Who is Nandana Manoj Bharathiraja? Former actress who lost her husband to heart attack

Read on to learn in detail about Nandana Manoj Bharathiraja, the former actress who lost her husband to a heart attack.

By Goutham S

Published on Mar 26, 2025 | 04:17 PM IST | 32.4K

Who is Nandana Manoj Bharathiraja? (PC: Manoj Bharathiraja, IG)

Trigger: The article contains a mention of an individual’s death.

The Tamil cinema industry is in a state of shock and despair as actor and director Bharathiraja’s son, Manoj Bharathiraja, passed away on March 25, 2025. However, did you know the late actor was married to a former actress, after falling in love during a film shoot?

Yes, you read that right. The late Manoj Bharathiraja was married to Nandana, an actress who had featured in several Malayalam and Tamil movies from 2002 to 2006.

Nandana was born on January 17, 1985, in Thiruvannur, Kozhikode. The actress made her cinematic debut in 2002 with the Malayalam movie Snehithan, starring alongside Kunchacko Boban, Krishna, and Preetha Vijayakumar as co-leads.

Later on, the actress appeared alongside Kunchacko Boban once again in the movie Swapnam Kondu Thulabharam, starring Suresh Gopi in the lead role. The film even had former Bigg Boss fame contestant Shrutika Arjun as a co-lead.

After making her Tamil debut with the film Success, the actress went on to appear in movies like the Mammootty starrer Sethurama Iyer CBI, Chathikkatha Chanthu, and more.

In 2005, the actress appeared alongside Manoj in the movie Saadhuriyan, directed by T. J. Kumar. The romantic action film paved the way for the actor and actress to fall in love with each other, leading to their marriage in 2006.

After appearing in the 2006 film Kalinga alongside Bala, Nandana retired from acting and only appeared in a textile ad following it. After her marriage with Manoj, the couple was blessed with two children—Arthika and Mathivadani.

Talking about her husband, Manoj Bharathiraja had passed away at the age of 48 after suffering a heart attack. The actor was reported to have undergone bypass surgery in the past week in Chennai.

The actor had last acted in a supporting role for the Amazon Prime Video series titled Snakes and Ladders in Tamil.