Shanthi Arvind, an Indian dancer, choreographer, and actor, is popularly known as “Metti Oli Shanthi” for her appearance in a Tamil language show ‘Metti Oli.’
Wiki/Biography
Shanthi Arvind was born on Sunday, 17 February 1980 (age 42 years; as of 2022) in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. In the 1990s, she obtained a membership card for a dance union to work at an early age keeping her family’s indigent circumstances in mind.
Physical Appearance
Height (approx.): 5′ 7″
Hair Colour: Black
Eye Colour: Black
Family
Shanthi Arvind belongs to an impoverished family in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.
Parents
There is not much information about her parents. Her mother has been a single parent since Shanthi was a child.
Shanthi Arvind with her mother
Husband & Children
In 2007, Shanthi got married to Arvind. She has two children – a son and a daughter.
Shanthi with her husband – picture captured on the set of a show
Shanthi with her children
A family picture of Shanthi Arvind – captured on the valentines day
Religion
Shanthi Arvind follows Hinduism.
Career
Dancer
Film
According to Shanthi, she made her debut as a group dancer at the age of 13 with the Tamil language song titled ‘Tadukhi Dethki’ in the film “Kizhakku Vaasal” (1990). She has danced to various songs in different languages including Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi.
Television
In 2002, Shanthi Arvind appeared on television for the first time in a Tamil language daily soap opera titled ‘Metti Oli’ broadcasted on Sun TV Tamil. She made her debut with this television serial as a dancer of the title song.
Assistant Dance Master
At the age of 15, Shanthi became Assistant Dance Master. According to Shanthi, she worked for many choreographers and would often choreograph songs in many languages including Hindi, Telugu, and Tamil for them when they were not available; however, the credit for her good work would go to the choreographers.
Choreographer
The first song choreographed by her was the Hindi version of the song ‘Jana Gana Mana’ of Mani Ratnam’s ‘Ayutha Ezhuthu.’ Later, she choreographed songs for many films including ‘Aakkam’ (2017), ‘Mundrikkadu’ (2018), and many more.
Actor
In 2015, appeared in a Tamil daily soap opera titled ‘Kula Deivam’ (2015-2018) as Mangalasundari Karunakaran. Later, she got opportunities to work in many other television series including ‘Kalyana Parisu’ (2018-2020) and ‘Kannana Kanne’ (2021).
Shanthi as ‘Lakshmi Arjun’ in the Tamil serial, ‘Kalyana Parisu’
Shanthi as ‘Renuka’ in Kannana Kanne (2021)
Award
In 2022, Shanthi won Ajantha TV’s best villi award.
Shanthi Arvind holding the Ajantha Award
Favourites
- Film: Thulladha Manamum Thullum (1999)
- Place(s): Chennai, Malaysia
Facts/Trivia
- According to Shanthi Arvind, she faced many rejections because of her appearance with a skinny body and dark skin.
- In an interview, Shanthi revealed that she used to wear multi-layer of clothes and eat a lot to hide her skinny look to some extent.
- While talking about a series of tests that appeared in her career life, in an interview, Shanthi recalled one of the moments when she was insulted. She disclosed that during a shoot where a powdered substance was supposed to fall on the faces of the dancers, a music master, present at the shoot, slapped her as she didn’t perform well because the powder fell into her eyes. Shanthi said,
A shot like powder falling on the faces of the dancers during a song shoot. I was sitting down, not knowing if it would fall into my eyes, when the powder fell on me. I’m going to have to take a second tag. So, in anger, that song master slapped me on the cheek in front of everyone. It took me a long time to control my crying. “I got stung by the ring…” my fellow dancers calmed me down.”
- In an interview, Shanthi revealed that she wished to abort her second pregnancy as she was looking for more opportunities in her career after the break that she took after her first child was born; however, her family didn’t support her decision at that time. She said,
I got married and took a break from cinema to take care of my first child. Then, when I was looking for an opportunity, I got pregnant for the second time. For the sake of cinema, I thought of dissolving that embryo. But, the family did not agree.”
- Her work in ‘Metti Oli’ brought her fame following which she started being recognised by the name ‘Metti Oli Shanthi.’
- Shanthi admires Thirumurugan, a Tamil film and television series director. While talking about him in an interview, Shanthi said,
The double horse of acting and dance master is going very well. No matter how high I go, I will always be grateful to director Thirumurugan sir.”