Tamil Nadu - Tiruchi   

From a child artiste to badminton player

S.R. Ashok Kumar

Now I have got the time and energy to do all I wanted to do. I have won the doubles title at the State level meet in Namakkal. I am thrilled about it.

Actor Shalini

Shalini started off as a child artiste in south Indian movies and became a lead actor. At the peak of her career, she married actor Ajith. Now she has turned to amateur sport and is a good badminton player.

She has participated in a couple of State-ranked tournaments and won a women's double title also. Shalini talks about her film career and about her recent love for badminton.

I started to act when I was three years old. My first film was `Ende Mammatti Kutti Amma'. It was director Fazil's film and he reintroduced me as the heroine in `Aniyathi Pravu,' which was remade in Tamil as `Kadhalukku Mariyathai.'

All three films were super hits.

As a child artiste I have done more than 75 films in all South Indian languages and one in Hindi called `Rakhwala' with Anil Kapoor. The same film was made in Tamil as `Michael Raj'.

As a heroine I did 13 movies. Altogether I have done more than 90 films.

The thought of scoring a century did not occur to me at all.

When I was doing films like `Amarkalam,' Ajit and I fell in love. Acting is not a 9 to 5 job. If both of us were working in films, then it would be difficult. Now I have got the time and energy do all I wanted to do.

The recent example is playing badminton.

I have won the doubles title at the State-level meet in Namakkal. I am thrilled about it.

Now my thoughts are with the sport in which I am involved. I started to play badminton as a hobby as my husband used to play.

I started playing seriously only three years back and now I have played some good tournaments where I have come near the winning podium and recently I have won one.

Now I have a State-level coach, Maran, and train professionally under his guidance. Hard work really pays. Now I am looking forward to playing more tournaments to be held in different parts of Tamil Nadu.

There are many films I like. In fact my husband says he likes `Kadhalukku Mariyathai' and has a DVD of the film.

That was also when we started seeing each other.

I like my first Malayalam film `Ende Mammatti Kutti Amma', `Bandam' (with Sivaji Ganesan), `Amarkalam' and `Alaipayude,' to name a few. After marriage, `Priyatha Varam Vendum' was released. That was the last film I did.

Now my aim in life is to get the highest title in badminton and I am working very hard towards it.

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