Pooja Ramachandran

Pooja Ramachandran is an Indian actress, VJ and model. After her studies, she participated in beauty pageants, winning the 'Miss Coimbatore 2004' title and was the runner up for Miss Kerala 2005. She then went on to become a VJ at SS Music before venturing into acting. She entered as a wild card contestant in the Telugu reality TV show Bigg Boss Telugu 2.

In this Indian name, the name Ramachandran is a patronymic, and the person should be referred to by the given name, Pooja.

Pooja Ramachandran
Born	Bengaluru, Karnataka, India
Occupation(s)	Actress, VJ, model
Years active	2009–present
Spouses	VJ Craig ​ (m. 2010⁠–⁠2017)​ John Kokken ​ (m. 2019)​

Early life

Pooja Ramachandran is the daughter of an army officer.^[1] She did her schooling in Stanes Anglo Indian Higher Secondary School, Coimbatore and later studied visual communication at the CSI Bishop Appasamy College of Arts and Science in Coimbatore.^[1][2]

Career

Pooja first featured in an advertisement when she was eight. Before the Miss Coimbatore title she had already done some assignments in Coimbatore and Bangalore. Pooja had also played a cameo in the Jayaram-Soundarya starrer Yathrakarude Sradhakku.^[2]

In February 2006, Pooja became a VJ at SS Music after she, along with Anuj Gurwara, Purnima Maudgil and Gibran, were selected as the winners out of 3000 contestants in SS Music's pan-India talent hunt show VJ Factor 2.^[1][3] She hosted shows like PCO,^[4] Gana Bajaana, Connect and Cinema Central.^[5] Later she hosted the show Ulagam Muzhuthum Paranthu Paranthu on Jaya TV.^[6] She was also a contestant in Anu Alavum Bayamillai^[7] becoming the winner of the first season,^[8] and acted in the thriller serial Kanchana, both on STAR Vijay.^[9]

After 2012, Pooja became a full-time actress, signing feature films across Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam industries. She was seen in minor roles in the romantic comedy Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi, its Telugu version Love Failure and the thriller Pizza in 2012. The following year, she played supporting roles in the Telugu film Swamy Ra Ra and the Malayalam films Lucky Star and D Company. With regard to her performance in Swamy Ra Ra, Sify called her "perfect",^[10] Her first 2014 release, Adavi Kaachina Vennela, saw her playing a homemaker.^[11]

Pooja completed filming for the romantic drama Ore Nyabagam, which is reportedly India's first 2D high frame rate film.^[11] She is further more working on the suspense thriller Andhaghaaram,^[12] the horror-comedy Muni 3: Ganga, the romantic comedy Nanbenda and Swamy Ra Ra's Tamil remake Saamiyattam, while she also has been signed for two Telugu films.^[13]

^[14] She married VJ Craig in 2010 but divorced him in 2017.^[15]

Personal life

She married actor John Kokken on 15 April 2019.^[16] She was earlier married to former SS Music VJ, Craig Gallyot.

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Language	Notes
2011	7am Arivu	Subha's Research Friend	Tamil	Debut film
2012	Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi	Cathy
	Love Failure		Telugu	Telugu Debut;Bilingual film
	Nanban	Senthil's Wife	Tamil	Uncredited Role
	Pizza	Smitha
2013	Swamy Ra Ra	Bhanu	Telugu
	Lucky Star	Swapna	Malayalam
	D Company	Teena
2014	Adavi Kaachina Vennela		Telugu
2015	Nannbenda	Jenny	Tamil
	Kanchana 2	Pooja
	Dohchay		Telugu
	Tripura	Eesha
	Puriyadha Anandam Puthithaga Arambam		Tamil
	Ore Nyabagam
	Saamiyattam
2016	Dalam		Telugu
	Siddharta
	Black Coffee		Tamil
	Marala Telupana Priya		Telugu
	Kalam	Neela	Tamil
2017	Inthalo Ennenni Vinthalo	Thara	Telugu
	Devi Sri Prasad
2018	Krishnarjuna Yudham	Nikki
	Law	ghost
2019	Venky Mama
2020	Entha Manchivaadavuraa	Balu's friend
	Andhaghaaram	Pooja	Tamil	released in Netflix
2021	Power Play		Telugu
	Ippudu Kaaka Inkeppudu
2022	Repeat			Disney+ Hotstar Release
2023	My Name Is Shruthi

Television

Year	Title	Role	Network	Language	Notes
2014	3rd South Indian International Movie Awards	Host	Sun TV	Tamil	Co-hosted with Shiva
2023	The Village	Happy	Amazon Prime Video

References

1. "Metro Plus Thiruvananthapuram / Music : Dial Spice for Pooja". The Hindu. 25 February 2006. Archived from the original on 9 March 2007. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
2. "Metro Plus Coimbatore : Presenting Miss Coimbatore". The Hindu. 16 December 2004. Archived from the original on 15 February 2005. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
3. "Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Four new VJs join Southern Spice Music". The Hindu. 6 February 2006. Archived from the original on 8 February 2006. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
4. "VJ Pooja of SS Music meets winners Of 'PCO' Contest | Editorial-News Releases". Radioandmusic.com. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
5. "SS Music attempts to grow 'younger' in its sixth year". Indiantelevision.com. 16 August 2006. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
6. "The right mix of entertainment". Deccan Chronicle. 13 June 2013. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
7. "Cinema Plus / Telewatch : SERIALS". The Hindu. 31 July 2009. Archived from the original on 13 February 2010. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
8. "Indya.com - STAR - VIJAY - Anu Alavum Bayamillai". Archived from the original on 14 August 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
9. Oor Kaalan (23 July 2012). "'Kanchana' – A Thriller on Vijay TV! | Tamil Cinema News " KollyInsider". Kollyinsider.com. Archived from the original on 16 October 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2013.
10. "Movie Review : Swamy Ra Ra fails to fly high". Sify. Archived from the original on 30 March 2013. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
11. "No more glamour roles for me : Pooja Ramachandran". The Times of India. 23 September 2013. Archived from the original on 24 November 2023. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
12. IANS (12 August 2014). "Blind role in 'Andhaghaaram' won't make audience empathetic: Vinoth Kishan". Business Standard India. Archived from the original on 3 December 2020. Retrieved 29 September 2018.
13. "Pooja Gallyot on her new films | Indulge". Archived from the original on 29 October 2014. Retrieved 10 October 2014.
14. "Watch Namma Veetu Kalyanam TV Serial Episode 26 - Craig and Pooja Full Episode on Hotstar". Hotstar. Archived from the original on 24 October 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
15. "Pooja opens up about her divorce". The Times of India. 4 June 2017. Archived from the original on 11 November 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
16. "Bigg Boss fame Pooja Ramachandran marries actor John Kokken". OnManorama. Archived from the original on 24 October 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2019.

External links

• Pooja Ramachandran at IMDb