Sukumari

Sukumari was ten and visiting a film set with Padmini when a director spotted her, and she made her debut as the lead in the Tamil film Ore Iravu. Padmini, Lalitha and Ragini, the dancers known as the Travancore Sisters, were her cousins. Born in Nagercoil to Malayali parents on 6 October 1940, she attended Poojappura LP School and continued her studies in Madras. She trained in Kathakali, Bharatanatyam and Kerala Natanam, and built a large stage career too, with thousands of shows for Cho Ramaswamy's Viveka Fine Arts and other troupes and tours to countries including the USA, Singapore and Australia. Over more than five decades she acted in over 2,500 films, mainly Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu, with a few in Hindi and other languages. Chettathi, Kunjali Marakkar, Thacholi Othenan and Yakshi belong to her black-and-white years. Malayalam and Tamil films are where she is best remembered. Later she became a familiar face in Priyadarshan comedies such as Poochakkoru Mookkuthi, Boeing Boeing and Vandanam, worked in Balachandra Menon's films and had a major part in Adoor Gopalakrishnan's Nizhalkuthu (2002). Mother roles came often, many of them alongside Mammootty. She received the Padma Shri in 2003 and won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for the Tamil film Namma Gramam. Her Priyadarshan film Thenmavin Kombathu (1994) has returned to theatres in a 4K version. She died on 26 March 2013.