Baby Sumathi

Baby Sumathi Biography

Baby Sumathi is a popular face of south Indian cinema in the 1970s. She has been a popular child artist who gave life to numerous roles throughout 1970s. Many popular songs sung by Ambili were pictured on this artist, the most notable one being ‘Thedi Varum Kannukalil’ of Swami Ayyappan. She has also appeared in one Bollywood movie - Swarg Narak in 1978, apart from numerous Malayalam and Tamil roles. She was active in the industry till her marriage in 1989 and later got settled abroad. Sumathi is a three-time winner Kerala State Film Award for Best Child Artist – Nadhi (1969), 1972 for various films and Sanghupushpam (1977).

Sumathi was born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu in 1964 to parents speaking Saurashtra. She started her film career at the age of 2. Her father ran several businesses and her mother was a homemaker, who took care of 11 children including Sumathi. Her elder brother Master Prabhakar was the first one to appear on big screen and very soon Sumathi, along with a few sisters and one cousin too followed his footsteps. When the family shifted to Chennai, Sumathi got her first offer in the late 1960s for a Malayalam movie, where she played the daughter of Bharat Gopi.

However Prem Nazir starrer ‘Nadi’ was her first memorable role for which she received state award. In fact, her drowning in river water is a heart breaking scene which Malayalam audience has never forgotten even after 45 years! Very soon she became a busy star of Malayalam, and Swamy Ayyappan and Sethu Bandhanam worth mentioning. Sumathi later became heroine and also dubbed for several artists. She was the first heroine of Bhagyaraj movies in 1979. But she was often stereotyped as a village girl. Many of her cousins worked in film world in various fields.

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Updated: November 29, 2015