Yesteryear actor Rukmani dies

CHENNAI: Yesteryear actor Rukmani passed away at her daughter, actor Lakshmi’s, residence in Saidapet on Tuesday. She was 81.

Rukmani began acting in films from the age of four.

Her first film was ‘Harichandra’. She worked as a child artist in nearly 40 films.

Rukmani’s first film as a heroine was ‘Sri Valli’ with T.R. Mahalingam. The film was produced under the AVM banner.

From then on she worked with some of the best talents in Tamil cinema.

She has acted in about 100 films in three Indian language films, namely Tamil, Telugu and Hindi.

Some of the Tamil films in which she had given memorable performances include ‘Venniraadai’, ‘Kappalotiya Thamizhan’, ‘Rojavin Raja’, ‘Maniosai’ and ‘Idhayakamalam’.

She has also worked in Telugu films, with both N.T. Rama Rao and Nageswara Rao.

She has not only acted in Hindi films but has also produced a few of them.

Among the Hindi films that Rukmani produced, the notable ones are ‘Lavangi’ and ‘Manjari’.

Rukmani married Y.V. Rao, a producer, director and actor, when she was 17 years old.

Rukmani had been ailing for some time and she passed away on Tuesday at 5.30 p.m. Both actor Lakshmi and her husband, Sivachandran, were near Rukmani when she died.

(The Hindu, TamilNadu, 05:09:2007)