Garikapati Varalakshmi

Garikapati Varalakshmi Biography

Garikapati Varalakshmi, shortly called G. Varalakshmi was a noted singing actress of south Indian cinema. She was also known as a stage artist and director. Kula Gotralu, Kanna Talli and Pelli Chesi Choodu are her noted film roles. Her arrogant roles of Drohi and Letha Manasulu are also well remembered. She was active in the era of 1940s and 1950s, and has worked with all leading actors of the time. She was associated with Tamil and Telugu films. She also had a brief stint in politics, in association with M. G. Ramachandran. She passed away in 2006. She was married to filmmaker, K. S. Prakash Rao.

G. Varalakshmi was born on 13 September 1926 in Ongole, Andhra Pradesh. She had great passion to stage plays since a child. Later she ran from home at the age of only 11 to appear in a stage play at Vijayawada. Later she got opportunity to work with Thungala Chalapathi and Dasari Kotiratnam for numerous stage plays. Sakkubai and Rangoon Rowdy are her noted roles on stage.

Barrister Parvatheesam and Bondam Pelli released in 1940 was her debut film role. The movies were produced by Raghupathy Prakash and H. M. Reddy respectively and released in 2-in-1 format. She was only 14 when she debut the celluloid as female lead. Actually she was spotted director Prakash while she was performing for the play – Sakkubai. She was given a screen test for the role and once selected she was also given two songs. Thus she made her debut as a singing actress.

The movie was followed by Dakshayagnam and Bhakta Prahlada, and she moved to Mumbai to pursue a career in playback singing. She worked as a chorus singer with Naushad and as she couldn’t gain success she returned to Chennai in 1946. Very soon she settled with her married life.  The couple produced and acted in the movie – Drohi. Moogajeevulu was her single directorial venture.

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Updated: March 27, 2016