Actress Shamlee reminisces her experience of being the recipient of prestigious awards as a child artist

It’s been 30 years since Mani Ratnam’s poignant Anjali came out, but even today, that remains Shamlee’s calling card. In 1990, Child artist Shamlee has become the darling of the masses for her charming presence for her titular role in “Anjali”. As a child actress Shamlee has been lauded with several awards and she also bagged the prestigious National award in the same year after the release of “Anjali”. There have been rumours often about the National Award-winning child actor making her debut as a leading lady in Tamil, but Shamlee decided to take the plunge only recently in Vikram Prabhu’s “Veera Shivaji” but the movie failed to impress the audience and the actress is looking for contemporary roles to prove her mettle. In a recent interview, the actress vividly remembers the spate of movies that featured her sharing screen space with animals and her experience working as a child artist.


Ask Shamlee what was her motivation to do so many films at such a young age, and she says, “I was too young when I started acting. So I really can’t say what it was. My sister Shalini got into films and she was doing a lot of good roles. That’s how Mani Ratnam sir saw me and Anjali happened. The movie became a huge hit and I got more offers. My dad would travel with me and took care of everything. So, I was fine.”
Recalling the time she spent shooting for Anjali, she says, “I remember, everybody had a lot of fun on the shoot. I was too young, and there really was no one my age then. My brother (Richard Rishi) was also part of the film; he played one of the flatmates. They were all the same age group – he, Tarun, Krishna and all – and they spent time together and had a lot of fun. But it was not the same for me. I was really young and I used to get tired. I barely knew what was going on.”

Speaking about the experience of winning the national award at a very young age, Shamlee said,”I received the Tamil Nadu State Award from Jayalalithaa ma’am. When I see those pictures, I feel really good. She is such a powerful personality, and she’s an alumnus of my school (Church Park). So, things like that makes you feel good. But at that point, when I went to collect my National Award for Anjali, I didn’t know what I was doing. Somebody would have instructed me to go up and collect the award. I didn’t even know the value of the award then. But looking back, it feels so good to realise that you have accomplished so much at such a young age without your knowledge.