Mahalakshmi (born 13 December 1952), known professionally as Lakshmi, is an Indian actress known for her works primarily in the southern film industry (distributing her acting career in almost each

Dravidian language The Dravidian languages (or sometimes Dravidic) are a family of languages spoken by 250 million people, mainly in southern India, north-east Sri Lanka, and south-west Pakistan. Since the colonial era, there have been small but significant imm ...

equally), along with some

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 ...

films. She made her film debut through a

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 ...

film '' Sri Valli'' in 1961. Her debut as an actress happened with the

Tamil film Tamil cinema, also known as Kollywood is a part of Indian Cinema; primarily engaged in production of motion pictures in the Tamil language. Based out of the Kodambakkam neighbourhood in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, it is popularly called ''Kollywo ...

'' Jeevanaamsam'' in 1968. In the same year, she also debuted in

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

and

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 ...

films with ''

Goa Dalli CID 999 ''Goadalli CID 999'' is a 1968 Indian Kannada-language spy thriller film written, directed and produced by Dorai–Bhagavan duo. The film starred Rajkumar in the lead role as a detective. Popular Indian actress Lakshmi made her debut in Kannad ...

'' and '' Bandhavyalu'', respectively. In 1974, her debut

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of 22 scheduled languages of India. Malayalam was des ...

film, '' Chattakari'' went on to become a blockbuster throughout India. Her performance in '' Mithunam'' (2012) is regarded as one of the ''100 Greatest Performances of the Decade'' by ''

Film Companion Anupama Chopra () is an Indian author, journalist, film critic and director of the MAMI Mumbai Film Festival. She is also the founder and editor of the digital platform Film Companion, which offers a curated look at cinema. She has written sev ...

.'' Lakshmi then went on to appear in a number of commercially successful films in various languages without a hesitation or diction. She dubs her voice for all of her movies, irrespective of the language and remains one of the very few critically acclaimed stars to achieve this stage. She has won one

National Film Award for Best Actress The National Film Award for Best Actress (officially known as the Rajat Kamal Award for the Best Actress) is an honour presented annually at the National Film Awards of India since 1968 to an actress for the best performance in a leading role wi ...

, nine

Filmfare Awards South Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassing ...

, three

Nandi Awards The Nandi Awards are the awards that recognise the excellence in Telugu cinema, Telugu theatre and Telugu television, and Lifetime achievements in Indian cinema. Presented annually by the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the award is named after ...

Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress The Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress is an honour presented annually at the Kerala State Film Awards of India since 1969 to an actress for the best performance within the Malayalam film industry. Until 1997, the awards were managed direct ...

Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress The Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress is a state film award of the Indian state of Karnataka given during the annual Karnataka State Film Awards. The award honours Kannada language film actresses. Since its inception, the award was wo ...

for the movie

Hoovu Hannu ''Hoovu Hannu'' () is a 1993 Indian Kannada-language drama film based on the novel by Triveni of the same name. The film stars Lakshmi, Rajesh Gundurao, Vyjayanthi and Baby Shamili. It was directed by Rajendra Singh Babu and produced by Vaibha ...

, the

Bengal Film Journalists Association Awards Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards commonly referred as BFJA Awards, is given by The Bengal Film Journalists' Association. The BFJA is the oldest association of film critics in India, founded in 1937 to serve the developing film journalism ...

and various other state awards. Lakshmi made her

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

debut in 1975, with the woman-centric ''

Julie Julie may refer to: * Julie (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the name Film and television * ''Julie'' (1956 film), an American film noir starring Doris Day * ''Julie'' (1975 film), a Hindi film by K. S. Sethumadhava ...

'', the remake of Malayalam film ''Chattakkari''. After appearing as a lead actress for more than a decade, she switched over to character roles. She is the only actress who has won the

in all four south languages as

Filmfare Award The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Hindi-language film industry of India.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were first introduced by th ...

