Vyjayanthimala Bali (Tamil: வைஜெயந்திமாலா பாலி; born on August 13, 1936) is an former Indian film actress, trained Bharathanatyam dancer and was a part-time Member of Parliament.
Born into a orthodox Tamil Brahmin family, Vyjayanthi was introduced at the age 15 in the world of cinema by her family friend M. V. Raman through a bilingual Tamil/Telugu film Vazhkai or Jeevitham (alternate title) produced by AVM Productions. The success of the film helped Vyjayanthi and AVM Productions to foray into Bollywood with the film Bahar. The latter also became a hit at thr box office. Following the huge box office success of Nagin, Vyjayanthi established herself as one of the biggest Bollywood actress beside being a successful Tamil actress — which also paved the pave for other South Indian actresses to conquer Bollywood. Her films typically feature her at least one item number, which is expected by her fans.
Some of her movies have been critically acclaimed beside being hit at box office. Those films are Devdas, Sadhna, Sangam, Suraj, Jewel Thief and Prince in Hindi and Vanjikottai Valiban, Baghdad Thirudan, Then Nilavu, Parthiban Kanavu and Irumbu Thirai in Tamil. Vyjayanthi was a hit pair with Dilip Kumar: Madhumati, Naya Daur, Gunga Jumna, Paigham and Leader. Vyjayanthi hade box office hits in comedy roles with Kishore Kumar in movies like Aasha and New Dehli.
She left the industry after another critically acclaimed historical Hindi film Amparali which based on life of the nagarvadhu (royal courtesan) of Vaishali. Amrapali flopped miserably at the box office though other prominent directors such as B. R. Chopra felt that she could have easily continued for another decade in lead roles.
Besides film, Vyjayanthi main concentration was in Bharata Natyam a form of Indian classical dance. She was an accomplish dancer who she introduced a lot of semi-classical dance in Bollywood. After quitting movies Vyjayanthi continues with her dance career.
Early life
Vasundhara Devi, Vyjayanthi's mother in Mangama Sabatham
Born in Madras in a orthodox Tamil Brahmin family, Vyjayanthi did her schooling at Sacred Heart Church Park Convent, Chennai. Her mother, Vasunthara Devi, was a leading actress in Tamil Cinema in 1940s when her film Mangama Sabatham was the first ever Tamil film to be declared a colossal hit at the box office.During her childhood, her mother abandoned her and she was reared by her grandmother, Yadugiri Devi, and her father, M.D. Raman. At age 5, Vyjayanthi danced for Pope Pius XII while her mother shared the honor with a audience in 1940. She was affectionately called as "Papakutty" (little child) by everyone.
Acting career
Early career: Debut and breakthrough, (1949-1953)
When director M. V. Raman was looking for a new face to cast in AVM Productions's Vazhkai, he saw Vyjyanthi performing Bharata Natyam in Chennai Gokhale Hall. Then he try to convince her grandmother, who was apprehensive about Vyjayanthi in joining films as she felt it would come in the way of her education and dance. Vyjayanthi played as college girl named Rani and acted along with veterans C. H. Narayana Rao, S. Varalakshmi, T. R. Ramachandran and C. S. R. Anjaneyulu. The movie was a big success and being remade in Telugu as Jeevitham with the same cast and crew, the later also taste success. She also dubbed her own voice for Telugu version since her father knew Telugu well and assist her during the filming process. In 1950, Vyjayanthi also done a guest appearance in the film Vijayakumari, where she danced for the song "laalu...laalu...laalu" which was choreographed by Vedantam Raghavaiah. Though the movie fails at box office but her song particularly her western-style dance becomes popular and considered as one of the major highlights of the movie.
The success of Vazhkai in South India has made AVM Productions to remade it in Hindi as Bahar in 1951. In their first Hindi venture, they decided to cast Vyjayanthi again in the same role with Karan Dewan, Om Prakash and Pandari Bai who was credited as Padmini in the film.[8] She was the only South Indian actress who did not dub her dialogue as she studied Hindi at the Hindi Prachar Sabha. Upperstall.com in their review, wrote that "She does bring the film to life with her dances though, something which was new then for the North Indian audiences". The movie becomes sixth highest grossing film of 1951 with verdict hit.
