After the release of Sathyan Anthikkad's ‘Bhagyadevatha’, Kanika, who played the protagonist in the movie, had became a name identified by the family audience. And now with the mammoth success of historical ‘Pazhassi Raja’, she has become the talk of the town and is one of the most sought after actresses in Mollywood.

Kanika, a former Miss Chennai debuted into filmdom with Mani Ratnam's ‘Five Star’ after her successful career as a model. She had a litmus test with Malayalam in the 2006 movie ‘Ennittum’, which was a big loss at the Box Office. The actress who is also a playback singer (incidently, she has sung the title track of ‘Five Star’ never had expected that she is walking into history, when she was preparing for the screen test of ‘Pazhassi Raja’ I never knew the importance of the film, though I was thrilled with a chance for sharing the screen space with the greats like Mammootty and Sarath Kumar, that too with the veteran MT sir and Hariharan sir. But when I realised the chance, I tried hard to appear natural as the bold wife of Raja, Kaitheri Makkam. I researched about the character and tried to find a new body language and mannerisms that suited the character. I haven't even tried for a minimum makeup while portraying the character. And now I am really thrilled that my efforts have paid off'' says the humble actress who is presently settled in US with her husband Shyam.

Kanika who is an engineer by profession, has already completed another Mollywood movie ‘My Big Father’ with Jayaram, which will get into theatres in a matter of a couple of months.