Ragini (actress)

Ragini (actress) Biography

Ragini was a south Indian film actress and dancer, best known as one among the famous ‘Travancore Sisters’, the rest two being Padmini and Lalitha. The sister trio earned fame as film actresses as well as Bharatanatyam dancers. Lalitha was the eldest among three, and Ragini – the youngest. 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. Ragini lived during the period 1937–1976, and was the first one to go despite being the youngest. She passed away in 1976, aged only 39. She died of cancer.

She was born to Gopala Pillai and Saraswathiyamma on 27 March 1937 at Thiruvananthapuram. She had two elder sisters – Lalitha and Padmini, and one brother, Chandran. Actress Sukumari was her maternal cousin. The famous beauty Narayani Pillai Kunjamma was their aunt. She was married to Madhavan Thampi and the couple had two daughters. Ambika Sukumaran, Malayalam actress of yesterdays is a close relative of the Travancore Sisters.

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. 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.

Among the Travancore sisters, Padmini and Ragini had a successful run in Bollywood movies. In fact they worked in a few movies together, in Hindi and other south Indian languages. Like her sister, Ragini also played lead role in many Hindi movies of classic era, apart from a few parallel lead and supporting roles. Gehra Daag, Aadhi Raat Ke Baad, Pyaar Kiye Jaa, Shikari, Kalpana, Amar Deep, Qaidi etc are among her noted works in Bollywood. She has also appeared in Bengali and Sinhala movies.

In Malayalam she is best known for her lead role in classic movies - Bharya opposite Sathyan and Unniyarcha opposite Prem Nazir. Sabarimala Ayyappan, Kaalpadukal, Vidhi Thanna Vilakku, Palattu Koman, School Master, Puthiya Akasam Puthiya Bhoomi, Nithya Kanyaka etc.

Published: September 17, 2018

Updated: September 17, 2018