After the success of all her debut film in all three languages, Vyjayanthi gain acted in multilingual film which also produce by Avichi Meiyappa Chettiar of AVM Productions. The first one is in Tamil as Penn acted by Vyjayanthi with S. Balachandran, Gemini Ganesan and Anjali Devi. The song "Kalyanam...venum" sang by J. P. Chandrababu for S. Balachandran becomes a instant hit. The film then remade in Telugu as Sangham in the same year with N. T. Rama Rao, Vyjayanthi, S. Balachandran and Anjali Devi in the lead. The former and the latter was a big success across South India. The film once again remade in Hindi as Ladki starred by Bharat Bhushan, Kishore Kumar while Vyjayanthi and Anjali Devi reprises their role from the original respectively. Her performance was described by Upperstall as, "Vyjayanthimala's dances that are the film's saving graces although it is unintentionally funny now to see how deliberate and obviously tacky the sequences are which lead into her dances[...]Ladki too makes no real demands on 'feminist' tomboy Vyjayanthimala histrionically". The movie becomes second highest grossing film of 1953 with verdict hit.
Turning point in Bollywood films
After tasting successes with her previous Hindi movies, Vyjayanthi the acted in magnum opus Nagin with Pradeep Kumar. The film initially got favorable response from the audience and becomes the highest grossing movie of 1954 with verdict blockbuster thus established her as one of the leading actress in Bollywood. Hemant Kumar's music and her dance accompanying the song, Man Dole, Mera tan dole, sang by Lata Mangeshkar was the highlights of the film. Bimal Roy cast her as Chandramukhi opposite Dilip Kumar in the critically acclaimed Devdas. She subsequently starred in four successful films opposite Dilip Kumar: Madhumati, Ganga Jamuna, Leader, and Naya Daur. The first two of those four roles earned her Filmfare Best Actress Awards. She also received a Filmfare nomination as Best Actress for portraying in Sadhna' a tawaif (a courtesan) who eventually got rehabilitated in the society. She costarred with Raj Kapoor in Sangam which earned her the Filmfare Best Actress Award. (She denied rumors of an affair with Raj Kapoor during the production of Sangam, saying that it was a publicity stunt by Kapoor to boost his image.
Vyjayanthimala starred in the 1966 historical epic, Amrapali, based on the life of the legendary Buddhist courtesan Amrapali. The movie was not a commercial success, and the commercial failure much disappointed her as she considered it the magnum opus of her career. Later, she said that she would like to see a remake of that movie, with Madhuri Dixit playing her role.
She costarred with Dev Anand in Jewel Thief, with Rajendra Kumar in Suraj, with Shammi Kapoor in Prince, and with Kishore Kumar in his inane yet zany comedies,including the blockbuster New Delhi. Vyjayanthimala's Tamil movies included Vanjikottai Valiban, Irumbuthirai, Then Nilavu, Vaazhkai, Penn, Parthiban Kanavu (old), and Baghdad Thirudan.
Personal life
Vyjayanthimala married Bali. After marriage, she terminated her acting career and moved to Chennai. She has a son, Suchindra Bali, by Dr. Bali. After she moved to Chennai, she entered politics as a member of the Lok Sabha (lower house). Later, she was nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha (upper house). In 2007, she published her autobiography, titled Bonding, with Jyoti Sabarwal as co-writer.
Filmography
* Vazhkai (1949)
* Bahar (1951)
* Nagin (1954)
* Devdas (1955)
* New Delhi (1956)
* Aasha (1957)
* Naya Daur (1957)
* Madhumati (1958)
* Paigham (1959)
* Aas Ka Panchhi (1961)
* Ganga Jamuna (1961)
* Nazrana (1961)
* Dr Vidya (1962)
* Rangoli (1962)
* Leader (1964)
* Sangam (1964)
* Ishaara (1964)
* Zindagi (1964)
* Amrapali (1966)
* Suraj (1966)
* Jewel Thief (1967)
* Choti Si Mulaqat (1967)
* Sunghursh (1968)
* Prince (1969)
* Ganwaar (1970)
Awards
* 1956 - Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award, for a role in Devdas. Vyjayanthimala did not accept the award, her contention being that her role in that movie was that of the main actress rather than a supporting actress. (That was the first time a person had declined to receive a Filmfare Award.)
* 1958 - Filmfare Best Actress Award, for a role in Madhumati
* 1958 - Nomination for Filmfare Best Actress Award, for a role in Sadhna'
* 1961 - Filmfare Best Actress Award, for a role in Ganga Jamuna
* 1961 - BFJA Award for Best Actress for her role in Ganga Jamuna
* 1964 - Filmfare Best Actress Award, for a role in Sangam
* 1968 - Padma Shri Award
* 1982 - Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, 1982 for Bharatanatyam
* 1996 - Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award
* 2004 - "Legend of Indian Cinema" Award at Atlantic City (United States).
