An article from Star & Style Magazine dated 15 February 1967
 |
| Padmini with son Premanand on the cover page of Star & Style magazine |
Luck and success in films,they say are whimsical. Either they come or just plain withhold their blessings from the hangering humanity. But there are those who change the course of this capricious couple, and the weapon usually used by them is hard, unflinching labour.
Padmini is no prodigy of fortune. She has toiled-from the age of four. At an age when children gape at colourful happenings on the stage, little padmini discarded idle frolic around the house and entered the regular rigours of classical dancing. “My aunt had six sons and no daughters. She adopted me and saw to it that I learned everything from the ‘veena’ and bharatnatyam to gardening and neat hemming,” reminisced Padmini.
Bombay, the land of ‘the Midas touch’ (for all those who seek glamour and quick fame), came into her life when Padmini’s uncle, a naval commander, invited the travancore sisters to visit Bombay. They stayed at Juhu, next door to a famous neighbour: Uday Shanker.
Watching the girls dance after a quiet dinner one evening, Uday Shanker offered both Lalitha and Padmini dancing roles in his “Kalpana” (1944).
"Two and a half years with Uday Shanker was the best training school I ever had. For a solid stretch of six months I just paced the floor up and down learning to walk and speak…...It was pretty hard but, believe me, wonderful!” says padmini recalling those days…….
Kalpana was a roaring success…..followed by series of stage performances by the three Travancore sisters (as they later came to be known).
Practically every south indian films included their dance sequences; every poster displayed their faces and hoardings declared their popularity.
They danced in nearly 150 films! Padmini scaled straight to the heroine’s position and today scores a phenomenal number of movies to her credit.
What’s next after 219 films?
“More films and better films,”answered padmini with confidence.
What after 22 years of solid work?
“I want to relive my life, so that I could plan it better”
Would you want any dramatic change?
“No, not many! Padmini the actress has to be there. But she should fall in love at the age of sixteen and marry when she is twenty, after a hectic love affair! One of my unfulfilled desire is to have lots and lots of children”
How many?
“As much as I can. It is a little too late now, as it will affect my career.”
The mother of a delightful son, Premanand, Padmini dotes on him. “He is my greatest weakness,” declares she.
What else does she find irresistible?
"Work, which drew me back in spite of everything, and mangoes-raw, tender or in any form.”
Padmini is a serious minded woman in spite of the nature of work in which she is involved. She is not one of those who is enamored by appearances or thrilled by lip service. She has sought meaning in actions and always tried to draw a pattern in the behaviour and characteristics of the people around her.
One revealing feature of Padmini’s life is surprising, indeed! She has never fallen in love.
“That is what i have missed and may be that’s why i want to re-live,” smiled the serene actress.
No comments:
Post a Comment