Yaragudipati Venkata Mahalakshmi (born 13 December 1952), known professionally as Lakshmi, is an Indian actress known for her works primarily in all 4 Southern Indian language film industries (distributing her acting career across all four languages almost equally). She has also acted in some Hindi films. She debuted with the 1968 Kannada film Goa Dalli CID 999 where she played a full-fledged lead role. She made her debut in Tamil with the movie Jeevanaamsam (1968) where she played the role of lead actor's sister. She also made her debut in Telugu in the same year with the film Bandhavyalu.
In 1974, her debut Malayalam film, Chattakari went on to become a blockbuster throughout India. She has acted in over 650 films as confirmed in the popular Kannada TV Show Weekend With Ramesh on Zee Kannada channel. Her performance in Mithunam (2012) is regarded as one of the 100 Greatest Performances of the Decade by Film Companion. Lakshmi then went on to appear in a number of commercially successful films in various languages without a hesitation or diction. She dubs her voice for all of her movies, irrespective of the language and remains one of the very few critically acclaimed stars to achieve this stage.
In a career spanning more than five decades she has won one National Film Award for Best Actress, nine Filmfare Awards South, One Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress, Nandi Awards, Karnataka State Film Award for Best Actress for the movie Hoovu Hannu, the Bengal Film Journalists Association Awards and various other state awards.
Lakshmi made her Bollywood debut in 1975, with the woman-centric Julie, the remake of Malayalam film Chattakkari. After appearing as a lead actress for more than a decade, she switched over to character roles. She is the only actress who has won the Filmfare Award for Best Actress including south languages and Hindi films .
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Early life
Lakshmi was born and raised in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Her mother Kumari Rukmini was a Tamil actress. Her father, Yaragudipati Varada Rao, was a Telugu producer, director, thespian, screenwriter, editor and actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and Tamil Cinema.
Career
Lakshmi debuted with the 1968 Kannada film Goa Dalli CID 999. She established herself as a successful and popular actress in South India in the 1970s, acting in all four South Indian languages: Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil and Telugu. Lakshmi rose to fame with her first Malayalam movie Chattakari (1974), which won her the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress. This has the distinction of being the first Malayalam film to run continuously for 40 weeks in a Bangalore theatre. Chattakari (1974) was remade in Hindi as Julie (1975) and in Telugu as Miss Julie Prema Katha (1975). In addition to a Filmfare Best Actress Award, she also won the Bengal Film Journalists' Association Awards for the "most outstanding work of the year", for her work in Julie. She is known for her versatility as an actress and for the glamorous outlook she embodied. Her acting in the Telugu film Panthulamma is often credited as one of her best performances.
After the success of her debut Malayalam film Chattakari, she starred in many other films in Malayalam. She won Filmfare Awards for Best Actress for her performances in Chalanum and Mohiniyaattam.
She is the only actress to have played daughter, sister, love interest and wife to Sivaji Ganesan, and even her mother has acted heroine opposite him and has acted with almost all the leading actors and stars of South India, but it was her combination with famous Kannada star Anant Nag in the 70s and 80s that struck a chord with the audience. Nag and Lakshmi are considered one of the all-time greatest pairs in South Indian cinema. They acted together in 10-12 films. Their pair was considered best-looking and the right recipe for success. Some of these films were based on TaRaSu novels and dealt with the lives of married middle-class couples.
After her success in Julie, Lakshmi didn't star in many Hindi films and instead concentrated on doing more South Indian films. She won the National Film Award for Best Actress for Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal (1977), becoming one of the first South Indian actresses to win that category for a Tamil film. When her career as a leading lady ended in the 1980s, she started playing supporting roles as a mother and later as a grandmother. She played Aishwarya Rai's grandmother in the Tamil musical blockbuster film, Jeans (1998) and Kareena Kapoor's grandmother in the hit film, Hulchul (2004).
She has performed in more than 400 films and has also been involved in politics.
Personal life
Lakshmi's first marriage was with Bhaskaran with whom she has a daughter, actress Aishwariyaa Bhaskaran. They later got divorced.
Her second marriage was with co-star Mohan Sharma on the sets of Chattakari (1975) and ended in divorce (1980).
While she was shooting En Uyir Kannamma (1988) she and actor-director M. Sivachandran fell in love and got married (1987). The couple adopted a girl named Samyuktha in 2000.
Awards
National Film Awards
1977 – National Film Award for Best Actress for Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal
Filmfare Awards
1976 – Filmfare Award for Best Actress for Julie
Filmfare Awards South
1974 – Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actress for Dikkatra Parvathi
1974 – Filmfare Award for Best Malayalam Actress for Chattakari
1975 – Filmfare Award for Best Malayalam Actress for Chalanum
1976 – Filmfare Award for Best Malayalam Actress for Mohiniyaattam
1978 - Filmfare Special Jury Award for Oru Nadigai Natakam Parkiral & Panthulamma
1983 – Filmfare Award for Best Tamil Actress for Unmaigal
1986 – Filmfare Award for Best Telugu Actress for Sravana Meghalu
1993 – Filmfare Award for Best Kannada Actress for Hoovu Hannu
1998 – Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award (South)
Cinema Express Awards
1986 – Cinema Express Award for Best Actress – Tamil for Samsaram Adhu Minsaram
Nandi Awards
Best Actress - Panthulamma (1977)
Best Actress - Sravana Meghalu (1986)
Best Character Actress - Murari (2001)
Special Jury Award - Mithunam (2012)
Karnataka State Film Awards
1993 – Best Actress for Hoovu Hannu
2008 – Best Supporting Actress for Vamshi
2017 – Dr. Rajkumar Award (Highest honor in the Kannada Film Industry).
Tamil Nadu State Film Awards
1978 – Tamil Nadu State Film Award for Best Actress for Oru Nadigai Naatakam Paarkiraal
Kerala State Film Awards
1974 – Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress for Chattakari
Bengal Film Journalists Association Awards
1975 - Most outstanding work of the year for Julie
South India International Movie Awards
2021 – SIIMA Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Oh! Baby
Notable filmography
TV serials
Adutha Veetu Kavithai
Nallathor Veenai
Mahalakshmi
TV shows
Kannadada Kotyadhipati as Contestant (Kannada)
Kadhai Alla Nijam reality show in Vijay TV (Tamil)
Neena Naana as Host (Kannada)
Champions as Judge (Kannada)
Drama Juniors as Judge (Kannada)
Kathe Alla Jeevana (Kannada)
