Article in Filmfare Magazine 1969- A Long Look Back: PADMINI

A Long Look Back: PADMINI

 An article /interview of Padmini published in filmfare magazine 1969

Filmfare Magazine (june 20 1969) Padmini on cover page

“The subject of our cover story,” we said,

                              “is you reflections on your long career,”

“You will need an entire issue to publish that,”

Padmini laughed-“and anyway where is the time?”

 She had just arrived from Poona where she had staged her “Dashavatharam” ballet in aid of a school, It has been a tiresome journey by car and now she had to catch the evening flight to Madras.

  It has been a hectic career since her movie debut 25 years ago in Uday Shanker’s Ballet film “Kalpana”. In an industry where uncertainties rule, glamour counts for more than anything else and the new becomes old overnight, a silver jubilee is a rare achievement.  Rarer still to find yourself still a Star.  

 We asked Padmini about her early life.

  Pappi, as Padmini was affectionately called at home, were born in Trivandrum. She was adopted by her maternal aunt who has no daughter of her own. Pappi was a weak child; somebody suggested dancing to help develop her physique.

She began her dancing lessons when she was five, together with her elder sister lalitha. They learnt Kathakali under the guidance of Guru Gopinath and as they grew up, they were prominent members of his troupe for several years. Later they also learnt other classical dances.  

 Once the sisters came to Bombay to spend a vacation with their uncle, a naval officer staying at Juhu. Their next door neighbor was the famous Uday Shankar. Impressed by their dancing, Uday Shanker signed them for his film “Kalpana,” in 1944.

Then the two sisters featured in a dance in Sriramulu Naidu’s Kannika, a tamil film. The dance became so popular that for the next two years almost every film made in south featured the pair in a dance number.

When she was 14, Padmini played her first leading role, in a tamil film,”Bride” made by comedian N.S.Krishnan. Padmini remembers it as one of her best roles. She followed up with a number of films in Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam.

 “Mr. Sampath,” made by S.S.Vasan, was Padmini’s first hindi film. Followed several Padmini starrers in Hindi-“Shiv Bhakta,” ”Qaidi,” ”Amardeep,””Raj Tilak,” ”Bindya,” “Singapore,” “Raagini” and “Kalpana”-ranging from mythological to crime thrillers to emotional dramas, giving Padmini a wide variety of roles.

 Most films made in the south, however, had presented Padmini as a good housewife, a mother, a self-sacrificing woman. She had appeared in a number of mythologicals. Inevitably her screen image in south became that of a “goddess”. That’s why Padmini has avoided playing a vamp’s role ever since: “Filmgoers will not like to see me as a ‘bad’ woman.”

Though Padmini had earlier appeared in over a dozen Hindi films, it was Raj Kapoor’s “Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai,” that made her popular with Hindi cinegoers. The role also gave a new angle to her screen image. It made her a sex symbol. Padmini however does not think that the role was sexy in any way. “Would you call it sexy just because there was a bathing scene?” She added: “Maybe people liked me because I was able to project the character so completely.”

 After “Jis Desh” Padmini announced her retirement from films to get married. She had on hand “Aashiq” and about four other films in Madras which she completed after her marriage.

 Padmini’s marriage to Dr. K.T.Ramachandran in May 1961 was an arranged affair. However her screen retirement turned out to be year’s maternity leave; after the birth of her son, she decided to return to the screen. Padmini had been receiving film offers. And meanwhile, her husband was going to England for higher studies. He too felt work would help his wife escape loneliness.

Padmini’s temporary absence has not affected her star value. As far as hindi films are concerned she has had better roles after her comeback: “Kaajal,” “Afsana,” “Vaasna,” “Aurat,” “Bhai Bahen” and “Madhavi.” Padmini’s portrayal in “Kaajal” won her Filmfare’s Best Supporting Actress Award (1965). At the moment she is working in Raj Kapoor’s “Mera Naam Joker,” Atma Ram’s “Chanda Aur Bijli” and B. Nagi Reddi’s “Nanha Farishta.” She had eight films in Tamil and Malayalam.

 Side by side with film assignments Padmini has continued her dancing career. She has to disband her famous Travancore Sisters troupe following the marriage of her sisters Lalitha and Ragini. Today Padmini has a new troupe of 40 members. She concentrates on full length ballets choreographed by herself. Her ballets, “Kannaki” and “Valli Thirumanam” were highly successful.

Padmini herself does not remember how many stage performances she has given so far. The figure runs into a few thousands, she estimates. And mostly her shows have been for charity.

 We reverted to her forthcoming films. In “Chanda Aur Bijli” Padmini plays a tough gangsters’ moll. The character, she says, is human to the cores; full of love for all that is good and right. Though she belongs to a gang, she fights to reform the men. In “Joker” Padmini plays an unknown girl who becomes glamour queen in films. In “Nanha Farishta” she plays a maid servant.

Padmini is basically an introvert. But she can be a lively conversationalist, if she likes the person. Films and stage programs take most of her time. If she manages to find a few hours’ leisure she goes on a shopping spree, or to a foreign film. She likes dramatic roles, but admits not many have come her way.

How does she feel about the last25 years? As she prepared to leave for the airport, Padmini said: “The years have passed so quickly, I did not even know that I have been in films for 25 years. I have worked in over 200 films in four languages, and co-starred with almost all the top leading men. And I have lost count of the stage performances I have given. Yet there is a constant urge to achieve something more.”

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