Best Actress for eight times in various Indian languages. Till now she is the only actress who has won Filmfare award for best actress in all the 5 major film industries namely

and

. Till now no South actress has won state award in all the 4 south states except Lakshmi. She is also the only Actress who has won

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

Karnataka Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...

and Kerala State Film Awards for best Actress and the National Award. This makes her the most versatile and popular actress across South India and also in the

Hindi Belt The Hindi Belt, also known as the Hindi Heartland, is a linguistic region encompassing parts of northern, central, eastern and western India where various Central Indo-Aryan languages subsumed under the term 'Hindi' (for example, by the ...

which is now referred as Pan India, so she was one among the early pan Indian star.https://archive.org/download/41stAnnualFilmfareBestTeluguFilmKannadaActorActressDirector/41st%20annual%20filmfare%20best%20telugu%20film%20kannada%20actor%20actress%20director.jpg

Early life

Lakshmi was born and raised in

Chennai, Tamil Nadu Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

. Her mother

Kumari Rukmini 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, Telugu and Hindi languages. Childhood She is the daughter of Nungambakkam Janaki, a ...

was a

actress. Her father,

Yaragudipati Varada 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, ...

, was a

producer, director, thespian, screenwriter, editor and actor known for his works predominantly in

and

cinema.

Career

She established herself as a successful and popular actress in South India in the 1970s, acting in all four South Indian languages:

and

. Lakshmi rose to fame with her first Malayalam movie '' Chattakari'' (1974), which won her the

. This has the distinction of being the first Malayalam film to run continuously for 40 weeks in a Bangalore theatre. ''Chattakari'' (1974) was remade in Hindi as ''

'' (1975) and in Telugu as ''Miss Julie Prema Katha'' (1975). In addition to a Filmfare Best Actress Award, she also won the

Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards commonly referred as BFJA Awards, is given by The Bengal Film Journalists' Association. The BFJA is the oldest association of film critics in India, founded in 1937 to serve the developing film journalism ...

for the "most outstanding work of the year", for her work in ''Julie''. She is known for her versatility as an actress and for the glamorous outlook she embodied. Her acting in the Telugu film ''Panthulamma'' is often credited as one of her best performances. After the success of her debut Malayalam film ''Chattakari'', she starred in many other films in Malayalam. She won Filmfare Awards for Best Actress for her performances in ''

Chalanum ''Chalanam'' is a 1975 Indian Malayalam film, directed by N. R. Pillai and produced by Ponkunnam Varkey. The film stars KPAC Lalitha, Lakshmi, Mohan Sharma and Radhika in the lead roles. The film has musical score by G. Devarajan. Lakshmi ...

'' and ''

Mohiniyaattam Mohiniyattam, ( ml, മോഹിനിയാട്ടം), is an Indian classical dance form that developed and remained popular in the state of Kerala. Kathakali is another classical dance form of Kerala. Mohiniyattam dance gets its name fr ...

''. She has acted with almost all the leading actors and stars of South India, but it was her combination with the famous Kannada star

Anant Nag Dr Anant Nagarkatte (born 4 September 1948) is an Indian actor whose predominant contribution has been in Kannada cinema. He has acted in over 300 films which include over 200 Kannada films as well as Hindi, Telugu, Marathi, Malayalam and En ...

in the 70s and 80s that struck a chord with the audience. Nag and Lakshmi are considered one of the all-time greatest pairs in South Indian cinema. They acted together in more than 25 films. Their pair was considered the right recipe for success. Most of the films based on TaRaSu novels were based on the life of young middle class couples. After her success in ''Julie'', however, Lakshmi didn't star in many Hindi films and instead concentrated on doing more South Indian films. She won the

for '' Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal'' (1977), becoming one of the first South Indian actresses to win that category for a Tamil film. When her career as a leading lady ended in the 1980s, she started playing supporting roles as a mother and later as grandmother. She played

Aishwarya Rai Aishwarya Rai Bachchan ( Rai; born 1 November 1973) is an Indian actress who is primarily known for her work in Hindi and Tamil films. The winner of the Miss World 1994 pageant, she has established herself as one of the most popular celebriti ...

's grandmother in the

musical blockbuster film, '' Jeans'' (1998) and

Kareena Kapoor Kareena Kapoor Khan (; '' née'' Kapoor; born 21 September 1980) is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi films. She is the daughter of actors Randhir Kapoor and Babita, and the younger sister of actress Karisma Kapoor. Noted for playing a va ...

's grandmother in the hit film, '' Hulchul'' (2004). She has performed in more than 400 films and has also been involved in politics. Under

K. Balachander Kailasam Balachander (9 July 1930 – 23 December 2014) was an Indian film maker and playwright who worked mainly in the Tamil cinema. He was well known for his distinct film-making style, and the Indian film industry knew him as a master of un ...

