Lalitha (actress)

Lalitha (actress) Biography

Lalitha was a south Indian film actress and dancer, best known as one among the famous ‘Travancore Sisters’, the rest two being Padmini and Ragini. The sister trio earned fame as film actresses as well as Bharatanatyam dancers. Lalitha was the eldest among three. Popular actress Sukumari was her cousin, while she was an aunt to the famous dancer-actors, Shobana and Vineeth. Actor Krishna also belongs to their family, and is Lalitha’s grandson. Lalitha lived during the period 1930 – 1982, and was the second one to go. She died at the age of 51 in Alappuzha. Her younger sister Ragini passed away in 1976, aged only 39.

Her full name is Lalithambika. She was born to Gopala Pillai and Saraswathiyamma on 16 December 1930 at Thiruvananthapuram. She had two younger sisters - Padmini and Ragini, and one younger brother, Chandran. Actress Sukumari was her maternal cousin. As the three sisters were born and brought up in old Travancore, and earned fame and recognition in the same field of art at the same point of time, they were commonly addressed as ‘Travancore Sisters’. Apart from their performance on stage, they worked almost at the same time in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films.

The Travancore Sisters grew up in a joint family 'Malaya Cottage' in Poojappura, Thiruvananthapuram. They were the disciples of Guru Gopinath and Vazhuvoor B. Ramaiah Pillai. The famous beauty Narayani Pillai Kunjamma was their aunt. Since young, the sisters performed on stage. They also learnt Kathakali and Kerala Nadanam dance forms. The sisters were invited to Chennai by the acclaimed dancer Uday Shankar to act in a film based on dance forms. The film was titled Kalpana (1948), where the sisters appeared as dancer. It was the only film directed by Uday Shankar.

Lalitha started her film journey in the late 1940s, working in south Indian films. Kannika (Tamil - 1947) and Vellinakshathram (Malayalam - 1949) were her early releases, and debut films in respective languages. She marked her Telugu film debut with Ammalakkalu (1953). In the 1950s she was fully active in movies, but later moved to stage performances. As an actress, she gained success through vamp roles.

Published: September 19, 2018

Updated: September 19, 2018