Madhuurima

Madhuurima Banerjee, popularly known mononymously as Madhuurima or Nyra Banerjee, is an Indian film actress and an assistant director. Following appearances in various television serials, she made her feature film debut in director Priyadarshan's comedy film Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal, which was a moderate success and then went on to act in several successful Telugu films. In 2016, she changed her name to Nyra Banerjee and was credited with that name in the film One Night Stand. She also assisted director Tony D'Souza for his film Azhar.

Early life

Madhuurima was born and brought up in Mumbai, Maharashtra. Madhuurima's father is a mechanical engineer who served in the Indian Navy, before he began working as the general manager of the largest private shipyard of India. Her mother had been working as researcher in the field of virology and as a content writer for multinational companies and later turned a novelist. Madhurima has one brother who is four years younger to her. She has completed her Bachelor of Laws with an LLB degree.

Madhuurima has learnt Hindustani classical music and ghazal from her mother and used to sing children songs. She also learnt the classical dancing form Kathak but had to discontinue due to her father's transferable job. While recording a song one day, she was spotted by noted director G. V. Iyer who signed her on for a Hindi television serial Kadambari. She was supposed to play Sita's role in a film adaptation of Ramayana that G. V. Iyer was planning to shoot, however the director died and the project failed to materialize. During her eleventh standard, she acted in further TV serials, including one by K. Balachander, while anchoring in a TV channel as a part-time job. However, owing to her studies had to turn down some big banners, until Priyadarshan managed to convince her to play the lead in his movie.

Career

Madhuurima made her debut thoughwith a guest appearance/ friendly appearance in Toss: A Flip of Destiny (2009). The same year she appeared in her first Telugu film. She went on to act in three Telugu projects within the next one year, including the female lead role in Vamsy's Saradaga Kasepu and a cameo role in Orange, directed by Bhaskar. However, none of the Telugu films helped her career. In 2012, her second Bollywood film Kamaal Dhamaal Malamaal directed by Priyadarshan released. Next year she appeared in two Telugu films Mahankali and Shadow. She had also signed for the Tamil remake of the Hindi film Ab Tak Chhappan, Kadamai Kanniyam Kattupadu, which was later renamed as Eepeeko, but the film was later released under the title En Vazhi Thani Vazhi (2015) and her role was removed.

2014 she was first seen in the Telugu film Veta, which was followed by her first Kannada release, Savaari 2 and her first Malayalam release, Koothara. Savaari 2 saw her playing a bank manager, while in Koothara she played the role of Shaista, an NRI. She then starred in Maruthi's Kotha Janta starring Allu Sirish and made a special appearance in Green Signal which was co-produced by Maruthi.

In early 2015, she was seen in the very successful and was critically acclaimed for her work Puri Jagannadh's Temper, and then in two Tamil films, Serndhu Polama helmed by Malayalam director Anil Kumar and Sundar C.'s Aambala. She is working on the Telugu film, Close Friends and has completed the Malayalam film Black Coffee, in which she plays a Malayali living in Mumbai.

In 2016, Madhuurima changed her name to Nyra Banerjee and appeared with that name in the film One Night Stand opposite Tanuj Virwani and Sunny Leone. She also assisted director Tony D'Souza for his film Azhar.

Filmography