Since then many actors, dancers and heroines have emerged from Kerala. No one has influenced the Indian silver screen like the Travancore sisters.
A VJ Sai document
Bharatanatyam and Tamil cinema have a long association. Several famous actors were dancers and several practitioners of Bharatanatyam were invited to perform on screen. Most of these were all Tamils or of Tamil origin, with a few odd exceptions. But it took great courage for three sisters from Kerala to come and rule the Tamil film industry. This is the story of the famous trio who later became popular as the "Travancore Sisters". Today, when Indian cinema celebrates its centenary, no one remembered them or evoked their memory.
Thankappan Pillay, a wealthy landowner, and his wife Saraswathiamma belonged to a large Nair family in Thiruvananthapuram. They lived in Thiruvanathapuram in the erstwhile state of Travancore. They had four children. Lalitha born in 1930, Padmini born in 1932, Ragini born in 1939 and son Chandrakumar. Living in a large joint family in a palace called Pujapura Malaya Cottage in Thiruvananthapuram, the children were interested in art from an early age. Lalita and Padmini started dance training from Kathakali Guru Gopinath. Lalita was barely eight years old when she got a break to act in a Tamil film.
With the untimely death of the father, the mother and children had to fend for themselves. They decided to migrate to Madras in search of greener pastures. In Madras they continued their dance training under the great Nattuvanar and choreographer for Vuzhavoor Ramaiah Pillai films. He soon perfected them. They also made lifelong friends with Ramaiah Pillay's fellow students like Kamala, Radha and Padma Subramaniam.
Vuzhavoor is directing a dance sequence with Padmini and Ragini in a Ramaiah Pillai film.
In 1948, choreographer Udaya Shankar had published an advertisement seeking dancers for his film "Kalpana". Padmini was selected. She was just seventeen. The film was not a hit and she was only seen in a small sequence. Within a year, these sisters started receiving dance offers in many other films like "Velaikkari", "Geeta Gandhi", "Krishna Vijayam", "Pavalakodi". Soon many more films came Padmini's way. She was hailed as a star. Karunanidhi's fiery dialogues in the 1950 film "Manthri Kumari" became famous and created many controversies. All the three sisters were seen performing in a dance sequence in the film. You can also watch a rare recording here.
The Malayalam film "Prasanna" by Telugu producer and director Sriramulu Naidu in 1950 was the first to introduce all three sisters together. The film was a huge hit and the songs are considered classics to this day. By 1953, Padmini was on the cover of India's most popular film magazine, Filmfare. However, that didn't stop her or her sisters from training in classical dance. In Bombay they continued her training in Bharatanatyam from Guru Mahalingam Pillay. In the early 1960s, Padmini married TK Ramachandran, a doctor based in the United States. After this, Padmini started commuting between Madras and the US. Meanwhile, the other two sisters were making waves in Malayalam cinema.
The sisters had an active acting career as classical dancers as well as film dancers and actors. They conquered not only Malayalam and Tamil but also Kannada, Telugu and Hindi cinema. They acted with all the superheroes of that era like MGR, Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan, NT Rama Rao, Akkineni Nageshwar Rao, Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar and Dev Anand.
Padmini acted in more than 250 films. Some of her memorable films include "Madurai Veeran", "Amaradeepam" (1956), "Veera Pandiya Kattaboman" (1959), "Chitti" (1966), "Pen Deivam" and "Vietnam Veedu" (1970). Her most fondly remembered Tamil film is "Thillana Mohanambal" (1968), in which she proved a perfect match for Sivaji Ganesan. The highlight of the 1958 film "Vanjikottei Valiban" with Gemini Ganesan was the scintillating 'dance duel' between Padmini and her contemporary Vyjayanthimala Bali, considered one of the best dance sequences in Indian cinema. The famous Nattuvanara Dandayudhapani Pillai, another stalwart among Bharatanatyam gurus, choreographed it. Many critics and friends of both the dancers commented on how the real-life rivalry and jealousy was mirrored on screen.
Among Padmini's notable Hindi films were "Jis Desh Mein Ganga Beheti Hain" (1960) with Raj Kapoor and three years earlier "Pardesi", an Indo-Russian collaboration with his father Prithviraj Kapoor. The Russians were so impressed with Padmini's performance in the film "Mera Naam Joker" that they issued a stamp in her honor in 1971. Tell one about each of the three sisters and their individual achievements as Bharatanatyam dancers and heroines.
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