K. R. Vijaya

K. R. Vijaya Biography

K. R. Vijaya is a former leading heroine of south Indian movies. She has been one of the leading heroines of south Indian cinema during 1960’s and 1970’s and later moved to mother and grandmother roles. This veteran actress has been a part of south Indian industry for more than five decades now and has worked with almost all artists of the industry. She is still active in the industry and most recently in 2013 she received Kerala Film Critics Association Awards for the movie, Chalachitra Rathnam. She received Second Best Actress in Kerala state awards for the year 1984. The movie was Ithiripoove Chuvannapoove. Since mid-1990’s, she has been active in Tamil television industry.

She was born in Thrissur, Kerala in the year 1947. Her mother was a Keralite and her father belonged to Andhra Pradesh. Her childhood days were spent in Palani, Tamil Nadu. Her family lived in poverty during early days. Her father was a stage actor of M. K. Radha's drama troupe. Her sisters - K. R. Savithri and K. R. Vatsala have been successful stage actresses. Her nieces, Anusha and Swati are former film actresses. Tamil movie – Karpagam released in 1963 marked her big screen debut in lead role. She received the role through actor Gemini Ganesan who happened to watch her one television dance show staged in Chennai. As promised she received the role in his next movie. She was casted in lead role opposite Ganesan. The movie was a commercial hit and very soon she received many roles from the industry.

She received the title `Punnagai Arasi' in 1973. She is known for portraying mother roles in most of her movies, beginning with ‘Dheergasumangali’. She has done nearly 400 films in all the South Indian languages with 100 movies each in Telugu and Malayalam and she has also appeared in one Hindi movie, Oonche Log co-starring Raj Kumar and Feroz Khan. Among her Malayalam movies, her lead role based on Thoppil Basi’s play, “Odayil Ninnu”, needs special mention. Karpagam, Selvam, Saraswathi Sabadham, Nenchirukkum Varai, Namma Veetu Theivam, Idhayakamalam, Thangapathakkam, Thirusoolam and Dheergasumangali are her noted works.

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Updated: March 07, 2015