Srividya

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Srividya

Born	1953 July 24 Chennai, Tamil Nadu,India
Died	2006 October 19 Trivandrum, Kerala

Srividya was a leading South Indian Film actress of the 1970's, 1980's, 1990's and early 2000's. She was also a good singer. In the later stages of her career, she became focussed in malayalam films. Her brilliant portrayal of the mother character in many films were highly acclaimed. Sreedevi's personal life was full of tregedies. She fought against all odds with dedication in her work and deep faith in god, till she fell to a fatal breast cancer.

1 Early Life
2 Early Career
3 Career & Life
4 Later Life
5 Death
6 Filmography
7 External links

[edit] Early Life

Srividya was born on 24 July 1953 at Madras, Tamil Nadu, India to Tamil film comedian Krishnamurthy and Carnatic classical singer M. L. Vasanthakumari. She had a brother: Sankararaman. Her father had to stop acting in the year she was born because of a disease which affected facial muscles.[1]Her family fell to financial crisis. Her mothet had to toughen her schedules so as to meet the financial requirements of the family. Srividya once reportedly said that her mother didn't even had time to brest feed her.[2]Srividya debuted in acting very early in age. When her parents started to quarrel about money, Srividya's youth became miserable. She got a marriage proposal from a scientist based in the USA, but the marraige was not to happen due to financil problems.[3]

[edit] Early Career

Srividya launched her career in malayalam films with a dance scene in Kumarasambhavam , directed by P. Subramanyan. She became heroine in the film Chattambikkavala opposite Sathyan. She became noticed with Chenda directed by Vincent.

[edit] Career & Life

In mid-1970's she became busy in Tamil film industry. She acted in films like Sollathan Ninakkiren and Apoorva Raagangal, both directed by K. Balachander. The film Apoorva Raagangal(1975), in which she acted opposite the then-rising stars and now superstars of Tamil films, Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan, virtualy changed her life. In the film she acted as the wife of Rajinikanth and as the lover of Kamal Haasan. She fell in love with Kamal Haasan during the making of the film. They had the support of their families, but they broke-up. Later she fell in love with George Thomas, an assistant director in her malayalam film Teekkanal.[4] She got married to him on 1978 January 9, fighting the opposition from her family. As George wished, she baptised before she got married. She wanted to stay as a housewife, but had to come back to acting, when George forced her to, citing financial issues. She soon realised that she made a wrong decision of marrying him. Her family life became miserable and the marriage ended up in divorce. It was followed by a prolonged legal battle to settle financil issues between the two. The case went upto the Supreme Court of India, and she had the final decision in favour of her.[5] After the divorce, she left Chennai and came to Trivandrum.

Srividya was a good singer as well. She first sang for films in the malayalam film Ayalathe Sundari. She later sang in several films like Oru Painkilikkadha and Nakshathra tharattu. She was an expert classical vocalist as well. She used to sing in several functions like the Soorya Festival.

[edit] Later Life

Srividya's later carrer was marked with her signature mother roles.The most notable of them arguably was in Thalapathi(1991), directed by Manirathnam, in which she acted as the mother of Rajinikanth, who acted as her husband in Apoorva Raagangal(1975). In October 31, 1990 Srividya's mother M. L. Vasanthakumari deceased which gave a big mental blow to her. She later started to act in malayalam and Tamil TV serials. She was part of superhit malayalam serils like Swapnam. [6]

[edit] Death

In 2003, she underwent a biopsy test following physical problems and was tested positive for breast cancer. She underwent treatment for three years. In October 2006, she underwent chemotherapy, but cancer was spread throughout her body. Atlast on 19 October 2006 at 7:55 pm she died.[7]