Kumari Rukmani (19 April 1929 – 4 September 2007), also known as Kumari Rukmini, was an Indian actress and dancer. She has acted in about 100 films in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, nativ ...

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

and

Hindi Hindi (Devanāgarī: or , ), or more precisely Modern Standard Hindi (Devanagari: ), is an Indo-Aryan language spoken chiefly in the Hindi Belt region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern, and western India. Hindi has been de ...

languages.

Childhood

She is the daughter of Nungambakkam Janaki, also an actress. She hails from Melattur in

Thanjavur district Thanjavur District is one of the Districts of Tamil Nadu, 38 districts of the States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu, in southeastern India. Its headquarters is Thanjavur. The district is located in the delta of the Cauvery River ...

. During the shooting of ''

Harishchandra Harishchandra () is a legendary king of the Solar dynasty, who appears in several legends in texts such as the ''Aitareya Brahmana'', ''Mahabharata'', the ''Markandeya Purana'', and the ''Devi Bhagavata Purana''. The most famous of these storie ...

'' (1932) in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

(now

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

) the producers were looking for a young actor to feature as ''Lohidasan''. Kumari Rukmani, as a child, was staying with her parents in the next room where T. P. Rajalakshmi who was the female lead in the film, was staying. Rajalakshmi recommended Kumari Rukmani to the producers. The producers talked to the parents and made Kumari Rukmani to feature as ''Lohidasan'' in the film. Thus began her film career.
English translation

Film career

She featured in many films together with T. P. Rajalakshmi. Her first film as heroine was Sri Valli in which she acted as Valli paired with T. R. Mahalingam. In 1946 she featured in

Lavangi ''Lavangi'' is a 1946 Indian Tamil-language film directed and produced by Y. V. Rao and written by P. R. Narayanan. It stars Y. V. Rao, Kumari Rukmani, B. R. Panthulu, B. Jayamma, K. Sarangapani, K. R. Chellam and T. R. Ramachandran. The film ...

paired with the multi-talented

Y. V. Rao Yaragudipati Varada Rao (Telugu: యెర్రగుడిపాటి వరదరావు; 30 May 1903 – 13 February 1979) was an Indian director, producer, actor, screenwriter, and editor known for his works primarily in Telugu, Kannada, ...

. While the shooting of this film was going on both she and Rao fell in love with each other and later got married. Cine actress

Lakshmi Lakshmi (; , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism. She is the goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity, and associated with ''Maya'' ("Illusion"). Alo ...

is their daughter.

Partial filmography

Producer

She has produced two films in Hindi, with Lavangi and Manjari.

Death

After ailing for some time, Kumari Rukmani died on 4 September 2007 at her daughter actress

residence in Chennai.

K. T. Rukmini

There was another actress/singer named K. T. Rukmini during 1930/40s. She featured in films like ''

Menaka Menaka () is an Apsara (heavenly nymph) in Hindu literature. Legends Menaka was born during the churning of the ocean by the devas and asuras. She is one of the most mesmerising apsaras (celestial nymphs) in the three worlds, with quick intel ...

'' (1935), ''Thirumangai Alwar'' (1940) and her last film was ''Ponnuruvi'' (1947)

References

External links

* * * - A song sung by Kumari Rukmani from the film Ramadas (1948) * - A song sung by K. T. Rukmini (with

Kothamangalam Seenu ''Kothamangalam Seenu'' (17 February 1910 - 30 August 2001) was a Tamil Stage, Cinema actor and a Carnatic music singer. Early life Kothamangalam Seenu whose birth name is V. S. Srinivasan, was born in Vathirairuppu (anglicised as ‘Watrap'), ...

from the film Thirumangai Alvar (1940) {{DEFAULTSORT:Rukmini, Kumari 1929 births 2007 deaths Actresses from Chennai Actresses in Hindi cinema Actresses in Tamil cinema 20th-century Indian actresses 21st-century Indian actresses Actresses in Telugu cinema Child actresses in Tamil cinema Indian child actresses People from Thanjavur district