ഒരു മലയാളം, തമിഴ് ചലച്ചിത്ര അഭിനേത്രിയായിരുന്നു ശോഭ. കെ.പി. മേനോന്റെയും അഭിനേത്രിയായിരുന്ന പ്രേമയുടെയും മകളായി 1962 സെപ്റ്റംബർ 23-ന് ജനിച്ചു. മഹാലക്ഷ്മി എന്നായിരുന്നു യഥാർത്ഥനാമം.

Mahalakshmi Menon, best known by her stagename Shobha, was an Indian actress best known for her work in Malayalam and Tamil films. At the age of 17, she won the National Film Award for Best Actress for her role in the 1979 Tamil film Pasi. She also received three Kerala State Film Awards: for Best Actress (1978), Best Supporting Actress (1977) and Best Child Artist (1971); and two Filmfare Awards South for Best Actress in Kannada (1978) and Tamil (1979) films. Considered one of the finest talents to have emerged in the Indian film world, her promising career was unexpectedly cut short as she committed suicide in 1980, due to unknown reasons. Her popularity resulted in considerable public scrutiny of the events that led to her death and also various conspiracy theories. The 1983 Malayalam film Lekhayude Maranam Oru Flashback is supposedly based on her life and death.