K L V Vasantha

Catapulted into stardom from a young age K L V Vasantha was an Indian actress, dancer and singer very well known for playing some great roles in the 1930s and 1940s. Born in the year 1923 in Kundrathur (a southwestern suburb of Chennai) Vasantha was always passionate about dancing and singing. She managed to bag her first role in the year 1934 in Thyagaraja Bhagavathar-SDS starrer ‘Pavalakodi’. Although this was a minor and uncredited role this stint made her realize that this was the life and dream that she wanted to live. From this point started her journey towards achieving stardom.

She was always a notable singer and dancer and she was cast in a major role in 1939 in B. N. Rao's “Rambaiyin Kaathal” which went to be a box office success. This movie acted as a launching platform for Vasantha and her role as Ramba truly established her as an actress with a notable performance to back her craft. The movie ended up running for approximately 25 weeks in many places and truly made Vasantha a well-known name in the industry. Rao then cast her again in his 1940 movie “Bhooloka Ramba” which after a few challenges (lack of funds) was completed and declared a hit post its release. S.S. Vasan set up his film production company Gemini Studios in 1941 and Vasantha portrayed the lead female character in “Madanakamarajan”, their debut production. In 1943 Vasan planned to do his next movie “ Chandralekha Click to look into! >> Read More... ” starring Vasantha but she had to decline due to personal reasons and was soon replaced by T.R. Rajakumari.

She then moved to Salem where she became a part of T. R. Sundaram’s theatre company Modern Theatres. Sundaram cast her as the lead in many of his movies like Rajarajeswari (1944), Burma Rani (1945) and Sulochana (1947). Vasantha and Sundaram eventually got married. Vasantha also starred in movies like Subhadhra and the Wahab Kashmiri-directed Chitra, which were not successful, and after acting in a few more movies which also didn’t do well she moved to Chennai. She lived a quiet life away from stardom in Thyagaraya Nagar from this stage onwards and eventually passed away in 2008 leaving behind some memorable performances for her fans and loved ones.