Films She started her career as an actress in the
Malayalam film Anaswaram (1991), directed by
Jomon, playing the female lead opposite
Mammootty, after which she focused on modeling. She competed in the
Miss India contest in 1994 and finished third runner-up behind
Sushmita Sen,
Aishwarya Rai and Fransesca Hart. She became the first
Gladrags female super model in 1994 (
Kelly Dorjee was the male super model) and then, Miss Asia Pacific semi-finalist in 1994 in
Manila Cebu Island,
Philippines. She subsequently made her debut in
Hindi cinema and appeared in over 30 films; some of her Bollywood films include
Asoka (2001),
Maqbool (2003) and
Corporate (2006). Menon returned to Malayalam in 2006 with
Thantra and then went on to do famous Malayalam films such as
Keerthi Chakra (2006) and the award-winning
Paradesi. Her performance as Sarojini, a middle-class woman who fights against extreme odds, in
Madhya Venal earned her a special mention by jury chairman
Bahman Ghobadi, a famous
Iranian director at the
International Film Festival of Kerala. In 2010, she won the Kerala State Government's Best Actress for her portrayal of Cheeru, a village woman in the film
Paleri Manikyam: Oru Pathirakolapathakathinte Katha directed by
Ranjith. She won the
Mathrubhumi-
Amrita TV Special Jury Award and the
Asianet Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for the same film. In 2011, Shweta Menon starred in
the remake of
Rathinirvedam an Erotic Movie, playing the titular character, originally played by
Jayabharathi. In the same year, she got the Kerala State Award for ''
Salt N' Pepper. For her next movie, Naval Enna Jewel'', Shweta Menon has undergone a remarkable makeover as an elderly man. In 2010, Menon approached a local court and the Women's Commission in Kerala after the distributor of her movie tied up with Musli Power, a sex stimulant drug, to jointly promote the movie. "Met with Women's Commission regarding the
Kayam ad and they offered me full backing. Thank you all and I hope justice will be done," she tweeted.
Television Besides working in films, she has anchored several TV, stage and film awards shows. Menon rose to popularity after presenting the musical programme,
Star Wars on
Kairali TV in 2008. She won the
Asian Television Award for Best Anchor for the same program. In Hindi, she hosted the group band based show,
Razzmatazz on
Zee TV with actor
Arshad Warsi. The next television show she did was
Dancing Queen in 2008 on Colors. In 2010, she anchored the Malayalam reality show,
Honeymoon Travels on Surya TV. The show became an instant hit for Shwetha's accented Malayalam and her attempts to read from the original script without a formal learning in the language. Recently, she appeared as a contestant with her father in the game show,
Deal or No Deal on Surya TV. She was the anchor of the family-based
reality show Veruthe Alla Bharya on
Mazhavil Manorama. She has participated in the popular game show
Ningalkkum Aakaam Kodeeshwaran on
Asianet. She was running popular comedy reality show
Minto Goal Comedy Stars on
Asianet in 2015. She has acted in many
advertisements. She was a contestant in the
season 1 of the reality TV show
Bigg Boss aired on Asianet, from which she was eliminated after 36 episodes. In 2019 she made her TV comeback as the host for a family talent hunt show on Mazhavil Manorama titled
Kusurthi Kudumbam. ==Personal life==