Vyjayantimala Bali

Vyjayantimala Bali ( popularly known as Vyjayantimala ) is considered as one of the finest actresses and dancers that Indian cinema ever produced and witnessed. She is the first actress from south who made herself as a national star and also went on to become one of the biggest-ever Hindi movie female stars. She is a highly talented Bharatnatyam भारतनाट्यम dancer and a carnatic singer who virtually ruled the cinema world from 1950s to early 1970s as a woman actress .
She was born on 13th, August 13,1936 at chennai in a hindu Brahmin family to father – Mandyam Dhati Raman and mother- Vasundhara ( an artist herself) as Vyjayantimala Raman and grew up under her grandmother -Yadugiri Devi Raman .
She got her initial education at Sacred Heart Higher Secondary School at chennai and learnt Bharatnatyam from Guru Ramiah Pillai and Carnatic music from Manakkal Iyer .
When she was just seven , she performed a classical Indian dance for Pope XII at vatican city in 1940 .
Vyjayantimala debuted in films at the age of fifteen in the Tamil film Vaazhkai (1949) which was adapted in Hindi as film- Bahar बहार in 1951 and she also acted in this hindi version alongside actors Karan Dewan , Om Prakash and Padmini. She leant Hindi at the Hindi Prachar Sabha to give her own voice to her character and the film was rated as hit . This film was again remade as Ladki लड़की and owing to superb dances of Vyjayantimala , the film recorded the second highest earning film in the year1953 .
Her next film was Nagin नागिन (1954) with Pradeep Kumar, which became a blockbuster and became the highest earning film of 1954 due to her superb acting , ravishing and stunning beauty and commedable and decent dances . The famous song of the film – Man Dole, Mera tan dole मन डोले, मेरा तन डोले sung by Lataji was performed on her . Vyjayantimala was one of the attractions of this film and the film became a ladder for her to become a superstar in the following years .
She then acted beautifully in famous film Devdas देवदास (1955), in which she performed the role of Chandramukhi, a Natch नाच girl (तवायफ ) with a generous heart . The film and her acting was highly appreciated by the audience and media and was later considered to be her magnum opus ( best of life ) and she won the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress .
She then went on to star in series of commercial successful films , which include the romantic film – New Delhi (1956), the social drama film Naya Daur (1957) and the comedy film Aasha (1957).
For her roles in the social film Sadhna ( 1958) of BRChopra and the romanctic film Madhumati (1958) of Bimal roy (based on rebirth ) and for her acting in treble roles ; She earned a nomination for the Filmfare Awards for Best Actress .
In the 1960s, the crime drama film Gunga Jumna (1961) , Vyjayanthimala superbly played the village girl role as Dhanno, a role which won her the Filmfare Award for Best Actress. She won the award again for the super hit triangled romantic and musical film Sangam संगम( 1964) starring alongside Raj kapoor and Rajendra Kumar . It proved to become her magnum opus ( an artist’s best performance) .
She thereafter got Praise and acclaim for her performance in the historical film Amrapali (1966) which was based on the life of Amrapali , a Nagarvadhu, ( royal courtesan ) of Vaishali वैशाली .
Her next notable and successful films were Suraj सूरज( 1966) with Rajendra kumar , Jewel Thief (1967) with Devanand, the action and drama film Sunghursh संघर्ष (1968) starring alongside Dilip kumar and Balraj Sahani , super hit film Duniya with Devanand and the epic film Prince (1969) with Shammi Kapoor and film Saathi साथी and film Ganwaar गंवार both with Rajendra kumar . In her career, she worked in about 65 films with last film being Ganwaar released in 1970 .During her illustrious life as an actress, Vyjayantimala ruled the hearts of audiences and it used to be said that her onscreen chemistry with Raj Kapoor and Dilip Kumar brought commercial success to the producers. For this reason, these pairs performed in several movies and it led to rumours about Dilip and Raj kapoor’s romantic relations with her which she dismissed as mere publicity stunts of the Newspapers and magazines and reiterated it in her biography titled – ‘Bonding – A memoir ‘ written with assistance of Jyoti Sabarwal .Vyjayanthimala fell ill with neumonia during 1967/68 and she was treated at home for few months by Dr Chamanlal Bali, a Punjabi Hindu Brahmin , who was from delhi but had settled in chennai . They came close during this period and got married on 10.03.1968 . After marriage, she retired from her acting career and moved to Chennai. However, between 1968 and 1970 she completed her under production films like Pyar Hi Pyar, Prince and Ganwaar and all three films were rated hit .She was the highest paid actress for the years 1958 to 1964 ( except for the year 1960) and the first female super star .Unfortunately her husband expired early in 1986 but she never thought of marrying again . They have a son named Suchindra Bali.Vijayantimala is pure vegetarian and is a very religious minded person and admirer of Aandaal, an Alvar saint .In the year 1968, she was awarded the Padma Shri for her contributions to indian cinema. Post retirement She gained further popularity for her work in Bharata Natyam and was bestowed with Sangeet Natak Akademi Award in 1982 , the highest for practising artists and recently in 2024, she was awarded the Padma Vibhushan .Vyjayantimala also became active in politics and got elected twice from south Chennai seat in 1984 and in 1989 to Loksabha as member of congress party .And in 1993, she was nominated to the Rajya Sabha for a six-year term.However in 1999 she got disgusted with the policies of congress and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party on 6th,September, 1999 of which she continues to be a member till date .Vyjayantimala as a great actress is and will remain unforgettable for cinema goers and lovers .

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Seven stars

( Awards and nominations won by her )
1)Apsara Film &
Television Producers
Guild Award
2) Bollywood Movie Award
3)Filmfare Awards
( won four awards for films Devdas, Sadhna, Gunga Jumna and Sangam and won film fare
Lifetime Achievement Award in 1996 )
4) ANR National Award 5)BFJA Awards
( won for film Gunga Jamuna and film Sunghursh )
6)FICCI Awards in 2006
7)Film Fans’ Association Award
8)Kalaimamani award
9)Kalakar Awards
10)Sangeet Natak Akademi Award
( won twice)
11)Stardust Award
12)Tamil Nadu State Film
13) Lifetime Achievement award in British Asian Film festival in 1998
14)Pride of Film Industry Award from Stardust
15)Bangalore International Film Festival in the year -2012

Note : Besides above she has won about 30 plus indian and international awards from govts and private institutions for her talent , performance and contributions to film industry including Padam Shri in 1968 and Padam Vibhushan in 2024 from Bharat Sarkar.

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