Gopishantha, better known by her stage name Manorama, also called Aachi, was an Indian actress, playback singer and comedian who had appeared in more than 1000 films and 5000 stage performances and several television series predomninantely in the Tamil language Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Sinhala until 2015. She was a recipient of the Kalaimamani award. In 2002, Government of India awarded Manorama the Padma Shri for her contribution to the arts. She received the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the film Pudhiya Padhai (1989) and Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award – South (1995).
Bangalore Saroja Devi is an Indian actress who has acted in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi films. She acted in around 200 films over seven decades. She is known by the epithets "Abhinaya Saraswathi" in Kannada and "Kannadathu Paingili" in Tamil. She is one of the most successful actresses in the history of Indian cinema.
Jaishankar was an Indian actor known for his work in Tamil cinema. He was a notable lead actor in the 1960s and 70s, who was credited onscreen with title of Makkal Kalaingnar or Makkal Thamizhan in most of the films starring him. He was also referred to as Thennakathu James Bond because of his roles in films such as Vallavan Oruvan and CID Shankar.
P. Bhanumathi Ramakrishna was an Indian actress, singer, film producer, director, music composer, and novelist. She is regarded as the first female super star of Telugu cinema. She is also considered the first female director of Telugu cinema with her debut directorial Chandirani (1953). Bhanumathi appeared in over 100 films predominantly in Telugu and Tamil languages. She was awarded the Padma Bhushan in 2001 for her contribution to the Indian cinema. She was honored among "women in cinema" at the 30th International Film Festival of India.
Shweta Konnur Menon, known by her stage name Malavika, is an Indian actress who predominantly appears in Tamil films and a few Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam films in the late 90s and early 2000s.
Padmapriya was an Indian actress who worked in Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films. Her first movie was in Telugu, Adapillala Tandri (1974). In Kannada, she debuted with Bangarada Gudi (1976) and was a popular actress during the late 1970s. She has the distinction of having acted opposite the legendary Dr. Rajkumar in three successive hit movies in a single year (1978) - Operation Diamond Racket, Thayige Thakka Maga and Shankar Guru. She starred opposite Anant Nag in the comedy Narada Vijaya and the novel-based Baadada Hoo and both were highly successful. She acted in four to five movies with Dr. Vishnuvardhan, and played glamorous roles. Srinath, Ashok and Lokesh were her other costars in Kannada movies.
Srividya, was an Indian actress best known for her work predominantly in Malayalam and Tamil films, along with few Telugu, Kannada and Hindi films. In a career spanning for 40 years, she had acted in more than 800 films. In the latter part of her career, she concentrated on Malayalam films. In addition to acting, Srividya occasionally worked as a playback singer as well as carnatic singer. She was also a well trained Bharathanatyam dancer. She was best known for restraint and subtlety in portrayal of varied emotions. She used her own voice for dubbing almost in all movies in all languages. She died in 2006 after battling metastatic breast cancer.
Vijayasri was an Indian actress who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema in the 1970s. She acted in many movies opposite Prem Nazir and have also worked in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Kannada films.
Vinayagar Sundar Vel, known professionally as Sundar C., is an Indian film director, actor and producer. He has directed over 34 films in Tamil and acted in 17 movies as the protagonist. He remains one of the successful and most wanted director in the Industry for the last 3 decades.
Anjali Devi was an Indian actress, model and producer in Telugu and Tamil films. She was well known for her role as the Devi Sita in Lava Kusa as well as for the title roles in movies like Chenchu Lakshmi, Suvarna Sundari and Anarkali.
Saridey Varalakshmi was an Indian actress and singer who worked in Telugu and Tamil-language films. She was popular for her roles and songs in Telugu films like Sri Venkateswara Mahatyam (1960) and Mahamantri Timmarasu (1962) and Tamil films like Veerapandiya Kattabomman (1959) and in Poova Thalaiya (1969).
Vasundhara Devi, known by her stage name Kanchana, is an Indian actress who worked in Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada films, in addition to Malayalam and Hindi films.
Sankaramanchi Janaki, widely known as Sowcar Janaki, is an Indian actress known for her works primarily in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada language films. Janaki has appeared in close to over 390, films, predominantly in Telugu,. She also performed on stage in over 300 shows and was a radio artist during her earlier years. She is the recipient of two Nandi Awards, Kalaimamani and India's fourth-highest civilian award Padma Shri. Her younger sister Krishna Kumari, is also a noted actress.
Sedapatti Suryanarayana Rajendran, also known by his initials SSR, was an Indian actor, director, producer and politician who worked in Tamil theatre and cinema.
Srikanth was an Indian actor who has performed in around 200 Tamil films since his debut in 1965. He is also referred to as Venniradai Srikanth. He has played the lead hero in around 50 films between 1965 and 1979 and has also played supporting roles in films with actors Sivaji Ganesan, Muthuraman, Ravichandran and Jaishankar in the lead roles. In the late seventies to early nineties, he appeared as a villain opposite actors including Sivakumar, Rajinikanth and Kamal Haasan.
Divya Venkatasubramaniam, better known by her stage name Kaniha, is an Indian actress who predominantly works in Malayalam cinema along with a few Tamil, Telugu and Kannada movies. Kaniha made her debut in the 2002 Tamil film Five Star.
M. Bhaskar was an Indian filmmaker who worked mainly in the Tamil film industry. Bhaskar started his film career as an assistant to director C. V. Sridhar. After relieving from his mentor and guru C. V. Sridhar, he was working under Sundaram's Modern Theaters, Chinnappa Thevar along with S. P. Muthuraman, Panju Arunachalam, Thuyavan, Uthiripookkal Balakrishnan and others. He also worked as a second unit Director for 20th Century Fox, during their production in Goa, India.
Jyothi Lakshmi was an Indian actress who appeared in more than 130 movies. In the early 1970s, she was well noted for her leading roles and songs in movies. She also acted in female-oriented movies and was a trained dancer. She predominantly worked in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam movies. In the early 1980s, her popularity gradually declined due to her sister Jayamalini's entry into the movie industry. Her debut was in the film Vanambadi in 1963 as a dancer in the song 'Yaaradi Vanthaar'. She is best remembered for her supporting roles in Thedi Vandha Mapillai and Periya Edathu Penn.
Anbai Thedi is a 1974 Indian Tamil-language film, directed by Muktha Srinivasan. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan and Jayalalithaa. It was released on 13 November 1974.
G. Sakunthala was an Indian actress who worked predominantly in Tamil films and plays. As she was a prominent member of MGR's drama troupe, Sakuntha appeared as a 'regular' cast member in many of MGR's movies, beginning from Manthiri Kumari, Thaaikkuppin Thaaram and Mannadhi Mannan. Thus, she maintained her standing as one of the leading actresses in Tamil film industry in the 50's and early 60's. She has acted more 150 films in the Tamil cinema industry.
