Chennai, April 6: Popular actress Sujatha died after a brief illness in her residence here today. Sujatha, who has acted in all south Indian languages and a couple of Hindi films, was a multi-faceted actress who starred opposite giants Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan Kamal Haasan and Rajinikant.
Born in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) in 1952, she hailed from Kerala and could speak all the south Indian languages fluently.
It is reported that she was ailing for some time and breathed her last today.
Sujatha made a mark as an actress with her splendid portrayal in ‘Aval Oru Thodarkathai’ which was her debut in Tamil. Moulded in the film school of director K Balachander who introduced her in Tamil, she went on to do many meaty roles in Tamil as a young heroine. Her tall frame and beautiful face won her many hearts and a series of hits followed.
The runaway hit ‘Annakili’, a simple rural love story, which also saw the smashing entry of Ilayaraja as music director, brought her name and fame. ‘Avargal’, again under K Balachander, acted with Rajinikant and Kamal Haasan in a plucky role, established her credentials as one of the most talented actresses of her time.
Some memorable films of Sujatha are ‘Andaman Kadhali’ with Sivaji Ganesan, ‘Annan Oru Koil’, again with Sivaji Ganesan, ‘Poonthalir’ opposite Sivakumar, ‘Lalitha’ paired with Gemini Ganesan, and ‘Vidhi’. She acted a couple of movies with Muthuraman also.
With age catching up, as is the rule in Tamil film industry, she was relegated to character roles. But even here she acquitted herself in mother roles – played opposite heroes she had paired with as heroine. She played the role of mother to Rajinikant in ‘Baba’ so brilliantly that it left many wondering why she was not given the award for supporting actress for the film.
Her last movie was in 2004 - ‘Varalaru’ - where she played the mother role for Ajith Kumar.
The charming actress was so popular at one point of time that she became the Lux face for its ads.
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