Sowmya Sathyanarayan, better known by her stage name Soundarya, was an Indian actress who worked in Telugu, Kannada, Tamil, Hindi and Malayalam films. She was regarded as one of the greatest actresses in the history of Telugu Cinema and the most Successful actress after yesteryear's superstar Mahanati Savitri. In 2002, she received the National Film Award for Best Feature Film as a producer for the Kannada film Dweepa. She has also received Three Nandi Awards, Two Karnataka State Film Awards for Best Actress and Six Filmfare Awards South for her performances in films such as Ammoru (1994), Pavitra Bandham (1996), Anthahpuram (1998), Raja (1999), Doni Saagali (1998), Dweepa (2002) and Apthamitra (2004).
Meena Durairaj, known professionally as Meena, is an Indian actress who predominantly works in the South Indian films as well as Hindi cinema. Meena has acted in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi films In addition to acting, Meena is also a playback singer, TV judge, and occasional dubbing artist. She has received numerous accolades, including two Filmfare Awards South, three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, two Nandi Award for Best Actress and Cinema Express Awards. In 1998, she was honoured with the Kalaimamani Award by Government of Tamil Nadu.
Sampath Kumar, known by his stage name Vishnuvardhan, was an Indian actor who worked predominantly in Kannada cinema besides also having sporadically appeared in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam language films. Vishnuvardhan has a prolific career spanning over four decades, during which he has acted in more than 220 films. A popular cultural icon of Karnataka, and holds the status of a matinée idol amongst the Kannada diaspora. He is popularly called as Sahasa Simha, Dada and The Angry Young Man of Kannada Cinema. Vishnuvardhan's contributions to Kannada cinema have been praised by his contemporaries in the Indian film industry. The Government of Karnataka honoured him with the Rajyothsava Prashasthi in 1990 and the Dr. Rajkumar Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007 for his contributions to Kannada cinema. He was called The Phoenix of Indian Cinema by CNN-News18. In 2008, a poll conducted by CNN-IBN listed Vishnuvardhan as the most popular star in the Kannada film industry.
Ramya Krishnan, also credited as Ramya Krishna is an Indian actress. She has appeared in over 260 films in five languages: Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi. Ramya has won four Filmfare Awards, three Nandi Awards, and a Tamil Nadu State Film Award Special Prize.
Saritha is an Indian actress who has acted in more than 500 films in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu languages. She was one of the popular and critically acclaimed lead actresses during the 1980s. She also appeared in a television serial, Selvi. She is also credited as a dubbing artist. She has dubbed her voice for Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Telugu movies for actresses like Nagma, Vijayashanti, Tabu, Sushmita Sen, Ramya Krishnan and Soundarya in 1990s.
Udaya Chandrika, better known by her screen/stage name Radha, is an Indian actress, who predominantly appears in Tamil and Telugu films in addition to a few Malayalam, Kannada and Hindi films. She was one of the top heroines in the film industry for about a decade; from 1981 to 1991.
Kanaka Vijayalakshmi, known by her stage name Madhavi is an Indian actress known for her works in Malayalam,Telugu, Hindi, Tamil and Kannada films. In a career spanning of almost 2 decades she has been featured in around 300 films and was hailed as one of the leading actresses of South Indian cinema in the 1980s.
Yaragudipadi Venkata Mahalakshmi, known professionally as Lakshmi, is an Indian actress known for her works primarily in the southern film industry, along with some Hindi films. She made her film debut through a Tamil film Sri Valli in 1961. Her debut as an actress happened with the Tamil film Jeevanaamsam in 1968. In the same year, she also debuted in Kannada and Telugu films with Goa Dalli CID 999 and Bandhavyalu, and in 1974.
Neravanda Chetticha Prema is an Indian actress known for her work predominantly in Kannada, Telugu and few Tamil language films. She has appeared in many commercially successful and critically feature films. She was a leading Kannada actress at the turn of the century and has received the Karnataka State Film Award and Filmfare Best Actress awards for her performances in Kannada films. She has featured in Om and Yajamana, which are the two major blockbuster and highest-grossing films of their time in Kannada cinema. After an eight-year hiatus, she returned to films with Upendra Matte Baa in 2017.
