Villupuram Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy, better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, was an Indian actor and film producer. He was mainly active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th century. Sivaji Ganesan is acknowledged as one of the greatest Indian actors of all time and among the most imitated one by other actors. He was known for his versatility and the variety of roles he depicted on screen, which also gave him the Tamil nickname Nadigar Thilagam. In a career that spanned close to five decades, he had acted in 288 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. Sivaji Ganesan is the only actor in Tamil cinema to have played the lead role in over 250 films.
Meena Durairaj, known professionally as Meena, is an Indian actress who predominantly works in South Indian films as well as Hindi cinema. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. Meena has acted in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, Kannada, and Hindi films She is one of the most sought after actresses in the South Indian film industry. 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.
Palaniswamy, better known by his stage name Sivakumar, is an Indian visual artist and actor who has appeared in Tamil cinema and television. He made his acting debut in Kaakum Karangal (1965) and has worked in 195 movies, predominantly in Tamil cinema. He has won three Filmfare Awards South and two Tamil Nadu State Film Awards.
Bangalore Saroja Devi is an Indian actress who has acted in Tamil, Kannada, 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.
Bharathiraja is an Indian film director and actor who works mainly in the Tamil film industry. Making his debut in 1977 with 16 Vayathinile, he is known for realistic and sensitive portrayals of rural life in his films and popularly referred to as Iyakkunar Imayam. As of 2017, he has won six National Film Awards, four Filmfare Awards South, six Tamil Nadu State Film Awards and a Nandi Award. He has also directed films in Telugu and Hindi. The Government of India honoured him with the Padma Shri award, India's fourth-highest civilian honour, in 2004 for his contribution to the film industry. In 2005, he was conferred with the Doctor of Letters from Sathyabama University.
Murali Karthikeyan Muthuraman, better known by his stage name Karthik, is an Indian actor, playback singer and politician who works in Tamil cinema. He is the son of veteran actor R. Muthuraman. Known as Navarasa Nayagan, Karthik was one of the biggest stars in the industry in the 80s and 90s. He was first introduced by Bharathiraja in the Tamil film Alaigal Oivathillai (1981) and became a lead actor in Tamil films eventually. He has also appeared in some Telugu films where he was initially credited as Murali. Karthik is often appreciated for his ability to emote all forms of actions and emotions. He has acted in more than 125 films. He has been the recipient of four Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, a Nandi Award and four Filmfare Awards South.
Sistla Janaki is an Indian playback singer and occasional music composer from Andhra Pradesh. She is widely referred to as Janaki Amma and Nightingale of India. She is one of the best-known playback singers in History of Indian music. She has recorded over 48000 songs in films, albums, TV and Radio which includes solos, duets, chorus and title tracks in 20 languages including Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Sanskrit, Odia, Tulu, Urdu, Punjabi, Badaga, Bengali, Konkani and also in foreign languages such as English, Japanese, German and Sinhala; the highest number of songs in her career were in Kannada followed by Malayalam.
Kamala Kumari, known by her stage name Jayanthi, was an Indian actress known for her work in Kannada cinema and Telugu cinema. She was noted for her contributions to different genres of films from the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. She had appeared in over 500 films in various languages, including Kannada, Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, Hindi and Marathi.
The Filmfare Awards South are annual awards that honour artistic and technical excellence in the Telugu cinema, Tamil cinema, Malayalam cinema and Kannada cinema. They are presented by Filmfare magazine of The Times Group. When it was introduced in 1954, the Filmfare Awards initially only recognized achievements in the Hindi cinema. In 1964 the awards were extended to Telugu, Tamil, Bengali and Marathi languages. Malayalam cinema was included in the awards in 1967 and Kannada cinema followed in 1970.
Jayachitra is an Indian actress films who works mostly in Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films.
Sheela Celine is an Indian actress and director who appears predominantly in Malayalam cinema. Paired with Prem Nazir, they hold the Guinness World Record for acting in the largest number of films (130) together as heroine and hero. Sheela is a four-time winner of Kerala State Film Award. She came back to acting in 2003 through Manassinakkare after 22 years. In 2005, she won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the Malayalam film Akale. In 2019, Sheela was honoured with the J C Daniel Award, the Kerala government's highest honour for outstanding contribution to Malayalam cinema. She was also one of the highest paid actresses, reportedly paid more than her male counterparts, of her time.
Thadiparthi Saraswati Devi, better known by her stage name Sarada is an Indian actress and politician. Known for her work predominantly in Telugu films and Malayalam 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 – 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 won the NTR National Award by the Government of Andhra Pradesh for her contributions to Indian cinema.
Sankaramanchi Janaki, widely known as Sowcar Janaki, is an Indian actress known for her works in Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada films. In a career spanning over seven decades, Janaki has appeared in nearly 390 films. 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, a Kalaimamani, and India's fourth-highest civilian award, Padma Shri. Her younger sister, Krishna Kumari, was also a noted actress.
The Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actress is given by the state government as part of its annual Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for Tamil (Kollywood) films. The awards were first given in 1967 and discontinued after 1970. The awards were given again in 1977 and continued till 1982. The awards were not given in the years 1971 to 1976. This award was last given in the year 2015 to Jyothika for 36 Vayadhinile.
The Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Supporting Actress is given by the state government as part of its annual Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for Tamil (Kollywood) films. The award was first given in 1968 and stopped after 1970. The award is being given after 2000.
The Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Male Playback Singer is given by the state government as part of its annual Tamil Nadu State Film Awards for Tamil (Kollywood) films. K. J. Yesudas has won the award the most times (5).
Alaigal Oivathillai is a 1981 Indian Tamil-language teen romantic drama film written and directed by Bharathiraja, from a story by Manivannan. The film stars Karthik and Radha, in their acting debuts. Thiagarajan, Silk Smitha and Kamala Kamesh appear in supporting roles. The story follows a Hindu boy who falls in love with a Christian girl. How the lovers unite braving all the obstacles, forms the crux of the story.
Roja Ramani is an Indian actress who predominantly worked in Malayalam, Tamil 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 has acted in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada 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.
Seethakoka Chilaka (transl. Butterfly) is a 1981 Indian Telugu-language teen romance film directed by Bharathiraja. The film was produced by Edida Nageswara Rao on Poornodaya Movie Creations banner and was simultaneously shot in Tamil as Alaigal Oivathillai. Karthik played the lead role in both versions of the film, alongside Mucherla Aruna in this version, marking the career debut for both actors. The film won five Nandi Awards.
Bhimsingh Kannan was an Indian cinematographer and actor who worked in Tamil and Malayalam films. He was known for his association with Director Bharathiraja and was referred to as "Bharathirajavin Kangal".
