She said it's her last film, these words turned tragically true...

Although she acted in only two films in Malayalam, Soundarya was an actress who was quite well-known. She acted in the Malayalam films Kilichundan Mambazham opposite Mohanlal and Yathrakkarude Sradhaykku as the heroine of Jayaram. She died in a plane crash in 2004. Her only brother too died alongwith her in that accident. The accident happened in April 17, 2004 on a Cessna 180 in Bengaluru.

Soundarya last acted in the Kannada version of the superhit Malayalam film Manichithrathazhu, named Apthamitra. She had told her friend and director Udayakumar that this film would be her last. She also informed her friend that she was two months pregnant. Actually, when the actress said that this was her last film, she meant that she would not return to acting after becoming a mother.

She married her childhood friend Raghu in early 2004. He was a software engineer. They had traveled from Bengaluru to Karimnagar in Andhra Pradesh (presently, Telengana) for a Lok Sabha campaign. The Cessna 180 aircraft in which Soundarya and her brother were travelling crashed after flying up just 46 meters. The pilot of the aircraft was Joy Philip, a Malayali.

Sowmya Sathyanarayana, a native of Karnataka, later became Soundarya. She changed her name for the film industry. Although she made her debut in the film industry through her mother tongue Kannada, Soundarya made her mark through Telugu films. Soundarya, who has won the Andhra State Award three times and the Karnataka State Award twice, also won the National Award for Best Feature Film as a producer. She has also won six Filmfare Awards.

Soundarya entered the film industry unexpectedly. Her father, Satyanarayana Iyer, was a well-known producer and screenwriter in Kannada. Soundarya's dream was to become a doctor. For this, she joined medicine after pre-degree exams. While she was a first-year medical student, she got an opportunity in the Kannada film Gandharva. It was a small role. She turned down many opportunities that came her way during that time due to her studies.