Kanchana (actress)
| Kanchana | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Vasundhara Devi 16 August 1939 Madras, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Relatives | Girija Pandey (sister) |
Vasundhara Devi, known by her stage name Kanchana (born 16 August 1939) is a noted Indian actress of the 1960s and 1970s. She acted in all four major south Indian languages: Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, and Malayalam, as well as in a few Hindi films.
She was born as Vasundhara Devi in a wealthy family from Madras, Tamil Nadu, where Kanchana was born. She learnt Bharata Natyam and Music.
Her father suffered business losses, and she went to work as an air hostess to support her family, when she was discovered by the film director C. V. Sridhar on a plane where he was a passenger. He gave her the lead role in his film Kaadhalikka Neramillai in 1963 and changed her name to Kanchana, since there was already another actress named Vasundhara Devi, mother of star Vyjayanthimala. Kanchana acted in over 150 films – Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi, with a successful acting career.
She had extremely successful career in Tamil films especially between 1964 and 1977 as lead heroine. Her critically acclaimed films include Kaadhalikka Neramillai, Thedi Vantha Thirumagal, Parakkum Paavai, Kodimalar, Adhey Kangal, Bama Vijayam, Naalum Therindavan, Thangai, Thulabaram, Ponnu Mappilai, Shanti Nilayam, Chella Penn,Uthiravindri Ulle Vaa, Vilaiyaattu Pillai, Sivanda Mann, Nyayam Ketkirom, Avalukendru Oru Manam, Pattondru Ketten, Engalakkum Kaadhal Varum. She retired from films in the early 1980s. In 2005, she was presented with the MGR award and in 2007 the ANR Swarna Kankanam award. In Tamil, she acted with R. Muthuraman in about 19 films including Kaadhalikka Neramillai, Kodimalar, Thulabharam (Tamil version), Thangai, Bama Vijayam and Avalukendru Oru Manam. She also acted with Sivaji Ganesan in Sivandha Mann, Vilayattu Pillai and Avan Oru Sarithiram. She did two films with MGR, Naan Yen Pirandhen and Parakkum Paavai. Apart from that, she was paired with many Tamil heroes like A. V. M. Rajan, S. S. Rajendran, Gemini Ganesan , Jaishankar, Ravichandran and Sivakumar.Her last film as lead heroine was Avan Oru Sarithiram in 1977 in Tamil.
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