Sai Pallavi

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Sai Pallavi is an Indian actress and dancer who works mainly in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. After her breakthrough as Malar in the Malayalam film Premam (2015), she made her Telugu debut as Bhanumathi in Sekhar Kammula’s Fidaa (2017), which won her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu. She won it again for Love Story (2021).

She was born on 9 May 1992 into a Badaga family in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, according to Wikipedia; Wikidata gives the same date and place. She went to Avila Convent School in Coimbatore and studied medicine at Tbilisi State Medical University in Georgia, graduating in 2016. She passed India’s Foreign Medical Graduate Examination in August 2020 but chose acting over medical practice. Her younger sister, Pooja Kannan, is also an actress.

Career

As a child she appeared in uncredited roles and as a background dancer, and she competed on the television dance shows Ungalil Yaar Adutha Prabhu Deva (2008) and Dhee (2009). Alphonse Puthren cast her in Premam while she was still a medical student; she shot her scenes during college holidays. Kali (2016), with Dulquer Salmaan, followed.

For Fidaa, opposite Varun Tej, she worked with language coaches on the Telangana dialect and dubbed her own lines. Later in 2017 she starred with Nani in MCA (Middle Class Abbayi). Padi Padi Leche Manasu (2018), opposite Sharwanand, did not do well at the box office. In Tamil, the song “Rowdy Baby” from Maari 2 (2018), with Dhanush, became a viral hit.

In 2021 she starred in Kammula’s Love Story, opposite Naga Chaitanya, and played Maithreyi, a devadasi in 1970s Kolkata, in Shyam Singha Roy, again with Nani. In Virata Parvam (2022), opposite Rana Daggubati, she played Vennela against the backdrop of the Naxalite movement; the film was praised but underperformed. Her Tamil films Gargi (2022) and Amaran (2024) won her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Tamil. In 2025 she reunited with Naga Chaitanya in Thandel, based on the capture of a Srikakulam fisherman; she played Satya, and the film was a commercial success.

Awards

• Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Telugu for Fidaa and Love Story (Wikipedia winners list; The Quint).
• Filmfare Critics Award for Best Actress – Telugu for Shyam Singha Roy and Virata Parvam.
• Filmfare Best Actress – Tamil for Gargi and Amaran, Filmfare Best Female Debut – South for Premam, and the Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actress for Gargi (list of her awards).
• Forbes India 30 Under 30 (2020) and the Kalaimamani honour from the Government of Tamil Nadu.

Upcoming films

No upcoming Telugu film of hers is on our records. New films appear on upcoming Telugu movies as they are recorded.

Where to watch her films

• Thandel: Netflix, from 7 March 2025, per the Netflix listing (OTT details)
• Virata Parvam: Netflix, from 1 July 2022, per the Netflix listing (OTT details)
• Shyam Singha Roy: Netflix, from 21 January 2022, per Wikipedia (OTT details)
• Love Story: Aha, from 22 October 2021, per Wikipedia (OTT details)
• Fidaa: Aha, per the platform listing (OTT details)

Catalogues change; check the platform before you plan to watch.

Sources: Wikipedia and the references it cites (linked above), Wikidata, and Tollywood Desk’s film, release and OTT records.