Rani Chandra life and biography

Rani Chandra born in Kochi, Kerala was a Malayalam film actress and also was the winner of Miss Kerala Title, who died in a plane crash in 1976. She acted in the films Nellu(Malayalam, 1974), Batrakali(Tamil, 1976) and Swapnadanam (Malayalam, 1976).

Her first film, Anjusundarikal, was widely accepted by the audience. Other major films included Ulsavam, Kadarumasam, Nellu, Swapnadanam, Oonjal, Alinganam, Abhinandanam, Sindoooram, Thirumadhuram, and Anuragam. She won the Kerala State Film Award for Best Actress for the film Swapnadanam. Rani Chandra played the major role in the very popular Tamil cinema song "Kannan Oru Kaikuzhanthai" in the film Bhadrakali.

Rani Chandra, her mother, and three sisters were killed in a plane crash. They were on a return flight from Bombay when their plane caught fire and nose dived near the airport, killing everyone on board. They were returning from a Dance performance in the Middle East. Ironically, their earlier flight from Mumbai to Chennai returned back to Mumbai shortly after take off after a snag hit. The aircraft and all passengers were re-boarded onto the flight. The dead included members of her music troupe as well.

After her death, the unfinished portion of the movie Bhadrakali was finished using a double. The movie ends using earlier footage of Rani Chandra.

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