Amala Paul (born 26 October 1991)[1] is an Indian actress and producer who primarily appears in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films.

She went onto appear in successful films such as Vettai (2012), Thalaivaa (2013), Velaiilla Pattadhari (2014), Hebbuli (2017), Thiruttu Payale 2 (2017), Ratsasan (2018) and The Goat Life (2024).

[citation needed] Amala then went on to work in Samy's controversial Sindhu Samaveli (2010), portraying the role of Sundari, who has an illicit relationship with her father-in-law.

She was approached after the major portions of her next release, Mynaa were ready, and signed on for Sindhu Samaveli before listening to the entirety of the story, claiming that she was shocked but not upset with the controversial scenes which she heard later.

[14] Paul claimed that she received death threats from anonymous callers and was publicly scolded by women at a cinema hall in Chennai.

[15] Amala's next release, the romantic drama film Mynaa (2010), by Prabhu Solomon, made her a recognised actress in the industry.

[16] Following the success of the Tamil film, Mynaa, Amala was billed as the "new top star of 2011" as she subsequently signed on to several prominent projects.

[18] She went on to sign three big budget films with the drama Deiva Thirumagal, directed by Vijay, featuring her opposite Vikram and alongside Anushka,[11] becoming her next release.

[24] The actress had three films released on the Valentine's Day weekend of 2012, with Balaji Mohan's bilingual Kadhalil Sodhappuvadhu Yeppadi / Love Failure becoming critical and commercial successes.

The film, made in Tamil and Telugu, featured her alongside Siddharth and portrayed her as a college girl, Parvathi, showing her romantic skills.

[25][26] Rediff.com called the Telugu version of the film "refreshing", highlighting that the lead pair's on-screen chemistry "sparkles".

[27] The romantic thriller Muppozhudhum Un Karpanaigal, opposite Atharvaa, also released on the same day in which she played Charulatha, a modern girl based in Bangalore.

Her first release in 2013, V. V. Vinayak's directorial Naayak, opposite Ram Charan, went on to be one of the biggest critical as well as commercial successes of the year.

Sangeetha Devi Dundroo of The Hindu commented: "Amala Paul manages to pull off a character that traverses a thin line between being naïve and downright silly.

"[32] Another reviewer, Sasidhar AS from The Times of India commented: "Amala Paul's characterisation is a delight, and she plays Komali so effectively that you'll be left wondering who else could have done the role better than her.

[citation needed] In 2016, she acted in Amma Kanakku an official remake of Nil Battey Sannata by Ashwini Iyer, and won acclaim for her performance.

However, after the failure of her 2011 film Sindhu Samaveli, she reverted to her birth name, since she felt that the replacement had brought her bad luck.

[41] As early as 2011, when Amala was working on Deiva Thirumagal, she was romantically linked to director A. L. Vijay, but denied that the pair were dating.