Srividya

Srividya (24 July 1953 – 19 October 2006), was an Indian actress best known for her work predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films, along with few Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films.

In a career spanning for 40 years, she had acted in more than 800 films.

In the latter part of her career, she concentrated on Malayalam films.

In addition to acting, Srividya occasionally worked as a playback singer as well as carnatic singer.

She was also a well trained Bharathanatyam dancer.

She was best known for restraint and subtlety in portrayal of varied emotions.

She used her own voice for dubbing almost in all movies in all languages.

Srividya was born on 24 July 1953 in Madras, Tamil Nadu into a Tamil family.

Tamil film comedian Krishnamurthy and Carnatic classical singer M. L. Vasanthakumari were her parents.

She had a brother, Sankararaman.

Her father had to stop acting in the year when she was born because of a disease which affected his facial muscles.

Her family fell into financial crisis.

Her mother worked long hours to meet the family's financial needs.

Srividya once reportedly said that her mother didn't even have time to breastfeed her.

Srividya debuted in acting at a very early age.

When her parents faced problems due to financial difficulties, Srividya's youth was blighted.

She got a marriage proposal from a scientist based in the U.S., but the marriage did not materialize as Srividya did not show interest in marriage

Srividya started her career as a child artist in the 1967 Tamil film Thiruvarutchelvar alongside legendary actor Sivaji Ganesan.

Later she entered Malayalam films with a dance scene in Kumara Sambhavam (1969), directed by P. Subramaniam and in Telugu film Tata Manavadu (1972) directed by Dasari Narayana Rao.

She started acting in Malayalam in 1969.

Her first movie was Chattambikkavala directed by N. Sankaran Nair, in which she acted as the heroine opposite to Sathyan.

Among the south Indian language movies she acted in, the maximum number of movies was in Malayalam (1969 to 2003).

In the mid-1970s, she became busy in the Tamil film industry.

She acted in films such as Velli Vizha, Sollathaan Ninaikkiren and Apoorva Raagangal, all directed by K. Balachander.

However, her first major role was that of a college student falling in love with her professor in the 1971 Tamil film Nootrukku Nooru, directed by K. Balachander.

Her first film as heroine was Delhi to Madras (1972) in which she was paired opposite Jaishankar.

She gained public attention in Chenda (1973), directed by A. Vincent.

She was Rajinikanth's first heroine in Apoorva Raagangal (1975).

Her role as Amba mythological character from the mythological story (adapted film) from the Mahabarath, Amba Ambika Ambalika (1976), has been appreciated.

Srividya was a playback singer as well.

She first sang for films in the Tamil film Amaran and then for Malayalam film Ayalathe Sundari.

She later sang in several films, such as Oru Painkilikkadha, Njangalude Kochu Doctor, Rathilayam and Nakshathratharattu.

She was an expert classical vocalist as well.

She used to sing in functions such as the Soorya Festival.

She was mainly trained by her mother, who was one among the female trinity in Carnatic music, along with M. S. Subbulakshmi and D. K. Pattammal.

Srividya has acted in many films including Annai Velankanni, Unarchigal and Apoorva Raagangal with Kamal Haasan.

Srividya and Kamal Haasan fell in love and Kamal Haasan proposed to her.

Srividya's mother stopped them from getting married.

A few years later Kamal Haasan began courting Vani Ganapathy and they got married which was a great disappointment for Sri Vidya.

She died in 2006 after battling metastatic breast cancer.