Karthika Menon, better known by her stage name Bhavana, is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Malayalam and Kannada films, and has also appeared in some Tamil and Telugu films. Bhavana made her acting debut with the Malayalam film Nammal in 2002. Early life Bhavana was born as Karthika Menon in Thrissur, Kerala, as the daughter of Pushpa and assistant cinematographer G. Balachandran. She has an elder brother, Jayadev. She did her schooling at Holy Family Convent Girls High School, Thrissur. Bhavana has described herself as a restless person and someone who's "hard to handle". She grew up with a dream to become an actress. As a five-year-old, she used to imitate actress Amala's scenes from the Malayalam film Ente Sooryaputhrikku in front of the mirror and was even willing to jump from a building and break her arm, like Amala's character, did in the film. Career At age 16, she debuted in the Malayalam film Nammal taking the stage name Bhavana opposite newcomers Sidharth Bharathan, Jishnu and Renuka Menon. The film was a big success and she got several offers in Malayalam. She won many honors and a Kerala State Special Jury Award for the film. Bhavana was an 11th Standard student when she got her break in the film. In 2010, she starred in her first Kannada film alongside Puneeth Rajkumar, Jackie which was a blockbuster. Following the film's huge success, the film was dubbed into Telugu and Malayalam. Bhavana was said to star with Emraan Hashmi and Amitabh Bachchan in a Bollywood film. Her second Kannada film Vishnuvardhana with Sudeep opened to a big response. She appeared in the Malayalam films Ozhimuri and Trivandrum Lodge in 2012, and Honey Bee and Ezhamathe Varavu in 2013. She played Roshni Mathew, a single mother employed in an IT company, in Shyamaprasad's Ivide, a crime thriller based on the serial killing of IT techies in major US cities. In 2016, she starred in a film with Benedict Doray. Recent films of Bhavana include Swapnathekaal Sundaram and Adventures of Omanakuttan. In 2022, it was announced Bhavana would return to making Malayalam movies, with Adhil Maimoonath Asharaf's debut feature Ntikkakkakkoru Premondaarnn. Abduction and assault In February 2017, she was kidnapped while returning home from a shoot and subjected to sexual assault by a gang of men. In April 2017, there were multiple reports in the media that actor Dileep had links