Lakshmi Sundaram Remembers Padmini

I know Padmini for years as we all lived in the same colony of Edward elliot’s road now renamed Dr Radhakrishnan Salai.

When my family moved fro Trivandrum to settle in Madras,my father built Burma house,our home,in this colony.Lalitha,Padmini and Ragini’s house were in the entrance of this colony.Opposite their house was the famous singer M.L.Vasanthakumari’s residence. When we came to live in this colony, Lalitha and Padmini were already established actresses in cinema and Vasanthakumari had become a renowned mucisian.Her duet EllamInbamayam with P Leela picturized on Lalitha and padmini in Manamagal caught the attention of the cinegoers.Needless to say the sisters and MLV were good friends and MLV’s daughter Srividya spend her time in Lalitha Padmini’s house. Exposure to them inspired Srividya to learn Bharatanatyam and later became an actress.

Lalitha Padmini Ragini lived in Trivandrum in their early years. Their mother Saraswathi Amma had great ambition for her good looking daughters and she shifted to Madras as she felt that the city, culturly more alive offered her daughters opportunity to learn Bharatanatyam. The sisters trained under many Gurus,but the guru who taught them most was Guru Gopinath. Kumari Kamala, the then rwenowned Bharatanatyam dancer was their inspiration. Deligently the young girls learnt the intricacies of dance , and before long they were in Tamil movies particularly in roles that required them to dance. They soon became as the Travancore sisters.

Along with their acting career, The travancore sisters mesmerized the audiences with their dance performances on Stage. Known as “Oriental Dances”, they charmed with their peacock, fisherman, snake and gypsy number. Equally popular were their dance ballets. In the dance ballet Dashavatharam, Padmini appeared  in the first scene as Mahavishnu. Her magnificent left the audience spell bound.

Our colony witnessed the dancing and film career of  the sisters at their peak, and needless to say we were proud of them. Yet the girls had no airs. As good naighbour they participated in functions in other people’s house when invited and they never failed to turn up for Navarathri kolu at our residence. When asked to sing by my mother, Ragini would render the song Sundari Soundari from Thooku Thooki, much to our amusement. Ragini is very lively, jovial and impish. Lalitha was also friendly. Padmini, a little reserved and reticient took time to become familiar, but always had a lovely smile for all of us.

The colony acquired celebrity status with the presence of Travancore sisters and MLV. We could often hear the jingling of dance bell and singing as the sisters practiced their dance and MLV her music. We had no problem of entry or exit because of living so close to such celebrities. But at the gate of the sister’s house, there would be crowd of  star crazy onlookers waiting to have a glimpse of these beauties.

The sister’s family had a few houses in the colony and each was named after one member or the other. Their own bungalow was called Parvathi after their mother’s sister and there was Saraswathi Vilas, Lalitha Bhavan, Padmini Nivas, Ragini Nivas. In Padmini Nivas opposite our house, lived their cousin Ambika. I had known Ambika in Trivandrum, as we went to the same school. Then in Madras we continued our friendship. On Ambika’s birthjday every year we all had lunch together. Lalitha, Padmini, Ragini and relatives also joined us at Ambika’s place. Ambika’s mother and Saraswathiamma were sisters and father Rama Varma was the uncle of the Travancore King Chitira Thirunal.

Saraswathi amma was afriendly person who would drop in Burma house to chat with my mother. Lalitha’s marriage was settled when she was in the peak oh her career. Saraswathi Amma personally came our home to invite for wedding and we attended a very grand wedding at Abbotsbury. A few years later Padmini’s marriage to Dr K.T Ramachandran took place at guruvayoor. Saraswathi Amma came to invite us for this also. She held a grand reception in Madras which we attended. A rare appearance by Rajaji at reception was the highlight of the event. He blesse the couple and made a brief reference to Padmini essaying the role of Sita in Sampoorna Ramayanam, perhaps one of the few films seen by Rajaji.

The colony lost some of its celebrity status when the sisters left after marriage. But Saraswathi Amma continued to live there. When Padmini’s husband Ramachandran left for higher studies abroad, Padmini decided to stay on in Madras. She had her little son Premanand. She also did many films after marriage notable being thillana Mohanambal, which gave her ample scope for dancing and acting.

When I got married, Vasanthakumari’s concert was arranged at the evening. Padmini and her husband attended the reception.

A few years later Padmini left to settle US. Ambika too settled at US.I too left for Gujarat. But whenever I came back and if the sisters were there in the main bungalow on a visit , I would drop in. By then several of their houses in The colony has sold. Only A couple of houses remained. Saraswathi Amma lives in one house and her son  Chandrakumar lives in another house with his daughter Shobana., an amalgam in beauty of her aunts.

When I was in Pondicherry, Padmini came there to stage her dance ballet Dashavatharam. She came home with Srividya before the Programme.

In 1996,on our visit to US,we went to Ambika’s house and on the next day, Padmini, her Husband , Ambika and family came to waldorf  hotel in New york to see us and we all had lunch together. Padmini invited us to her house. Over the dinner we talked about the past, especially the memories in colony.

Padmini kept coming to India periodically. She converted her bungalow into a four storey commercial building  retaining an apartment for herself in the top floor. This is the only home of the family in colony and was kept for sentimental reasons. Thios time She came here for good. She want to spend the remaining of her life in Madras.She was quiet fond of her nieces Lakshmi (Lalitha’s daughter) ,Mahalakshmi and Priya (Ragini’s Daughters) and proud of the achievements of Shobana.

But barely a month after her arrival, Padmini’s end came suddenly. She had not even opened her boxes. Crowds collected at the gate of her residence on 9th street,Radhakrishnan Salay, to have a last glimpse of her. But were told that the body would be taken at Shobana’s house. When I saw Padmini’s body, I could not control my emotions. Her apartment looks desolate and the few old residents who were still there feels a personal loss.