* 2005 - Lifetime Achievement Award at the Bollywood Movie Awards
* 2006 - Sivaji Award 2006
* 2009 - ANR National Award
Born into a orthodox Tamil Brahmin family, Vyjayanthi was introduced at the age 15 in the world of cinema by her family friend M. V. Raman through a bilingual Tamil/Telugu film Vazhkai or Jeevitham (alternate title) produced by AVM Productions. The success of the film helped Vyjayanthi and AVM Productions to foray into Bollywood with the film Bahar. The latter also became a hit at thr box office. Following the huge box office success of Nagin, Vyjayanthi established herself as one of the biggest Bollywood actress beside being a successful Tamil actress — which also paved the pave for other South Indian actresses to conquer Bollywood. Her films typically feature her at least one item number, which is expected by her fans.
Some of her movies have been critically acclaimed beside being hit at box office. Those films are Devdas, Sadhna, Sangam, Suraj, Jewel Thief and Prince in Hindi and Vanjikottai Valiban, Baghdad Thirudan, Then Nilavu, Parthiban Kanavu and Irumbu Thirai in Tamil. Vyjayanthi was a hit pair with Dilip Kumar: Madhumati, Naya Daur, Gunga Jumna, Paigham and Leader. Vyjayanthi hade box office hits in comedy roles with Kishore Kumar in movies like Aasha and New Dehli.
She left the industry after another critically acclaimed historical Hindi film Amparali which based on life of the nagarvadhu (royal courtesan) of Vaishali. Amrapali flopped miserably at the box office though other prominent directors such as B. R. Chopra felt that she could have easily continued for another decade in lead roles.
Besides film, Vyjayanthi main concentration was in Bharata Natyam a form of Indian classical dance. She was an accomplish dancer who she introduced a lot of semi-classical dance in Bollywood. After quitting movies Vyjayanthi continues with her dance career.
Early life
Vasundhara Devi, Vyjayanthi's mother in Mangama Sabatham
Born in Madras in a orthodox Tamil Brahmin family, Vyjayanthi did her schooling at Sacred Heart Church Park Convent, Chennai. Her mother, Vasunthara Devi, was a leading actress in Tamil Cinema in 1940s when her film Mangama Sabatham was the first ever Tamil film to be declared a colossal hit at the box office.During her childhood, her mother abandoned her and she was reared by her grandmother, Yadugiri Devi, and her father, M.D. Raman. At age 5, Vyjayanthi danced for Pope Pius XII while her mother shared the honor with a audience in 1940. She was affectionately called as "Papakutty" (little child) by everyone.
Acting career
Early career: Debut and breakthrough, (1949-1953)
When director M. V. Raman was looking for a new face to cast in AVM Productions's Vazhkai, he saw Vyjyanthi performing Bharata Natyam in Chennai Gokhale Hall. Then he try to convince her grandmother, who was apprehensive about Vyjayanthi in joining films as she felt it would come in the way of her education and dance. Vyjayanthi played as college girl named Rani and acted along with veterans C. H. Narayana Rao, S. Varalakshmi, T. R. Ramachandran and C. S. R. Anjaneyulu. The movie was a big success and being remade in Telugu as Jeevitham with the same cast and crew, the later also taste success. She also dubbed her own voice for Telugu version since her father knew Telugu well and assist her during the filming process. In 1950, Vyjayanthi also done a guest appearance in the film Vijayakumari, where she danced for the song "laalu...laalu...laalu" which was choreographed by Vedantam Raghavaiah. Though the movie fails at box office but her song particularly her western-style dance becomes popular and considered as one of the major highlights of the movie.
The success of Vazhkai in South India has made AVM Productions to remade it in Hindi as Bahar in 1951. In their first Hindi venture, they decided to cast Vyjayanthi again in the same role with Karan Dewan, Om Prakash and Pandari Bai who was credited as Padmini in the film.[8] She was the only South Indian actress who did not dub her dialogue as she studied Hindi at the Hindi Prachar Sabha. Upperstall.com in their review, wrote that "She does bring the film to life with her dances though, something which was new then for the North Indian audiences". The movie becomes sixth highest grossing film of 1951 with verdict hit.
