Abhilasha (actress)

Abhilasha is an Indian actress from Karnataka, who was active in the South Indian film industry, especially in the Malayalam cinema in the late 1980s. Known for her erotic roles, Abhilasha was a key figure in the Malayalam softcore films of her time.^[1] She acted in about nearly 40 Malayalam softcore films and is considered as one of the forerunners of this genre in Malayalam. She got her breakthrough with Adipapam (1988), which is regarded as the first successful Malayalam film with softcore nudity. Other than Malayalam, Abhilasha has also acted in around 80 films in Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi.^[2]

Abhilasha entered the film industry as a teenager in the 1987 Malayalam softcore film Jungle Boy. In 1988, she got her breakthrough with Adipapam (Original sin) directed by P. Chandrakumar. In this Malayalam softcore film set against the backdrop of the Bible, she also appeared nude.^[3] Regarded as the first successful Malayalam softcore film with nudity, it was commercially successful at the box office and grossed ₹2.5 crore against a budget of ₹7.5 lakh.^[4] The success of Adipapam made her one of the most sought B-grade actress of that time. Many soft porn films came in Malayalam in later years with Abhilasha as heroine.^[5] P. Chandrakumar then directed six films such as Kalpana House, Rathibhavam with Abhilasha as the heroine. Most of these films were successful at the box office. Abhilasha is believed to have quit acting in the early 1990s with her marriage to Kannada film director Kabiraj among the other reasons.