Nanjil Nalini (1944-2020) was an

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

actress who mainly appeared in

Tamil Tamil may refer to: People, culture and language * Tamils, an ethno-linguistic group native to India, Sri Lanka, and some other parts of Asia **Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka ** Myanmar or Burmese Tamils, Tamil people of Ind ...

films and TV serials (soap-operas), in a career spanning over 50 years. She started as a child artist in theatre at age 12 and later went on act in over 100 films. She was honoured with the

kalaimamani The Kalaimamani is the highest civilian award in the state of Tamil Nadu, India. These awards are given by the ''Tamil Nadu Iyal Isai Nataka Mandram'' (literature, music and theatre), a unit of the Directorate of Art and Culture, Government ...

award in 1978. Nalini died in Chennai on 19 January 2020, aged 76.

Background

Nanjil Nalini was born in

Thuckalay Thuckalay or Thakkalai is a town in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu, India. Thuckalay comes under the Padmanabhapuram Municipality, and is the administrative headquarters of Kalkulam Taluk. The Revenue Divisional Office is located in Mettu ...

in Kanyakumari District. An early inclination to acting led her to

Tirunelveli Tirunelveli (), also known as Nellai and historically (during British rule) as Tinnevelly, is a major city in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the administrative headquarters of the Tirunelveli District. It is the fourth-largest munici ...

town, where she joined a theatre troupe, at the age of 12. Her very first role at this age was that of a mother, in a play called ‘Nalvar’. She later went on act in drama troupes of legendary Tamil theatre artistes like

T. K. Shanmugam Thiruvananthapuram Kannuswamy Shanmugam (1912–1973; also known as "Avvai" T. K. Shanmugam) was a Tamil theatre and film artist. He acquired the prefix "Avvai" after portraying saint-poet Avvaiyar (Sangam poet), Avvaiyar in a play. Early life T ...

(TKS),

S. S. Rajendran Sedapatti Suryanarayana Rajendran, also known by his initials SSR (January 1928 – 24 October 2014), was an Indian actor, film director, film producer and politician who worked in Tamil theatre and cinema. He often referred as Latchiya ...

Major Sundarrajan Srinivasan Sundarrajan (17 March 1935 – 28 February 2003), popularly known as Major Sundarrajan, was an Indian actor and film director who performed predominantly in Tamil language films and plays. He was well known for his sophisticated ...

and ‘Vairam Nataka Sabha’.

Film and TV

Nanjil Nalini’s talents and experience in theatre led to

Tamil Cinema Tamil cinema is the segment of Indian cinema dedicated to the production of motion pictures in the Tamil language, the main spoken language in the state of Tamil Nadu. It is nicknamed Kollywood, a portmanteau of the names Kodambakkam, a Ch ...

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

, where she was given a small role in the 1968

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram. Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001), better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, was an Indian actor and film producer. He was mainly active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th centur ...

starrer, Enga Oor Raja . She also acted in

starrer films like

Thanga Pathakkam ''Thangappathakkam'' () is a 1974 Indian Tamil-language crime drama film, directed by P. Madhavan and written by Mahendran. Based on Mahendran's play of the same name, the film stars Sivaji Ganesan, K. R. Vijaya, Srikanth and Prameela. It foc ...

(1974),

Annan Oru Koyil ''Annan Oru Koyil'' () is a 1977 Indian Tamil-language drama film, directed by K. Vijayan and written by Vietnam Veedu Sundaram. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan, Sujatha, Suruli Rajan and Jai Ganesh. It became a blockbuster at the box-office, ru ...

(1977) and Theerpu (1982). Nalini acted in some well-known Tamil films of the 1970’s, 80’s and 90's in films of some major actors of the time - with

Kamal Haasan Parthasarathy Srinivasan (born 7 November 1954), known professionally as Kamal Haasan, is an Indian actor, filmmaker and politician who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. Considered as one of the most accomplished actors of Indian Cinema, Haas ...

Aadu Puli Attam The lambs and tigers game, locally referred as the game of goats and tigers (, , ), is a strategic, two-player (or 2 teams) leopard hunt game that is played in south India. The game is asymmetric in that one player controls three tigers and the ...

(1977),

Rajinikanth Shivaji Rao Gaikwad (born 12 December 1950), known professionally as Rajinikanth, is an Indian actor who predominantly works in Tamil cinema. In a career spanning over five decades, he has done 170 films that includes films in Tamil, Hindi, ...

Dharma Yuddham ''Dharma Yuddam'' () is a 1979 Indian Tamil-language action film directed by R. C. Sakthi. It stars Rajinikanth and Sridevi. The film was released on 29 June 1979. Plot Vijay's parents are killed by Robert. He is adopted and brought up by ...

(1979) and

Sathyaraj Rangaraj Subbiah (born 3 October 1954), known professionally as Sathyaraj, is an Indian actor, film producer, film director and a media personality who appears predominantly in Tamil films. He also appears in works in Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam ...

Rickshaw Mama ''Rickshaw Mama'' () is a 1992 Indian Tamil-language film directed by P. Vasu. The film stars Sathyaraj, Gouthami and Khushbu. It was released on 15 January 1992, and completed a 100-day run. Plot Bhuvana, a lonely girl who is parent-less, l ...

(1992). She was honoured with a

award in 1978 for her contribution in the field of arts. She also received other popular Tamil film awards like AVM award, Aringar Anna, Kalaignar and Selvi Jayalalithaa awards. In later years, she acted in some popular

TV serials (soap-operas) like Azhagi, Valli, Mandhira Vaasal, Soolam, Krishnadasi, Achcham Madam Naanam and Brindhavanam.

Later life

Nalini resided at Velachery,

. Even during her film career, Nalini started and ran her own theatre troupe called ‘Revathy Fine Arts’. Nanjil Revathy, Nalini’s daughter was part of the troupe. Nanjil Nalini died in

on 19 January 2020, after a brief illness. She was 76.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nalini, Nanjil Indian actresses Tamil actresses People from Kanyakumari district 2020 deaths 1944 births Actresses in Tamil television