Karthika was introduced into movies by the Malayalam director Balachandra Menon. She came to the Malayalam movie industry as a junior artist, She was one of the group dancers of the movie Oru painkilikadha. Then she was noted by that movie director Balachandra Menon and he cast her as the heroine in his film " Manicheppu Thurannappol". She was most frequently paired with Mohanlal. She also appeared in the Tamil movie Nayagan as the daughter of Velu Naykar, played by Kamal Haasan. She left filmdom for marriage while at peak of her career.^{[citation needed]} She is well known for the Portrayal of Savithri in Thalavattam, Nirmala in Deshadanakili Karayarilla, Shyama in Neeyethra Dhanya.

Malayalam films

Tamil films

• Poovizhi Vasalile (1987) .... Yamuna
• Nayakan (1987) .... Charumathi