Girija, known by her screen name Shruti, is an Indian actress, television personality and politician. As an actress, she predominantly appears in Kannada film industry. She is currently serving as chief secretary of Bharatiya Janata Party's women's wing in its Karnataka cadre.
Sarada is an Indian actress and politician. Known for her work predominantly in Malayalam films and Telugu films, Sarada is the recipient of three National Awards. She has also appeared in few Tamil, Hindi as well as Kannada language films. She is also known as Urvasi Sarada as National Film Award for Best Actress was officially designated the Urvasi Award. She won three National Awards for her roles in Thulabharam (1968), Swayamvaram (1972), and Nimajjanam (1977). Sarada has garnered the NTR National Award by the Government of Andhra Pradesh for her contributions to Indian cinema.
Sumalatha is an Indian actress, politician who is the current Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha from Mandya, Karnataka. She has acted in more than 220 films in Kannada, Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil and Hindi. She gained popularity in Telugu cinema and Malayalam cinema and later married Kannada actor-politician Ambareesh and has a son Abhishek Gowda.
Sankaramanchi Janaki, popularly known as Shavukaru Janaki (Telugu) or Sowcar Janaki (Tamil) or Sahukar Janaki (Kannada), is an Indian actress who has appeared in over 300, films, predominantly in Telugu, Tamil, and Kannada languages. 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.
Sujatha was an Indian actress who performed and starred in a variety of unique characters in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films- in addition to few in Kannada and Hindi languages as well. The actress was best known for restraint and subtlety in portrayal of varied emotions. After starring in numerous Malayalam films in her mother-tongue, Sujatha later got introduced to the Tamil film industry by veteran director K. Balachander and producer P.R. Govindarajan as a protagonist in her first Tamil film, Aval Oru Thodar Kathai (1974). It was a critically acclaimed film and launched the actress's first commecrical breakthrough in her acting career. Whereas, her first Telugu picture happened to be a Telugu/Tamil bilingual titled as Guppedu Manasu (1979) in Telugu and was simultaneously shot as Nool Veli in Tamil of the same year. She died of a cardiac arrest on 6 April 2011 in Chennai.
Roja Ramani is an Indian actress who predominantly worked in Malayalam and Telugu films. She was a child actor and her debut movie was Bhakta Prahlada (1967) for which she received National Film Award for Best Child Artist. She was popular during the 1970s and early 1980s and haans acted in Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Tamil and Odia movies. She worked in 400 films as a dubbing artiste. She is an active member of BlueCross and is involved in several social service activities.
Nithya Menen is an Indian actress and singer who has acted in more than 50 feature films in various languages. She appeared first on-screen as a child, when she was ten, in the French-Indian English film, Hanuman (1998), playing the younger sister to Tabu's character. She started her acting career at the age of 17 by appearing in a supporting role in the Kannada film 7 O' Clock, which was released in 2006. She has played leading roles in Malayalam in Aakasha Gopuram (2008), in Telugu in Ala Modalaindi (2011), in Tamil with Nootrenbadhu (2011), and in Hindi in Mission Mangal (2019).
Chippy Renjith is an Indian actress and producer who works in the South Indian film industry, primarily in Malayalam and Kannada films. She has won several accolades including the Filmfare Award for Best Actress – Kannada & Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress for her performance in Janumada Jodi (1996).
Leelavathi is an Indian actress who worked in Kannada, Tamil and Telugu films. She has acted in more than 600 films throughout her career for more than 50 years. She is known for her memorable performances in Bhakta Kumbara, Mana Mecchida Madadi and Santha Thukaram. She has been the recipient of the Dr. Rajkumar Award in 1999 and Filmfare Awards.
Roopa, known as Roopa Devi is an Indian actress who has acted in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films. She is the daughter of Kalyanam Raghuramaiah and veteran actress Advani Lakshmi Devi. She became famous as the debutante heroine of the tragic romantic film Oru Thalai Ragam in Tamil that ran for 365 days in which she was paired with newcomer Shankar. For her performance in the movie Avala Antharanga, Roopa won the Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress in 1984–85.
The 26th Filmfare Awards South ceremony honoring the winners of the best of South Indian cinema in 1978 was an event held on 10 June 1979 at Kalaivanar Arangam in Madras.
