Archive · 24 Sep 2026
Savithri Sreedharan, Sudani from Nigeria Actor, Dies After Illness
Savithri Sreedharan was a Malayalam actress who acted in theatre and films.
She began performing on stage when she was 16.
She spent many years working with theatre groups in Kerala.
Her first film was Kadavu, released in 1991.
She became widely known much later for Sudani from Nigeria in 2018.
In that film, she played a mother named Jameela.
Her performance won a Kerala State Film Award and a National Film Awards Special Mention.
She had been sick with age-related problems and had been bedridden for some time.
Reports disagreed about whether she was 78, 83 or 85.
Veteran Malayalam theatre-film actor Savithri Sreedharan died at her home in Mankavu, Kozhikode, on Wednesday after age-related health problems.
Reports gave conflicting ages of 78, 83 and 85 at the time of her death.
She began acting in amateur theatre at 16 and later built a career spanning more than four decades.
Her film debut was in M. T. Vasudevan Nair’s Kadavu in 1991, followed by a major return in Sudani from Nigeria in 2018.
Her performance as Jameela earned the Kerala State Film Award for Best Character Actress and a Special Mention at the National Film Awards.
- Who
- Savithri Sreedharan, a veteran Malayalam theatre and film actor.
- What
- She died after a long career in theatre and a smaller but acclaimed film career.
- When
- Wednesday; one report gives the date as September 23, 2026, while the other reports provide no calendar date.
- Where
- Her home in Mankavu, Kozhikode.
- Why
- Reports attributed her death to age-related ailments and said she had been bedridden for some time.
Reports Giving Different Details
Other Reported Details
Age at death
Reports Giving Different Details
Some reports stated that Savithri Sreedharan was 78 or 83.
Other Reported Details
Another report stated that she was 85.
Length of theatre career
Reports Giving Different Details
One report described her career as lasting more than four decades or about five decades.
Other Reported Details
Another report described it as a four-decade career.
First play title
Reports Giving Different Details
One account identified her first play as Karutha Velicham.
Other Reported Details
Another account gave the title as Karutha Vella, so the reported title differs.
- Reported age
- Reports gave her age as 78, 83 or 85.
- Death location
- Her residence in Mankavu, Kozhikode.
- Theatre career
- More than four decades; another report described it as about five decades.
- Theatre beginnings
- She began amateur theatre at age 16, reportedly in 1961.
- Film debut
- Kadavu, directed by M. T. Vasudevan Nair, in 1991.
- Breakthrough film
- Sudani from Nigeria, released in 2018, in which she played Jameela.
- Recognition
- Kerala State Film Award for Best Character Actress and a Special Mention at the National Film Awards; she also received a Kerala Sangeetha Nataka Akademi theatre award.
