She was born to Telugu film actor and director Vedantam Raghavayya and Suryaprabha, who was also an actress, in Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh, India. She has five sisters and a brother. Her aunt Pushpavalli (Hindi actor Rekha's mother) was also a Telugu actress and was married to Gemini Ganeshan.[3] That makes Shubha a cousin of Hindi film actress Rekha.[4]