Yesteryear heartthrob Srividya passes away

Thiruvananthapuram, Oct 19: Yesteryear heart throb and noted South Indian Actor Srividhya today died at a private hospital here following internal bleeding and cardiac arrest.

She was 53.

Srividya was admitted to a private hospital in the city two days back. She had been undergoing treatment for cancer for a long time.

Born to Carnatic singer M L Vasanthakumari and Comedian Krishnamurthy, Srividya started her film career at the age of 13 in ''Thiruvarutselvar,'' a Tamil movie.

Even from her very childhood, she was interested in dance and music. For more than four decades, she had straddled the South Indian film industry with her charming looks and acting prowess and had appeared in more than 900 films in various languages, including Hindi.

Srividya stepped into the Malayalam cine world with a leading role against the then superstar Satyan in ''Chattambikavala'' in 1969 and had acted in more than 200 Malayalam films.

She had starred against yesteryear matinee idols Prem Nazir, Madhu, Jayan and also with the new generation actors like Mohanlal.

Mammoty, Kamala Hassan and Rajanikant.

After her leading role in K Balachandar's ''Apoorvaragangal'', she shot into fame in Tamil. She was also a good singer and had sung in a few films.

She was married to George Thomas in 1978 but her married life was a failure and they legally got separated in 1999. She had been leading a lonely life since then.

She had won the Kerala state best actress award thrice for her role in ''Edavazhiyile poocha'' (1979), ''Rachana'' 1983, ''Daivathitte vikruthikal'' (1992).

''Jeevitham Oru Ragam, Sambhavam, Kattathe Kilikoodu, Chenda, Hridayam oru Kshetram, Adaminte Variyellu, Ayanam, Tharattu, Ente Soorya Puthrikku'' and ''Aniyathi Prava'' are some of her films in which she had proved her acting capabilities.

After decades of acting in films, she moved over to small screen and was acting in a few Malayalam TV serials like ''Vasunthara Medicals, Durga and Ammathambuati.''

UNI

Related Stories
Jaya describes Srividya's demise as a great loss