When a dance faceoff amid Padmini and Vyjayanthimala generated fracas
When a dance faceoff amid Padmini and Vyjayanthimala generated fracas
Padmini may not have been in films for a long time, but she was so skilled in her art that the viewers could not stop appreciating her. In those days, the viewers used to þ her with legendary actress Vyjayanthimala. The two have even worked in films together.
It’s said that the history of Indian cinema is not made up of only good films and stories, but also those special artists who have made a big impact in their short careers.
One such artist was ‘Padmini’, she was not only a beautiful actress, but also adept in classical dance form
She may not have been in films for a long time, but she was so skilled in her art that the viewers could not stop appreciating her.
In those days, audiences used to compare her with legendary actress Vyjayanthimala.
Vyjayanthimala was acknowledged as a great actress as well as an authority in Bharatnatyam. It is said that due to this, there was always competition between the two. In the 1958 film ‘Raj Tilak’, the dance face-off between Padmini and Vyjayanthimala headlined. Both performed on the song Aaja Raja Bekarar. Besides this, a tough dance competition was also seen between the two in the film ‘Vanjikottai Veliban’.
Padmini, Trivandrum born belonged to a Malayalam family. At the age of 16, she entered the film world and appeared in the Hindi film ‘Kalpana’. In this film, she was cast as a dancer. She captivated the audience in this film with her classical dance. Her Padmini had two sisters, Ragini and Lalita. All three were called ‘Travancore Sisters’. The world saluted their ability. Padmini’s film career lasted for about 30 years. She worked in more than 250 films in Hindi, Tamil, Kannada and Telugu languages.
She did many films like ‘Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai’, ‘Afsana’, ‘Chanda Aur Bijli’, ‘Ragini’, ‘Amardeep’, ‘Rajtilak’, ‘Mera Naam Joker’, ‘Aashiq’, ‘Bhai-Behan’, ‘Dard Ka Rishta’, ‘Mastana’, ‘Pardesi’. She worked with famous actors like Raj Kapoor, M.G. Ramachandran, Shivaji Ganesan, Rajkumar, Prem Nasir, NT Rama Rao, Satyan, Dev Anand and Shammi Kapoor. The audience liked her pairing with showman Raj Kapoor a lot. Later she took to direction
She took of direction and helmed the 1989 released film ‘Mohabbat Ka Paigam’ Apart from acting and direction, Padmini also tried her luck in the political field. In 1966 and 1971, she contested Lok Sabha elections on a Congress party ticket
After gaining fame in a few years, in 1961, she married Dr KT Ramachandran, a physician living in America, and distanced herself from the film industry. She moved to America with her husband and started focusing on her household. She gave birth to a son in 1963. In 1977, she opened a classical dance school in New Jersey, named ‘Padmini School of Arts’. Today, this school is counted as the largest classical dance institution in America. Padmini breathed her last on September 24, 2006 in Chennai.
News Edit KV Raman
