Sumithra (actress)


Sumithra is an Indian actress. She has appeared in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu language films. She acted as the lead heroine in films between 1974 and 1986. She later started being known for her roles as a mother since the 1990s.

Early life

Sumithra was born on September 18, 1948 to Raghavan Nair and Janaki at Thrissur, Kerala. She has three brothers, her father was working in an oil refining company. When she was doing her schooling, she learnt dance from Murugappan Master, who was the guide to K.R Vijaya at that time. Sumithra is a good classical dancer.
Sumithra started her career at 19 years of age in the movie Nruthasala in 1972, Director A.B Raj is the first director who noticed Sumithra's talent.
Sumithra acted as heroine with Rajani and Kamal as well as she acted as mother to both of them.
Sumithra made her debut in Nirmalayam. She has acted in over 200 films in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telugu languages. In Tamil, Avalum Penn Thaane was her first movie. Later in 1975, she made her debut Kannada movie Mugiyada Kathe, which had the popular song "Kangalu Vandane Helide". She has acted with leading heroes such as Vishnuvardhan, Rajesh in Kannada, Sivaji Ganesan, Jaishankar, Sivakumar, Rajnikanth and Kamal Haasan in Tamil. She's performed supporting roles in hundreds of Kannada, Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu movies.

Family

She was married to notable Kannada film director D. Rajendra Babu and has two daughters. Her elder daughter Umashankari made her entry into movies through the Kannada movie Uppi Dada M.B.B.S. as heroine and acted in a few movies. She made her small screen appearance through the Kannada mega serial Chikkamma in the lead role, which is telecast on Udaya TV. Her second daughter Nakshatra debuted as lead actress in Tamil movie Doo.

Filmography

Tamil

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