Veteran actress Bhanumathi passes away

New Delhi: Following a brief illness, veteran South Indian film actress Bhanumathi died at her residence in Chennai on Saturday.

A producer, director, studio owner, story writer, music director, singer, editor and artiste — all rolled into one — Bhanumathi was a multi-facted genius.

She acted in over 100 films in Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi and was known as Ashtaavadhani in filmi circles.

Having being gifted with a golden voice, Bhanumathi had even doned the role of a playback singer in many films.

She entered the film industry in 1939 and was paired with several top heroes of yesteryears.

These included late N T Rama Rao and the legendary Nageswara Rao in Telugu films and late M G Ramachandran and Sivaji Ganesan in the Tamil ones.

Recipient of several national and state awards, the veteran actress was given honorary doctorates by the Venkateswara and Andhra universities.

Bhanumathi entered the celluloid world in 1939 through Telugu film Vara Vikrayan.

Her first Tamil debut was in 1948 through Rajamukthi. Her last Tamil film was in 1992 in Semparuthi. She had won the best actress award thrice.

One of her films, Sandi Rani — in which she was cast opposite N T Rama Rao — was made simultaneously in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi and was released on a single day in 1954.

Bhanumathi was also the director and principal of the Tamil Nadu Music College, Chennai, for three years.