STAR FADES AWAY-PADMINI

Star fades away


The late Padmini was an acclaimed actress, accomplished dancer and a multifaceted personality, says KK Moidu


Popular actress and Bharathanatyam dancer Padmini, the second of the Travancore Sisters, died at the Apollo Hospital in Chennai recently at the age of 74, following a cardiac arrest. The demise of this multifaceted personality marks the end of a glorious career on the dance stage as well as silver screen.
She is survived by her son, Prem Anand, an official of Warner Brothers, who has settled in the United States. The actress's sisters, Lalitha and Ragini, died years ago. Her last public appearance was at a function, organised by Kollywood to felicitate Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, the day before her death.
She was born to Thankappan Pillai and Saraswathi Amma of Malayinkeezhu near Poojapura, Thiruvananthapuram, on June 12, 1932 and did her schooling at Sea Shell convent in Thiruvananthapuram. She received training in classical dance from the age of four and gave her dance debut at the age of 10. Lalitha was her older sister and Ragini the younger. Together they came to be known as the Travancore Sisters. Padmini, nicknamed Natiyaperoli was the most successful of the three. Guru Gopinath was her mentor in classical dancing and by the time she was 14, Padmini was part of a dance troupe and had performed in most parts of India.
Padmini acted in over 250 films in various languages in her decades-long career starting from 1949. Right from her teens she began co-starring all the leading men of the Indian cinema like Tamil cinema's MG Ramachandran and Sivaji Ganesan, Malayalam's Prem Nazir and Sathyan and Bollywood's Raj Kapoor, Raj Kumar, Ashok Kumar and Dev Anand. She was in the top bracket in all languages.
As a talented artiste and polyglot, Padmini dubbing for her movies in all languages and her acting gained acceptance from Hindi, Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu cinema fans alike.
Unlike today's heroines, who mainly rely on dubbing artistes without understanding the language of their films, Padmini believed that no dubbing artistes could do complete justice to her onscreen character. Her command over Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi also made this unnecessary.
Despite her success, Padmini’s entry into filmdom was unplanned. After seeing her dance performance, it was veteran dancer Uday Shankar, who invited her to act in a film. Thus Padmini made her debut in Uday Shankar's Hindi film, Kalpana, when she was 17. She was among the first few actresses from the south to act in Bollywood films. Her performance in Kalpana along with her style and dance movements won appreciation and she bagged many more movie offers.
She was part of Bollywood showman Raj Kapoor's all-time hits like Jis Desh Mein Ganga Bahti Hain and Mera Naam Joker. Her other prominent Bollywood films were Vasana, Kajal, Chanda Aur Bijli, Nanha Farishta (remake of Tamil Kuzhanthaikaga) Madhavi (Hindi version of Vanjikottai Valibhan), Payal, Mahabharat etc.
In Tamil, her debut film was Manamagal, directed by the legendary N.S. Krishnan and released in 1950. It became a big hit and the same year she was paired with Sivaji Ganesan in Panam. That marked the beginning of a partnership and the duo acted in over 50 films. In one of her early Tamil films, Thooku Thooki, she and the other Travancore Sisters danced for the song Sundari Soundari’.
In the 1950s and 60s, when the Gemini Ganesan-Savitri and MGR-Saroja Devi pairs were formdable, the Sivaji-Padmini pair gave such hits as Uttamaputhran and Thillana Moganambal. Fans still remember Padmini’s powerful dialogue delivery in Theiva Piravi. Though she was Sivaji's lucky heroine, Padmini also gave hits with other heroes like MGR. Padmini–MGR starrers Mannadhi Mannan, Rani Samyuktha and Madurai Veeran were all big grossers.
She also acted in memorable Tamil films like Ethirparadhadu, Raani Samyuktha, Rajarajan, Rikshakkaran, Arasilankumari, Punarjanmam, Amara Deepam, Vanjikottai Valibhan, Chitti, Kuzhandaikkaga, Pesum Deivam, Erumalargal etc.
Padmini had a distinct style of acting. In Malayalam her hits were Snehaseema, Umminithanga, Adhyapika, Vivahitha and Kumarasambavam.
Padmini immersed herself into her onscreen character whether it was that of a middle-class Brahmin woman as in Vietanam Veedu or that of a dancer in Thillana Mohanambal. Her role as the latter won the actress critical acclaim.
In 1961 at the height of her career Padmini opted for marriage with Dr KT Ramachandran and settled in the US. She started the famous Padmini School of Fine Arts at New Jersey in 1977. The school has grown into one of the largest classical dance institutions in that country. It teaches Bharathanatyam, Mohiniyattam, Kuchippudi and folk dances.
Padmini's husband passed away in 1981, after which she returned to India and picked up the threads of her acting career. She re-entered the Tamil film industry and also acted in Malayalam films like Nokkethadoorathu Kannumnattu (starring Mohanlal and Nadia Moidu) Vaasthuhara (starring Mohanlal and Shobhana; directed by Adoor Gopalakrishnan) and Dollar (starring Mukesh and Lalu Alex). Her return to the industry made her popular among the present generation of moviegoers. She also tried her luck in Malayalam television serials and produced documentaries.
As a dancer Padmini gave recitals at the Rashtrapathi Bhavan in New Delhi and before famous personalities like Queen Elizabeth, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhai Patel, former presidents Dr Rajendra Prasad and Dr Radhakrishnan.
She won awards like Kalai Mamany Award from the Tamil Nadu government in 1958, Filmfare Award in 1985. The erstwhile Soviet Union released a postal stamp in her honour. During the Indo-Pak War she performed at an army camp for wounded Indian soldiers.
Padmini also performed dances based on Christian themes. Of these the dance drama Mary Magdelene was very successful. She also taught children at the Kerala Culture Forum in New Jersey.
She performed at the Madras Music Academy, Shanmukhananda Sabha, Indian Fine Art Society and Tamil Sangam, Madras.
Famous South Indian actress and dancer Shobhana is her niece. Shobhana has also won the National Award for best actress twice, first for Manichithrathazhu and second for Mitr My Friend. Recently Shobhana also won the Etisalat-Everest Best actress Award. Popular actress Sukumari and yesteryear's actress, Ambika, were Padmini's cousin's.