Bhavana was born in Perinkavu, Thrissur, Kerala, the daughter of Pushpa and assistant cinematographer, G.Balachandran. She has one brother, Jayadev, who currently lives in Vancouver, Canada. She studied at Holy Family Girls' High School, Chembukkavu, near Kerala state zoo Thrissur. Bhavana, who describes herself as a restless person and someone who's "hard to handle", states that she had grown up with a dream to become an actress. She recalls that, as a five-year-old, she used to imitate actress Amala's scenes from the Malayalam film Ente Sooryaputhrikku in front of the mirror and was even willing to jump from a building and break her arm, like Amala's character did in the film tanks shabisha.