South Indian actress Nithya Menen is reportedly dating Kannada actor Kiccha Sudeep, who recently filed for divorce from wife Priya Radhakrishnan.

The actors, who will next be seen together in KS Ravikumar's bilingual (Tamil and Kannada) film "Mudinja Ivana Pudi", said to have come close during the shooting of the film. They have been spotted together at some events recently.

In a career spanning 10 years, this is the first time that rumours about Nithya dating a hero have hit the headlines.

The actress, who began her career as a child artiste in the English film, "Hanuman", in 1998 has established herself in all South Indian language films.

Nithya, who was last seen in Maniratnam's "O Kadhal Kanmani" opposite Dulquer Salmaan and Anushka Shetty's "Rudramadevi", has a handful of projects in her kitty, including Tamil projects "Appavin Meesai", "24" and "Mudinja Ivana Pudi".

Meanwhile, Sudeep -- who began his career in Kannada film industry as a lead actor in Sunil Kumar Desai's 1999 film "Sparsha" -- has a huge fan following in Sandalwood and is known for his performances in "Eega", "Kempe Gowda" and "Puli".