's supervision, she made her directorial debut with a remake of '' Yours, Mine and Ours'': the

film ''

Makkala Sainya ''Mazhalai Pattalam'' () is a 1980 Indian Tamil-language children's film simultaneously filmed in Kannada as ''Makkala Sainya'' (). The directorial debut of Lakshmi, it stars Vishnuvardhan and Sumithra. The story is based on the 1968 film '' Y ...

'' (1980 Tamil version ''Mazhalai Pattalam''). Lakshmi is fluent in all four South Indian languages. She took a break from acting to host two talk shows, including the Tamil talk show ''Achamillai, Achamillai''.She hosted a talk show in

for Suvarna channel called ''Idu Kathe Alla Jeevana''. She also hosts a talk show in Tamil for Vijay TV called ''Kadhai Alla Nijam''. She has hosted a talk show in

for Suvarna channel called ''Neena? Naana?'' After the shows ended, she returned to act in films. Currently she is on the judges' panel for the Malayalam reality show ''Champions'' on Surya TV. She is also a judge for a

reality show called '' Drama Juniors'' on

Zee Kannada Zee Kannada is an Indian Kannada pay television GEC that was launched in the year 2006 and owned by Zee Entertainment Enterprises. It is also being as the first mainstream satellite channel in Kannada. History Zee Kannada was launched in 2006 ...

. She has overall appeared in precisely 333 films- 128 in

, 76 in

, 65 in

, 58 in

and just 6 in

Personal life

Her first marriage was to Bhaskar in 1969, who worked with an insurance organization. The couple have only one biological daughter, actress

Aishwarya Aishwarya (Devanagari : ''ऐश्वर्य'') is a Hindu Indian or Nepalese male or feminine given name, which means "prosperity" and "wealth". Notable people named Aishwarya * Aishwariyaa Bhaskaran (born 1971), Indian actress * Aishwar ...

, born in 1971. However, Lakshmi divorced Bhaskar in 1974. Her second marriage was with her co-star

Mohan Sharma Mohan Sharma is an Indian film and television actor, film producer, director and screenwriter, who works in South Indian films. He has produced more than 15 films in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil and Kannada. He became noted through his role in '' C ...

on the sets of '' Chattakari'' and married him in 1975, but it ended in divorce in 1980. While she was shooting ''

En Uyir Kannamma ''En Uyir Kannamma'' () is a 1988 Indian Tamil language film, the directorial debut of Sivachandran. The film stars Prabhu, Radha, Lakshmi and S. S. Chandran. The film had musical score by Ilaiyaraaja, and was released on 15 January 1988. Plot ...

'' (1988), she and actor-director M. Sivachandran fell in love and got married in 1987. The couple adopted a girl named Samyuktha in 2000.

Awards

National Film Awards

* 1977 –

for '' Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal''

Filmfare Awards The Filmfare Awards are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Hindi-language film industry of India.Al The Filmfare ceremony is one of the most famous film events in India. The awards were first introduced by th ...

* 1976 –

Filmfare Award for Best Actress The Filmfare Award for Best Actress is given by ''Filmfare'' as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Bollywood, Hindi films, to recognise the female actor who has delivered an outstanding performance in a leading role. The award was first gi ...

for ''

Filmfare Awards South Filmfare Awards South is the South Indian segment of the annual Filmfare Awards, presented by the Filmfare magazine of The Times Group to honour both artistic and technical excellence of professionals in the Indian film industry encompassing ...

* 1974 –

Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actress ''Filmfare'' is an Indian English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, an ...

for ''

Dikkatra Parvathi ''Dikkatra Parvathi'' is a 1974 Tamil language film directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao based on a novel by the same name written by C. Rajagopalachari (Rajaji). The film stars Srikanth and Lakshmi. It won the National Film Award for Best Feature ...

'' * 1974 –

Filmfare Award for Best Malayalam Actress ''Filmfare'' is an Indian English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, an ...

for '' Chattakari''https://books.google.com/books?ei=o6TSTZTZENHOrQf55YWmCQ&ct=result&id=kh–2AAAAIAAJ&dq=gnana+oli&q=chattakari#search_anchor * 1975 – Filmfare Award for Best Malayalam Actress for ''

'' * 1976 – Filmfare Award for Best Malayalam Actress for ''

'' * 1978 - Filmfare Special Jury Award for ''

Panthulamma ''Pantulamma'' is a 1978 Indian Telugu-language drama film directed by Singeetam Srinivasa Rao. The film won four Nandi Awards & one Filmfare Award. The song ''Sirimalle Neeve'' was borrowed from music director's own composition ''Baanallu Neen ...

