srikanth.

Sadaa’s career took a major leap in 2005 when she starred as the female lead in legendary director S Shankar’s most ambitious project up to that point, Anniyan. In the psychological vigilante thriller, she was paired opposite “Chiyaan” Vikram, and the film’s blockbuster success firmly established her as a promising star. Over the next two years, she worked in a slew of movies such as Thirupathi, Veerabhadra, Chukkallo Chandrudu, Mohini 9886788888, Unnale Unnale, Classmates and Takkari, alongside stars like Ajith Kumar, Nandamuri Balakrishna, Siddharth, Aditya, Sumanth, and Nithiin. However, not all of them attracted a large audience.

Sadaa’s career took a major leap in 2005 when she starred as the female lead in S Shankar’s Anniyan, opposite Vikram. (Credit: IMDb)

Sadaa’s career downfall

In 2008, she made her Malayalam debut in East Coast Vijayan’s Novel, starring alongside Jayaram, but that too went unnoticed. Even her Hindi movies, such as Love Khichdi (2009) and Click (2010), failed to leave much of an impact. Sadaa soon reduced the number of projects she took on. Although she still appeared in two to three films a year during the beginning of the last decade, by 2015, the number had decreased to one, with Eli, starring Vadivelu in the lead role, being her only release that year.

Her mother’s cancer diagnosis also, around this time, took an emotional toll on Sadaa, and she devoted her full attention to her mother’s treatment and well-being thereafter. Meanwhile, she also shifted her focus from cinema to television and appeared as a judge on various editions of the dance reality show Dhee during that period.

“I did some films without much thought, and would wonder why on earth I signed up for them. I wanted to move away from regular commercial stuff and do something more mature as an actor. I wanted to be part of a film that would have me as a performer, and one in which I enjoyed the process of making it, no matter what the outcome,” she told The Hindu in 2018 regarding her absence from the limelight.

Despite making an impactful comeback in 2018, playing the powerful role of a sex worker in Torchlight, Sadaa couldn’t capitalise on that success going forward. Although she has been a regular in the mini-screen world since then, she has appeared in only two more films to date — Ahimsa and Aadikeshava — both in Telugu and released in 2023.

Story continues below this ad

Sadaa is an animal rights supporter, animal rescuer, and vegan. She also supports the Federation of Indian Animal Protection Organisations (FIAPO). In recent years, she has also made a name for herself as a wildlife photographer, with her Instagram account serving as her portfolio.

From the homepage