Sukumari S

Born in the year 1940 in Trivandrum, the evergreen artiste of South India, started acting when she was 7 years old. She danced into films, first as a child artiste in Oru Iravu and continued her performance as a heroine, character artiste, comedian, vamp, mother and as a grandmother.

For the past 51 years she has created an unforgettable image by acting in more than 2000 films in Malayalam, Hindi, Telugu, Tamil, Oriya and Bengali.

In fact, she has a unique distinction of having acted with many heroes of the past and their children at present - Kottarakkara and his son Saikumar, Sivaji Ganesan and his son Prabhu, Nageswara Rao and his son Nagarjuna, Prem Nazir and his son Shah Nawaz, Muthuraman and his son Karthik, Kunjako and his son Boban. She has also acted with veteran actors and actresses like M.G.R., Sivaji, Madhu, Gemini Ganesan, Sathyan, Savithri, Lalitha, Padmini, Ragini, Sarada and many others.

She has carved a niche for herself in the Southern Film & Television scene. She is a household name in all the four southern states. She is not only a film artiste but also a very good drama and stage artiste. She started dancing at the age of 7 and has given various performances all over India, Ceylon, Singapore, Malaysia along with the Travancore Sisters (Lalitha, Padmini, Ragini) and with Mrs.Rajasulochana (a film artiste). She has performed in more than 5000 shows in the troupe called "Pushpanjali" and in about 1000 shows with Kuchalakumari.

She is also and active stage and drama artiste for the last 40 years. She has acted with Mr.Y.G.Parthasarathy's troupe, Viveka Fine Arts directed by Mr. 'Cho' Ramaswamy and in other troupes. She has also performed for cultural shows in the U.S.A., Singapore, Malaysia, Dubai, Australia and Germany.

She has won many state awards in Kerala and Tamil Nadu for her performance in films such as Koodevide, Kariyam Nissaram, Arappata Kettiya Gramathil and Thuraimugam. The Tamil Nadu state government has conferred upon her the Kalai Mamani and Kalai Selvam awards.

Mrs.Sukumari continues with her performances on the silver screen and also acts in Malayalam and Tamil TV Shows. Sukumari sustained injuries while lighting the traditional lamp at a function in Chennai. She was subsequently admitted to a private hospital in Chennai an underwent plastic surgery. However on 26 March, she died of a heart attack she had suffered from while recovering. Following her death, notable South Indian personalities offered their condolences. among them Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, Keralite actor Mohanlal and Kerala's Chief Minister, Oommen Chandy.A great loss to the South Indian Filim Industry.