Sukumari : six decades of presence

Malayalam actress Sukumari had established herself as an evergreen presence in Malayalam and Tamil cinema in her career spanning over six decades. Her versatile presence in every niche, who could do roles of a loving mother, comical, strong characters or opposition roles with tremendous ease, Sukumari had acted with all prominent heroes and heroines of Malayalam cinema of the present and the past.

The 'Sukumari touch' had been the imprint of more than 3000
films in Malayalam and Tamil which won the hearts of millions of viewers.

As she represented the family of artists, Sukumari born at Nagercoil in 1938, was a relative of Lalitha-Ragini-Padmini sisters. She learned dance with them and mastered dance forms like Kathakali and Bharathanatyam, where she performed many stage programs.

'Thaskaraveeran' with legendary actor Adoor Bhasi gave her the opportunity imprint her steps in the film industry and her last movie appearance was in '3 G.' Sukumari's film career started at the age of 10 with the Tamil film 'Orarivu'. She acted in various Malayalam films of the later black and white age including 'Chettathi', 'Kunjali Marakkar' and 'Thacholi Othenan'.

Some of Malayalam films include 'Poochakkoru Mookkuthi', 'Boeing Boeing', 'Rasikan', 'Achuvinte Amma', 'Appunni', 'Vandanam', 'Arappatta Kettiya Gramathil', 'Karyam Nissaram' and 'Nizhalkkutthu'.

Sukumari has acted in films in Malayalam, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Hindi, and used her own voice in all of the movies without taking the help of dubbing artistes. She was actively involved in films, TV serials and stage dramas till she was bed-ridden following burn injuries suffered at her house in Chennai.

The veteran actor had won the Padmashri in 2003 and the second best actress award in 2010 for her role in the bi-lingual movie 'Namma Gramam'. She had won several other awards, including the state award for supporting actress four times.