Vyjayanthimala, the evergreen heroine of Indian cinema and the unique practitioner of Bharatnatyam, is celebrating her birthday today. Vyjayanthimala, who ruled the hearts of the audience for decades with her gentleness, dance-art and unmatched acting, was born in Triplicane, Chennai. Her mother was a well-known actress of Tamil cinema. Vyjayanthimala, who learned Bharatnatyam since childhood, started performing dance on stage at the age of just 13.

After starting her acting career with the Tamil film Vaazhkai in 1949, she entered Bollywood with the Hindi film Bahaar in 1951 and gained popularity with her first film itself. After this, superhit films like Nagin, Larki, Devdas, Madhumati, Sangam and Naya Daur made her one of the top actresses of the 50s to 70s. Her pairing with veteran actors like Dilip Kumar, Raj Kapoor, Sunil Dutt, Rajendra Kumar and Joy Mukherjee was very much liked by the audience. Along with Hindi, she was also active in South Indian and Bengali films. Ganwar released in 1970 was her last Hindi film.

Vyjayanthimala received the Filmfare Best Actress Award three times, but she turned down the Best Supporting Actress Award for Devdas in 1955, saying that her character of 'Chandramukhi' was equal to the lead role. In 1996, she received the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award. The Government of India honored her with Padma Shri in 1968 and Padma Vibhushan in 2024. Raj Kapoor had to take permission from his grandmother for the swimsuit scene in Sangam. She has been linked with Raj Kapoor many times but she has always denied these rumours. After marrying Chamanlal Bali in 1968, she took a break from films and remained active in stage performances of Bharatanatyam.

After retiring from films, she entered politics, won the Lok Sabha election in 1984 and later became a member of the Rajya Sabha. Today, at the age of 90, Vyjayanthimala still performs Bharatanatyam, which is a testimony to her energy and dedication. On her birthday, I salute her invaluable contribution to art and cinema.