Divya Venkatasubramaniam Iyer better known by her stage name Kaniha, is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema along with a few Tamil, Telugu and Kannada movies.
Susi Ganesan spotted Kanika on a magazine cover page and insisted on her performing the lead female role in his second feature film.
Even before she finished her graduation, she completed her Telugu debut film Ottesi Cheputunna during her winter vacations, acting under another stage name Sravanthi.
Kaniha next appeared in a comedy oriented role in a commercial film by K. S. Ravikumar, Aethiree along with Madhavan, Sada, in which she portrayed a "naughty Brahmin girl".
Having a vast experience and being a professional singer before turning actress, Kanika got the offer to sing the theme song of her debut film Five Star.
After a two-years gap, her most recent Kannada film Rajakumari opposite Ravichandran got released, in which she again got to play the female lead role.
At the prime of her career, Kanika moved to "small screen", hosting a couple of TV shows, which she believed were a "refreshing change from movies".
After her marriage, when she was supposed to bid adieu to the film industry, Kanika returned to Malayalam cinema in 2009, with the films Bhagyadevatha, directed by veteran Sathyan Anthikkad and starring Jayaram and Narain as well, and Pazhassi Raja, directed by reputed director Hariharan and starring Mammootty, Sarath Kumar and Padmapriya among others.
[16] Her rising adulation in the Malayalam industry saw her eventually sign laudable roles in the films My Big Father and Christian Brothers before she took a maternity break.
She was starred in Mylanchi Monchulla Veedu (2014) opposite Jayaram an later in Suresh Gopi's movie Rudra Simhasanam (2015) directed by Shibu Gangadharan.
In a lesser-known but significant role, Kaniha made a cameo appearance in director Venkat Prabhu’s much-talked-about film The Greatest of All Time (2024), starring Vijay.