Shweta Menon (Malayalam: ശ്വേത മേനോന്) is a renowned Indian model, television anchor and an award winning actress who has won several beauty pageants, and over 45 films across multiple languages to her credit.
Menon hails from Tirur in Kerala, but currently lives in Mumbai. Her father served the Indian Air Force while her mother remained a housewife. She studied in Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1, East Hill, Kozhikode. She competed in the Miss India contest in 1994 and finished second runner up behind Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai. She became the first Gladrags female super model in 1994 (Kelly Dorjee was the male super model) and then, Miss Asia Pacific runner up in 1994 in Manila Cebu Island, Philippines. She is 5 feet, 7 inches tall.
he started her career as an actress in Anaswaram (1991), a Malayalam film, directed by Jomon, as the heroine of Mammootty, after which she focused on modeling.[2] She subsequently won several pageants before returning to movies. She returned to Malayalam through 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 the film, Madhya Venal earned her a special mention by Jury Chairman Bahman Ghobadi - famous Iranian director at the International Film Festival of Kerala. Some of her Bollywood movies include, Asoka (2001), Maqbool (2003) and Corporate (2006).
In 2010, she won the Kerala State Government's Best Actress for her outstanding portrayal of Cheeru, a village woman in the film Paleri Manikyam : Oru Pathira Kolapathakathinte Katha directed by Ranjith. She also won Mathrubhumi-Amrita TV Special Jury Award and Asianet Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for the same film. She recently completed the movie, Penn Pattanam.
At present, she is shooting for an untitled Telugu movie besides two movies in Malayalam, casting Mammootty, Prithviraj and Indrajith. Shwetha would be seen in the remake of `Rathinirvedam', originally a Jayabharati starrer Malayalam super hit movie, to be produced by Suresh Kumar. The movie is being remade as a musical, to be directed T K Rajiv Kumar.
Shwetha recently approached a local court and the Women's Commission in Kerala after the distributor of her movie, Kayam 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 recently. While media profusely supported her with wide coverage, many saw it as a bold attempt by a female actor against what she perceived as gross injustice to her.
Besides working in films, she has anchored several TV, stage and film awards shows. Her stunning looks, style and panache made her one of Kerala's popular TV anchors through the musical programme - Star Wars on Kairali TV in 2008. She won Asian Television's Best Anchor award for the same program. In Hindi, she was a host of a Group Dance based show named Razzmatazz on Zee TV along with actor Arshad Warsi. The next television show which she did was Dancing Queen in 2008 on Colors and later in 2010, she anchored the Malayalam reality show, Honeymoon Travels on Surya TV. The show became an instant hit for Shwetha's accented Malayalam and her attempts to read from the original script without a formal learning in the language. Recently, she appeared as a contestant with her father in game show, Deal or No Deal on Surya TV.
Menon hails from Tirur in Kerala, but currently lives in Mumbai. Her father served the Indian Air Force while her mother remained a housewife. She studied in Kendriya Vidyalaya No. 1, East Hill, Kozhikode. She competed in the Miss India contest in 1994 and finished second runner up behind Sushmita Sen and Aishwarya Rai. She became the first Gladrags female super model in 1994 (Kelly Dorjee was the male super model) and then, Miss Asia Pacific runner up in 1994 in Manila Cebu Island, Philippines. She is 5 feet, 7 inches tall.
he started her career as an actress in Anaswaram (1991), a Malayalam film, directed by Jomon, as the heroine of Mammootty, after which she focused on modeling.[2] She subsequently won several pageants before returning to movies. She returned to Malayalam through 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 the film, Madhya Venal earned her a special mention by Jury Chairman Bahman Ghobadi - famous Iranian director at the International Film Festival of Kerala. Some of her Bollywood movies include, Asoka (2001), Maqbool (2003) and Corporate (2006).
In 2010, she won the Kerala State Government's Best Actress for her outstanding portrayal of Cheeru, a village woman in the film Paleri Manikyam : Oru Pathira Kolapathakathinte Katha directed by Ranjith. She also won Mathrubhumi-Amrita TV Special Jury Award and Asianet Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for the same film. She recently completed the movie, Penn Pattanam.
At present, she is shooting for an untitled Telugu movie besides two movies in Malayalam, casting Mammootty, Prithviraj and Indrajith. Shwetha would be seen in the remake of `Rathinirvedam', originally a Jayabharati starrer Malayalam super hit movie, to be produced by Suresh Kumar. The movie is being remade as a musical, to be directed T K Rajiv Kumar.
Shwetha recently approached a local court and the Women's Commission in Kerala after the distributor of her movie, Kayam 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 recently. While media profusely supported her with wide coverage, many saw it as a bold attempt by a female actor against what she perceived as gross injustice to her.
Besides working in films, she has anchored several TV, stage and film awards shows. Her stunning looks, style and panache made her one of Kerala's popular TV anchors through the musical programme - Star Wars on Kairali TV in 2008. She won Asian Television's Best Anchor award for the same program. In Hindi, she was a host of a Group Dance based show named Razzmatazz on Zee TV along with actor Arshad Warsi. The next television show which she did was Dancing Queen in 2008 on Colors and later in 2010, she anchored the Malayalam reality show, Honeymoon Travels on Surya TV. The show became an instant hit for Shwetha's accented Malayalam and her attempts to read from the original script without a formal learning in the language. Recently, she appeared as a contestant with her father in game show, Deal or No Deal on Surya TV.
