B. V. Radha

B. V. Radha Biography

Bangalore Vijaya Radha, popularly known by the name, B. V. Radha is a veteran film actress, theatre artist and trained Bharatnatyam dancer who performs in India and abroad. She is married to film director K. S. L. Swame (Ravee). She has acted in Kannada, Tulu, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Hindi films. Radha has acted in over 250 Kannada films, 30 Tamil, 25 Telugu, 10 Malayalam and 2 Hindi films. She is also involved in social activities who performs marriages for the poor who cannot afford it. Radha is also actively involved in theatre and her troupe, Natavranda. She is a film producer also and has won National awards. Radharavee Chitra is her production house.

B. V. Radha was born as Rajalakshmi in August 1948 into a family of farmers. Her dream was to join the entertainment industry. But she had to face opposition from her own family. Radha defied her family and quit school to join films. Navakoti Narayana was her debut movie and after this movie, she got the name, Bangalore Vijaya Radha and came to be known as B. V. Radha. Throughout her career she got opportunity to work with top production studios of the south, AVM Studios, ALS Productions and Padmini Pictures and she worked with leading actors of 1960’s and 1970’s. Sivaji Ganesan, N.T. Rama Rao, Gemini Ganesan, A. Nageshwara Rao, Jaishankar and Dr. Rajkumar are a few among those names.

As a film producer, Radha has done 5 movies till now - Mathe Vasantha, Shubha Mangala and Mavano Aliyano are her noted works. She won President’s Swarna Kamal for Jamboo Savaari and Rajath Kamal for Harakeya Kuri (1993) as co-producer. Her theatre troupe is Natavranda. Ganga-Thunga is her most popular play which has staged over 5,000 shows in the past 15 years.

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Updated: April 03, 2014