Lakshmi

Biography

One of the most successful actresses of South Indian cinema, Lakshmi was born into a family of artists. Her father, Yaragudipati Varada Rao, was a veteran Telugu filmmaker, her mother, Kumari Rukmini, was a Tamil actress, while her grandmother, Nungambakkam, was also an actress.

 Lakshmi was only nine when she made her first screen appearance in 1961 in the Tamil movie Sri Valli. Seven years later, she made her lead role debut with the Tamil movie Jeevanaamsam (1968) and went on to establish herself as a top-notch actress across Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada movies. 

Throughout her career, the actress has received several awards for her contribution to cinema, including the National Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in the movie Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal (1977). 

She also made a remarkable start in the Hindi film industry with the blockbuster movie Julie (1975) for which she won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress.

In 1969, Lakshmi married Bhaskar, who worked with an insurance company. Their daughter Aishwarya, who is also an actress, was born in 1971. However, she soon got separated from Bhaskar and married the actor Mohan Sharma in 1975.

 Unfortunately, her marriage with Mohan lasted for just five years and the couple got divorced in 1980. It was almost a decade later that Lakshmi got married for the third time to actor-director K.S. Sivachandran. 

The couple, apparently, fell in love while they were shooting the movie En Uyir Kannamma and got married in 1989. The couple adopted a girl in 2000 and named her Samyuktha.

Towards the end of the `80s, after successfully appearing as the leading lady in many hit movies, Lakshmi started signing supporting roles. However, in 1993, she essayed the lead character of a woman who is forced into prostitution in the Kannada drama movie Hoovu Hannu directed by S.V Rajendra Singh Babu.

 For her performance, Lakshmi won two awards - the Filmfare Award for Best Kannada Actress and the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress. The veteran actress, years later, proved that she could play supporting roles with equal brilliance with the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the 2008 Kannada movie Vamshi.

 Post-2000, Lakshmi appeared in a handful of Tamil movies such as Dhaya (2002), Vel (2007), Unnaipol Oruvan (2009), and Moone Moonu Varthai (2015). While her Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam film credits include Pramani (2010), Midhunam (2012), Ormayundo Ee Mukkham (2014), Sharp Shooter (2015), Eradane Sala (2017), Oh Baby (2019) and Gang Leader (2019).

Lakshmi had also taken a break from the silver screen and hosted several talk shows including the Tamil language show Achamillai, Achamillai. The actress also hosted the Kannada language shows Idu Kathe Alla Jeevana and Neena?Naana?