After the success of all her debut film in all three languages, Vyjayanthi gain acted in multilingual film which also produce by Avichi Meiyappa Chettiar of AVM Productions. The first one is in Tamil as Penn acted by Vyjayanthi with S. Balachandran, Gemini Ganesan and Anjali Devi. The song "Kalyanam...venum" sang by J. P. Chandrababu for S. Balachandran becomes a instant hit. The film then remade in Telugu as Sangham in the same year with N. T. Rama Rao, Vyjayanthi, S. Balachandran and Anjali Devi in the lead. The former and the latter was a big success across South India. The film once again remade in Hindi as Ladki starred by Bharat Bhushan, Kishore Kumar while Vyjayanthi and Anjali Devi reprises their role from the original respectively. Her performance was described by Upperstall as, "Vyjayanthimala's dances that are the film's saving graces although it is unintentionally funny now to see how deliberate and obviously tacky the sequences are which lead into her dances[...]Ladki too makes no real demands on 'feminist' tomboy Vyjayanthimala histrionically". The movie becomes second highest grossing film of 1953 with verdict hit.
Turning point in Bollywood films
After tasting successes with her previous Hindi movies, Vyjayanthi the acted in magnum opus Nagin with Pradeep Kumar. The film initially got favorable response from the audience and becomes the highest grossing movie of 1954 with verdict blockbuster thus established her as one of the leading actress in Bollywood. Hemant Kumar's music and her dance accompanying the song, Man Dole, Mera tan dole, sang by Lata Mangeshkar was the highlights of the film. Bimal Roy cast her as Chandramukhi opposite Dilip Kumar in the critically acclaimed Devdas. She subsequently starred in four successful films opposite Dilip Kumar: Madhumati, Ganga Jamuna, Leader, and Naya Daur. The first two of those four roles earned her Filmfare Best Actress Awards. She also received a Filmfare nomination as Best Actress for portraying in Sadhna' a tawaif (a courtesan) who eventually got rehabilitated in the society. She costarred with Raj Kapoor in Sangam which earned her the Filmfare Best Actress Award. (She denied rumors of an affair with Raj Kapoor during the production of Sangam, saying that it was a publicity stunt by Kapoor to boost his image.
Vyjayanthimala starred in the 1966 historical epic, Amrapali, based on the life of the legendary Buddhist courtesan Amrapali. The movie was not a commercial success, and the commercial failure much disappointed her as she considered it the magnum opus of her career. Later, she said that she would like to see a remake of that movie, with Madhuri Dixit playing her role.
She costarred with Dev Anand in Jewel Thief, with Rajendra Kumar in Suraj, with Shammi Kapoor in Prince, and with Kishore Kumar in his inane yet zany comedies,including the blockbuster New Delhi. Vyjayanthimala's Tamil movies included Vanjikottai Valiban, Irumbuthirai, Then Nilavu, Vaazhkai, Penn, Parthiban Kanavu (old), and Baghdad Thirudan.
Personal life
Vyjayanthimala married Bali. After marriage, she terminated her acting career and moved to Chennai. She has a son, Suchindra Bali, by Dr. Bali. After she moved to Chennai, she entered politics as a member of the Lok Sabha (lower house). Later, she was nominated as a member of the Rajya Sabha (upper house). In 2007, she published her autobiography, titled Bonding, with Jyoti Sabarwal as co-writer.
Filmography
* Vazhkai (1949)
* Bahar (1951)
* Nagin (1954)
* Devdas (1955)
* New Delhi (1956)
* Aasha (1957)
* Naya Daur (1957)
* Madhumati (1958)
* Paigham (1959)
* Aas Ka Panchhi (1961)
* Ganga Jamuna (1961)
* Nazrana (1961)
* Dr Vidya (1962)
* Rangoli (1962)
* Leader (1964)
* Sangam (1964)
* Ishaara (1964)
* Zindagi (1964)
* Amrapali (1966)
* Suraj (1966)
* Jewel Thief (1967)
* Choti Si Mulaqat (1967)
* Sunghursh (1968)
* Prince (1969)
* Ganwaar (1970)
Awards
* 1956 - Filmfare Best Supporting Actress Award, for a role in Devdas. Vyjayanthimala did not accept the award, her contention being that her role in that movie was that of the main actress rather than a supporting actress. (That was the first time a person had declined to receive a Filmfare Award.)
* 1958 - Filmfare Best Actress Award, for a role in Madhumati
* 1958 - Nomination for Filmfare Best Actress Award, for a role in Sadhna'
* 1961 - Filmfare Best Actress Award, for a role in Ganga Jamuna
* 1961 - BFJA Award for Best Actress for her role in Ganga Jamuna
* 1964 - Filmfare Best Actress Award, for a role in Sangam
* 1968 - Padma Shri Award
* 1982 - Sangeet Natak Akademi Award, 1982 for Bharatanatyam
* 1996 - Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award
* 2004 - "Legend of Indian Cinema" Award at Atlantic City (United States).
* 2005 - Lifetime Achievement Award at the Bollywood Movie Awards
* 2006 - Sivaji Award 2006
* 2009 - ANR National Award
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