A trained Bharatanatyam dancer, Padmini—the middle sister of the famous trio Lalitha-Padmini-Ragini—was an accomplished actress, who found a place in the hearts of movie fans, acting in over 250 Indian films. She acted in films of other languages including Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi as well, but her greatest popularity was as an actress and dancer of Tamil cinema and most of her films were in Tamil.
Illustration by V Vijayakumar
Padmini was born to Thankappan Pillai and Saraswathi Amma on 12 June 1932 at Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), then the princely state of Travancore (now the Indian state of Kerala). Padmini’s elder sister, Lalitha, and younger sister, Ragini, were also talented actresses and dancers. The three were known as the Travancore sisters. Today’s renowned Malayalam actress-dancer Shobana is her brother Chandrashekar’s daughter. Her cousins Sukumari and Ambika, and her husband’s brother’s son, Vineeth are also well known names in the south Indian film world.
Padmini started taking lessons in dance from Guru Gopinath and later from T M Mahalingam Pillai, joining a dance troupe at age ten. Film director Subrahmaniam noticed her talents while she was
presenting “Parijatha Pushpapaharanam”, in Trivandrum.
The legendary dancer Uday Shanker, on seeing her performance, invited her to act in the film he was making. In the 1940s, 17-year-old Padmini became the heroine of the Hindi film “Kalpana”. This was her first film role, the beginning of a distinguished acting career.
Padmini acted with most of the well-known actors of the time, including Sivaji Ganesan, M G Ramachandran, Raj Kapoor, Prem Nazir, Dev Anand, Rajkumar and Gemini Ganesan. Her Tamil film Manamagal, directed by comedian N S Krishnan, was a huge hit. This was followed by Thooku Thooki, which saw the Travancore sisters dance to the hit song “Sundari Soundari”. Her first film with Sivaji Ganesan was Panam, the start of a partnership that saw Sivaji and Padmini star together in over 50 films. Thillana Mohanambal in Tamil was arguably their most famous film together; in it, she played a dancer pitted against a nagaswara vidwan.
The highlight of Gemini Studios’ “Vanjikottai Valiban,” was an enthralling dance duel between Padmini and Vyjayanthimala, regarded as one of the best dance sequences in Indian cinema. One of Padmini’s finest Tamil movies, a major box-office success was “Thangapadhumai”, a brilliant adaptation of the Kannagi epic by A S A Sami who directed the film. Her spirited delivery of jaw-breaking lines was a masterpiece of dialogue delivery. Some of her other noted Tamil films include Anbu, Vietnam Veedu, Ethir Parathadhu, Mangayar Thilakam and Poove Poochudava. Some of her popular Malayalam films include Prasanna, Snehaseema, Vivaahitha, Adhyaapika, Kumaarasambhavam, Nokkethadoorath Kannumnatt, Vasthuhara, and Dolar. Mera Naam Joker and Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai, the most popular of her Hindi films, were done with renowned filmmaker Raj Kapoor. Her other Bollywood films included Payal, Pardesi and Mahabharat to name a few.
Padmini was acclaimed for her linguistic ability. She dubbed her own voice in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi
Kanada and Malayalam movies. She ruled the Tamil film world for over three decades with rare charm and great beauty.
In 1970, nine years after her marriage, she moved with her husband, Dr K T Ramachandran to Hillsdale, New Jersey, USA, after acting in over 250 movies in several Indian languages. Their only son Premanand is an official with the Warner Brothers, and lives in the United States.
In 1977, Padmini started a dance academy, the Padmini School of Fine Arts with four students in her home. Soon the school had five branches in New Jersey and New York. It is today one of the largest Indian classical dance institutions in America.
Padmini won the best actress award from the Film Fans Association in 1954, 1959, 1961 and 1966. She was adjudged the best classical dancer and bagged the best classical dancer award at the Moscow Youth Festival in 1957. She received the Kalaimamani award from the Tamil Nadu Government in 1958 and the Filmfare best actress award for her performance in Fazil’s Poove Poochudava in 1985. The Government of the former Soviet Union released a postage stamp to honour her acting and dancing skills. During the Indo-Pakistan war in 1965, she went to the war front and performed for the Indian soldiers.
Padmini performed at the Rashtrapati Bhavan, New Delhi, and in the presence of great personalities including Queen Elizabeth, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Patel, Babu Rajendra Prasad, Dr S Radhakrishnan, Lady Mountbatten and Premier Bulganin of Russia.
Padmini died of a heart attack in Chennai on 24 September 2006. Full of warmth, love and affection for all, she was a rare human being.
Vanjikottai Valiban, Panam, Raja Rani, Chithi, Vietnam Veedu, Iru Malargal, Poove Poochudava, Gurudakshinai, Punar Janmam, Amara Deepam, Thaikku Oru Thaalattu, Mannadhi Mannan, Thillana Mohanambal, Saraswathi Sabatham, Paaladai, Pesum Deivam, Kuzhandaikkaga, Rickshawkkaran, Kan Kanda Deivam, Deiva Piravi, Kulama Gunama, Thiruvarut Chelvar