Padmapriya (born Padmalochani; died 16 November 1997) was an Indian actress who worked in

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

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 ...

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

and

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of South India ** Telugu literature, is the body of works written in the Telugu language. * Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Tel ...

films. Her first movie was in Telugu, ''Adapillala Tandri'' (1974). In Kannada, she debuted with ''

Bangarada Gudi ''Bangarada Gudi'' () is a 1976 Indian Kannada film, directed by K. S. R. Das and produced by C. H. Prakash Rao. The film stars Vishnuvardhan, Manjula, Ambareesh and Padmapriya Padmapriya (born Padmalochani; died 16 November 1997) was ...

'' (1976) and was a popular actress during the late 1970s. She has the distinction of having acted opposite the legendary

Dr. Rajkumar Singanalluru Puttaswamaiah Muthuraj (24 April 1929 – 12 April 2006), better known by his stage name Dr. Rajkumar, was an Indian actor and singer who worked in Kannada cinema. Regarded as one of the greatest and versatile actors in the his ...

in three successive hit movies in a single year (1978) - ''

Operation Diamond Racket ''Operation Diamond Racket'' is a 1978 Indian Kannada-language action spy thriller film produced and directed by Dorai–Bhagavan. The film stars Rajkumar, alongside Padmapriya, Chandralekha, Vajramuni, Thoogudeepa Srinivas, Tiger Prabhakar ...

'', ''

Thayige Thakka Maga ''Thayige Thakka Maga'' ( ) is a 1978 Indian Kannada-language sports action film directed by V. Somashekhar and produced by Parvathamma Rajkumar. It is based on the story written by Anjaneya Pushpanand. The film starred Rajkumar as a boxe ...

'' and '' Shankar Guru''. She starred opposite Anant Nag in the comedy ''

Narada Vijaya ''Narada Vijaya'' is a 1980 Indian Kannada-language comedy film directed and co-produced by Siddalingaiah. The story is written by M. D. Sundar. The film starred Ananth Nag, Padmapriya, Hema Choudhary and M. P. Shankar. Plot Ananth Nag play ...

'' and the novel-based ''

Baadada Hoo ''Baadada Hoo'' () is a 1982 Kannada-language film directed by K. V. Jayaram and produced by K. S. Narayan. The story is based on the novel of the same name written by Saisuthe. The film stars Anant Nag, Padmapriya and K. S. Ashwath. The film ...

'' and both were highly successful. She acted in four to five movies with Dr. Vishnuvardhan, and played glamorous roles. Srinath, Ashok and Lokesh were her other costars in Kannada movies. She had a successful career in Tamil films as a lead heroine between 1974 and 1981 movies ''Vazhthungal'', ''

Vaira Nenjam ''Vaira Nenjam'' () is a 1975 Indian Tamil-language action thriller film written, directed and produced by C. V. Sridhar. The film stars Sivaji Ganesan, Padmapriya, R. Muthuraman and K. Balaji. It is a remake of Sridhar's own 1973 Hindi film ...

'', '' Mohana Punnagai'', '' Vaazhnthu Kaattugiren'', '' Kuppathu Raja'', '' Aayiram Jenmangal'', and ''

Madhuraiyai Meetta Sundharapandiyan ''Madhuraiyai Meetta Sundharapandiyan'' () is a 1978 Indian Tamil-language historical action film, directed by M. G. Ramachandran, starring himself, M. N. Nambiar, P. S. Veerappa, Latha and Padmapriya. It was Ramachandran's final film as an ...

'' are some of her notable Tamil films. She acted opposite

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 ...

in ''

'' and '' Mohana Punnagai''. She was paired with

M. G. Ramachandran Maruthur Gopalan Ramachandran (17 January 1917 – 24 December 1987), popularly known by his initialism M.G.R. and as Makkal Thilagam/Puratchi Thalaivar, was an Indian actor, politician, and philanthropist who served as the chief minister of ...

in ''

'' portraying the role of a princess. She acted in nearly 80 movies, mainly in South Indian languages.

Personal life

Padmapriya was regarded as the

Hema Malini Hema Malini Dharmendra Deol (born 16 October 1948; ) is an Indian actress, director, producer, and politician who is currently serving as a member of the Lok Sabha from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), representing Mathura constituency since 2 ...

of the South. Padmapriya was born in

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

. In 1983, she married Srinivasan and the couple has a daughter named Vasumathi. Just a year after marriage, the couple filed for divorce, which dragged on for a long time. After filing for divorce, Padmapriya stayed with her parents for 13 years at T. Nagar.

Death

Padmapriya died on 16 November 1997 from heart disease as well as kidney failure. After her death, Vasumathi tried to enter the film industry but failed and is now settled in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

Partial filmography

Padmapriya was fluent in all four South Indian languages and dubbed in her own voice. Her last movie in

was '' Thotta Chinungi'', where she played a mother's role. Table is in order of languages in which she acted, from the most to the fewest films after her marriage.

Tamil

Kannada

Malayalam

Telugu

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Padmapriya Indian film actresses 1997 deaths Year of birth missing Actresses from Karnataka Actresses in Kannada cinema Actresses in Telugu cinema Actresses in Malayalam cinema Actresses in Tamil cinema