Yesteryear actress Vyjayanthimala ruled Bollywood for almost two decades. Along with being an ace actress, Vyjayanthimala is also a trained Bharatnatyam dancer, a Carnatic singer and a dance choreographer.
Vyjayanthimala was born to actress and dancer Vasundhara Devi in a Tamil-speaking family in Chennai, India, on August 13, 1936. At the age of 4, she got the rare chance of performing a dance before the Pope. Vyjayanthimala made her screen debut at the age of 16 through the Tamil film Vazhkai (1949) and Telugu film Jeevitham in 1950 and acted in Bollywood movies Bahar and Ladki. Following the success of Nagin, Vyjayanthimala established herself as one of Bollywood's leading actresses while making in-roads in successful Tamil and Telugu films. After successfully establishing herself as a commercial actress, Vyjayanthimala appeared in Devdas playing Chandramukhi, the hooker with a heart of gold, in 1955. Following that, Vyjayanthimala appeared in series of blockbuster films such as New Delhi, Naya Daur and Aasha. She reached the pinnacle of her success in 1958, when two of her films — Sadhna and Madhumati — became huge critical and commercial hits. She was nominated for two Filmfare Award for Best Actress Award for Sadhna and Madhumati and won the award for the former.
At this point, Vyjayanthimala made comeback to the Tamil films, where she tasted commercial success with Vanjikottai Valiban, Irumbu Thirai, Baghdad Thirudan and Then Nilavu. In 1961, the release of Dilip Kumar's Ganga Jumna saw her playing a rustic village belle Dhanno who speaks Bhojpuri dialect. Critics applauded her performance with some labeled it as her best till date. She won her second Filmfare Award for Best Actress for her role in Ganga Jumna. Beginning from 1962, most of her films performed either averagely or poorly at the box office. However, in 1964, with the success of Sangam her career hits the peak again. She reinvented herself playing a modern Indian girl appearing in revealing costumes and one-piece swimsuit. She went to receive her third Best Actress Award at the 12th Filmfare Awards for her role as Radha in Sangam. She later achieved critical acclaim for her performance in the historical drama Amrapali, which was based on the life of Nagarvadhu (royal courtesan) of Vaishali, Amrapali. The film received universal acclaim, but it was a huge box office failure, which left Vyjayanthimala, who had a huge expectation on the film, disenchanted to the point where she decided to quit films. In the end of her career Vyjayanthimala was mostly seen in commercially successful films such as Suraj, Jewel Thief and Prince with few critically acclaimed films such as Hatey Bazarey and Sunghursh. Most of them were released after Vyjayanthimala had left the film industry.
Her career spanned from 1949 through to 1989. She has received a total of five awards for her performances in 'Devdas', 'Sadhna', 'Ganga Jamuna', and 'Sangam', as well as a lifetime achievement award during 1995. Her dance numbers, such as 'Hothon Pe Aisi Baat Main Dabake Chali Aai...', 'Man Doley Mera Tan Doley...'; 'Chad Gaiyo Paapi Bichua...'; 'Main Ka Karu Ram Mujhey Buddha Mil Gaya' continue to be popular even today. She also paved the way for other South Indian actresses, like Hema Malini, Rekha, Sridevi, etc. to make a transition to Bollywood.
She married Raj Kapoor's personal physician, Dr. Chamanlal Bali after he divorced his first wife and re-located to Chennai, where she gave birth to a son, actor Suchindra Bali. After the passing of her husband, she now resides in Chennai.
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