Vyjayanthimala life and biography

Vyjayanthimala or Vyjayanthimala Bali was born on August 13, 1936, in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. She is a major Indian actress of the 1950s and '60s, who won a large number of awards for her acting and classical dancing achievements. Following her cinema career, she entered Indian politics, and became a Member of Parliament.

Born in an orthodox Tamil Brahmin family, Vyjayanthimala became involved in cinema at the age of 15 years old and acted in the Bollywood films Bahar and "Ladki". Following the success of Nagin, Vyjayanthimala established herself as a Bollywood star and a successful Tamil actress.

Her films include Devdas, Sadhna, Sangam, Suraj, Jewel Thief and Prince in Hindi and Vanjikottai Valiban, Baghdad Thirudan, Then Nilavu, Parthiban Kanavu and Irumbu Thirai in Tamil. Vyjayanthi was a hit pair with Dilip Kumar: Madhumati, Naya Daur, Gunga Jumna, Paigham, Leader and Sunghursh. Vyjayanthimala also made box office hits in lighter roles with Kishore Kumar in movies like Aasha and New Delhi.

She left the industry after another critically acclaimed historical Hindi film Amrapali which based on life of the nagarvadhu (royal courtesan) of Vaishali. Amrapali did not do well at the box office though director Baldev Raj Chopra felt that she could have easily continued for another decade in lead roles.

Besides film, Vyjayanthimala's main concentration was in Bharata Natyam a form of Indian classical dance. She is an accomplished dancer and introduced a lot of semi-classical dance in Bollywood. After quitting movies Vyjayanthimala Bali continued with her dance career.

Vyjayanthimala married Chamanlal Bali. After marriage, she terminated her acting career and moved to Chennai. They have a son, Suchindra Bali. In 2007, she published her autobiography, titled Bonding, with Jyoti Sabarwal as co-writer.

Notable filmography:

1967 Hatey Bazarey, Jewel Thief
1968 Sunghursh ; Munni / Laila-E-Aasmaan
1969 Prince

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