Actress amala akkineni with parents

An evening with Ms Amala Akkineni, Actor & Co-founder, Blue Cross Hyderabad

Introduction

On Friday, January 28, 2022, we had a very engaging session by Mrs Amala Akkineni, movie star, dancer, celebrity and social worker. Mrs Amala was a picture of calm and composure as she first made a captivating presentation on her journey and then went on to answer the questions posed to her by Prasad and Sudhakar with patience and precision.

About Amala Akkineni

Amala completed her education at the Kalakshetra College of Fine Arts at Chennai. She had a successful career in Indian cinema completing 54 films in five Indian languages and continues to do cameo roles even today.

Married to Film actor and producer Nagarjuna, Amala lives in Hyderabad. In 1992, Amala and Nagarjuna together founded Blue Cross of Hyderabad, an organization that works for the welfare of street animals in Hyderabad. Over the last 30 years, they have helped over 5,50,000 animals through various services. The organization currently focuses on reducing animal suffering through Animal Birth Control /Anti Rabies Vaccination and offers animal welfare training.

Amala is also Director at Annapurna College for Film and Media, started inside Annapurna Studios by the legendary Actor Akkineni Nageshwara Rao. The college offers BA and MA degrees in Film and Media, and in Animation, and is affiliated to JNAFA (Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts) University, Hyderabad.

Amala leverages her time, resources and voice for social change and empowerment. She has served on several founding and governing boards for both Non-Government and Government Organizations working for such causes. She was awarded the Nari Sakthi Award by the Ministry for Women and Child Welfare in 2016 for her outstanding social work. Amala loves nature, is a voracious reader and traveler, and practices Vipassana mediation.

On her journey

Remarkably enough, Mrs Amala downplayed her own sterling achievements as a dancer a

Indian actress (born 1967)

Amala Akkineni (néeMukherjee) (born 12 September 1967) is an Indian actress, Bharatanatyam dancer, and activist. She has predominantly worked in Tamil films, in addition to Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada-language films. She was a leading actress in the Tamil film industry from 1986 to 1992 and has appeared in many blockbusters in Tamil and other languages. She has won two Filmfare Awards South, namely Best Actress – Malayalam for the 1991 film Ulladakkam and Best Supporting Actress – Telugu for the 2012 film Life Is Beautiful. Amala is the co-founder of Blue Cross of Hyderabad, a non-government organisation (NGO) in Hyderabad, India, which works towards the welfare of animals and preservation of animal rights in India.

Early life

Amala was born in Calcutta (present-day Kolkata) to a BengaliIndian Navy officer and an Irish mother. Their family soon shifted to Madras (present-day Chennai) where she was brought up. She has a brother.

Amala holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Bharatanatyam from Kalakshetra college of fine arts, Madras now Chennai. She gave many live performances worldwide. She is fluent in English, Telugu, and Tamil, and can understand Bengali.

Personal life

Amala married Telugu actor Nagarjuna on 11 June 1992 and the couple has a son, actor Akhil Akkineni born in 1994. She is the step-mother of actor Naga Chaitanya. They currently live in Hyderabad.

Career

She was persuaded to join films by T. Rajendar, who visited her home with his wife Usha and convinced her mother to let her act in the film, which would be a classical film featuring her Bharatanatyam dancing. That film was Mythili Ennai Kaathali (1986) which was a box office h