Ineya

Shruti Sawant, known by her stage name Ineya, is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Malayalam and Tamil films.

She won the Edison Award for Best Debut Actress and Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actress for her role in the Tamil film Vaagai Sooda Vaa (2011) as well as Kerala Film Award for Best Supporting Actress in the Malayalam for  Parole (2018) and Pengalila (2019).

Early life
Ineya, whose real name is Shruti Sawant was born to Salahuddin. S and Savithri at Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. She has an elder sister, Swathi, who is also a Malayalam television actress and a younger brother, Sravan. Ineya had her primary education at Thiruvananthapuram from Amritha Vidyalaya, Fort Girls Mission High School and Manakkad Karthika Thirunnal High School. She did her B.B.A course by correspondence.

Career
Ineya acted in several Malayalam television series, short films and telefilms as a child artist. While studying in class four, she acted in the telefilm Koottilekku, which was followed by appearances in tele-serials Orma and Sree Guruvayoorappan by Vayalar Madhavan Kutty. Ineya won the Miss Trivandrum title in 2005, following which she did modeling and appeared in several television advertisements as well as a number of Malayalam award-winning art films, including Saira (2006), directed Dr. Biju, Dalamarmarangal (2009) and Umma (2011), both directed by Vijayakrishnan. She also played a pivotal role in Rajesh Touchriver's short feature The Sacred Face, which focusses on child abuse.

In 2010, she starred in a Tamil film Padagasalai and signed up four more Tamil films, all of which were cancelled or remain unreleased. She next played a supporting role as the sister to Cheran's character in Mysskin's mystery thriller Yuddham Sei. Director A. Sarkunam signed her for the female lead character in his period piece Vaagai Sooda Vaa (2011), for which she changed her screen name to Ineya. Her portrayal of a tea stall owner was lauded by critics. Pavithra Srinivasan of Rediff wrote that she was a "welcome find", describing her as "natural, appealing, and very expressive". She played as a medical student and love interest of the hero in the film Mouna Guru co-starring Arulnidhi.

She was part of a number of offbeat films in Malayalam like Ayaal, Bhoopadathil Illatha Oridam and Radio. In 2014, she was first seen as herself in Vikraman's Ninaithathu Yaaro then in Pulivaal, the Tamil remake of the Malayalam film Chaappa Kurishu and Naan Sigappu Manithan. In her only Malayalam release of 2014, Madhu Kaithapram's Vellivelichathil (In the Limelight), she played the role of a dancer. She is seen in a dance number in the comedy entertainer Amar Akbar Anthony (2015). She also part of the bilingual titled Alone (2015) and Girls (2016).

Ineya portrayed a character named Lovely in Swarnakaduva (2016), directed by Jose Thomas. The actress was much praised for her powerful performance in the movie .She working with actor Mammootty, for the first time in Puthan Panam (2017).

Iniya’s performance in the movies Parole (2018) and Pengalila (2019) won her the second Best Supporting Actress award at the Kerala Film Critics Association Awards. She playing the title role in Tamil film Pottu (2019), a horror-comedy. Ineya was seen in the Malayalam film Mamangam (2019), and she shared screen space wwith Megastar Mammootty in the film. Her performance in the film was well appreciated.

In 2020, Ineya has also signed a new movie opposite Kannada superstar Shiva Rajkumar titled Drona in which she has a meaty role. She then appear in The Tamil TV soap Kannana Kanne. She has played the lead in the thriller Coffee (2021) directly on TV. Later Ineya, who plays Vimal's wife in the crime web series Vilangu (2022) started streaming on ZEE5. She working with Samuthirakani in the crime thriller Naan Kadavul Illai (2023) directed by S. A. Chandrasekhar.

Television

 * Serials


 * Shows


 * Other Works

Awards

 * Edison Awards
 * 2011: Best Debut Actress – Vaagai Sooda Vaa


 * Tamil Nadu State Film Awards
 * 2011: Best Actress – Vaagai Sooda Vaa


 * Kerala Film Critics Association Awards
 * 2018: Second Best Actress – Pengalila, Parole