'' * 1983 – Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actress for ''Unmaigal'' * 1986 –

Filmfare Award for Best Telugu Actress ''Filmfare'' is an Indian English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, an ...

for ''Sravana Meghalu'' * 1993 –

Filmfare Award for Best Kannada Actress ''Filmfare'' is an Indian English-language fortnightly magazine published by Worldwide Media. Acknowledged as one of Indian most popular entertainment magazines, it publishes pieces involving news, interviews, photos, videos, reviews, events, an ...

for ''

'' * 1998 –

Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award (South) The Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award, initially named Raj Kapoor Award for Lifetime Achievement after Raj Kapoor is given by the ''Filmfare'' magazine as part of its annual Filmfare Awards for Hindi films. List of honourees † - Indicates t ...

Cinema Express Awards Cinema Express Awards are presented annually by Indian Express Group on behalf of Cinema Express film magazine to honour artistic excellence of professionals in the south Indian film industry which comprises Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam ...

* 1986 – Cinema Express Award for Best Actress – Tamil for ''

Samsaram Adhu Minsaram ''Samsaram Adhu Minsaram'' () is a 1986 Indian Tamil-language drama film produced by AVM Productions, and written and directed by Visu. He also stars as part of an ensemble cast including Lakshmi, Chandrasekhar, Kishmu, Raghuvaran, Delhi Ga ...

'' ;

Best Actress Best Actress is the name of an award which is presented by various film, television and theatre organisations, festivals, and people's awards to leading actresses in a film, television series, television film or play. The first Best Actress aw ...

- ''Panthulamma'' (1977) * Best Actress - ''Sravana Meghalu'' (1986) * Best Character Actress - '' Murari'' (2001) * Special Jury Award - '' Mithunam'' (2012)

Karnataka State Film Awards

* 1993 –

for ''

'' * 2008 – Best Supporting Actress for '' Vamshi'' * 2017 –

Dr. Rajkumar Award This is a list of winners of the Karnataka State's Dr. Rajkumar Award. Rajkumar was one of Kannada cinema Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictu ...

(Highest honor in the

Kannada Film Industry Kannada cinema, also known as Sandalwood, or Chandanavana, is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Kannada language widely spoken in the state of Karnataka. The 1934 film '' Sati Sulochana'' directe ...

Tamil Nadu State Film Awards Tamil Nadu State Film Awards were given for excellence in Tamil cinema in India. They were given annually to honour the best talents and provide encouragement and incentive to the South Indian film industry by the Government of Tamil Nadu. The aw ...

* 1978 –

Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actress The Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actress is given by the state government as part of its annual Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for Tamil (Kollywood) films. The awards were first given in 1967 and discontinued after 1970. The awards were giv ...

for ''Oru Nadigai Naatakam Paarkiraal''

Kerala State Film Awards

* 1974 –

for ''Chattakari''

Bengal Film Journalists Association Awards Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards commonly referred as BFJA Awards, is given by The Bengal Film Journalists' Association. The BFJA is the oldest association of film critics in India, founded in 1937 to serve the developing film journalism ...

* 1975 - Most outstanding work of the year for ''

South India International Movie Awards

* 2021 – SIIMA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for ''Oh! Baby''

Notable filmography

Tamil

Telugu

Malayalam

Kannada

Hindi

TV Serials

* Adutha Veetu Kavithai * Nallathor Veenai * Mahalakshmi

TV shows

Kannadada Kotyadhipati ''Kannadada Kotyadhipati'' ( kn, ಕನ್ನಡದ ಕೋಟ್ಯಧಿಪತಿ, , Kannada's Crorepati) is an Indian Kannada language quiz game show, produced by BIG Synergy. Background After a series of fresh ideas in reality and fiction ...

as Contestant *Kadhai Alla Nijam reality show in Vijay TV * Neena Naana as Host * Champions as Judge * Drama Juniors as Judge * Kathe alla jeevana Kannada Reality show

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lakshmi 1952 births Living people Kerala State Film Award winners Indian film actresses Actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses from Chennai Best Actress National Film Award winners Actresses in Tamil cinema Actresses in Kannada cinema Tamil Nadu State Film Awards winners Filmfare Awards South winners 20th-century Indian actresses 21st-century Indian actresses Nandi Award winners Actresses in Tamil television Television personalities from Tamil Nadu Filmfare Awards winners Recipients of the Rajyotsava Award 2016 Telugu people South Indian International Movie Awards winners