April 17th marked the fourteenth death anniversary of actress Soundarya who throughout her career was the most sought after leading lady in South Indian cinema.  Though she starred in a few films in her mother tongue, Kannada, Soundarya's big break came in 1993 when she debuted in Tamil oppsoite Karthick in 'Ponnumani' directed by R.V. Udayakumar.

There was no looking back after that as Telugu cinema embraced Soundarya and she starred opposite all the top stars there including Chiranjeevi, Venkatesh, Nagarjuna and others.  She then made a comeback to Tamil cinema through the Superstar Rajini starrer 'Arunachalam' and was also his pair in the blockbuster 'Padayappa'.  She also acted with Kamal in 'Kathala Kathala', Sathyaraj in 'Senathipathi' and Vijayakanth in 'Thavasi'.

Director P. Vasu gave Soundarya her biggest hit 'Apthamithra' in Kannada in 2004 and while planning to remake it in Tamil as 'Chandramukhi' wanted her to play the lead once again.  But as fate would have it Soundarya  who was active in politics at that time passed away in an helicotper crash while campaigning for the BJP and Telugu Desam Party.  She had married just an year earlier and was also seven months pregnant when the tragedy struck.  Tamil fans will never forget her alluring beauty especially in the song "Nenjukkulla innaarunu sonna" from 'Ponnumani'.