Krishna Kumari (actress)

T. Krishna Kumari (6 March 1933 – 24 January 2018)[2] was a leading Telugu actress of the 1950s and 1960s.[3] She was the sister of great actress Sowkar Janaki.

Krishna Kumari
Born	6 March 1933 (1933-03-06) Naihati, West Bengal
Died	January 24, 2018(2018-01-24) (aged 84)[1] Bangalore, Karnataka
Spouse(s)	Ajay Mohan Khaitan (1969- 2012, his death)
Relatives	Sowcar Janaki (sister), Deepika Maiya (daughter)

Krishna Kumari was a leading actress and a contemporary of Savitri. Her co-stars include legends N.T. Rama Rao, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Krishnam Raju, Dr. Rajkumar, Sivaji Ganesan, Kanta Rao, and Jaggayya. Krishna Kumari ruled the Telugu industry but also acted in Tamil and Kannada movies briefly.[4]

Early life

Krishna Kumari was born in a Telugu Madhwa Brahmin family[5] at Naihati, West Bengal to Venkoji Rao and Sachi Devi. Her family hails from Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh. Her sister, Sowkar Janaki is also a leading actress in Telugu and Tamil cinema.

Career

T. Krishna Kumari started her career with a small role in Pathala Bhairavi. She later played the role of a heroine for the first time in Navvithe Navaratnalu the same year. She featured as leading actress in several Tamil movies, notably Thirumbi Paar (1953), Manithan (1953), Azhagi (1953), Pudhu Yugam (1954), Viduthalai (1954) and Thuli Visham (1954). Krishna Kumari then began to focus on Telugu cinema, which propelled her to superstardom. Her movies Bharya Bhartalu (1961), Vagdanam (1961), Kulagothralu (1962), Gudi Gantalu (1964) remain some of Telugu cinema's classics. In the early 60s, Krishna Kumari entered the Kannada film industry briefly, choosing to return to her preferred Telugu cinema within years. But in the short span of 5–6 years, she gave memorable performances, most of them co-starring Dr Rajkumar. In fact, her first ever award was for the Rajkumar starrer, Bhaktha Kanakadasa (1960). In Hindi, she acted in Kabhi Andhera Kabhi Ujala (1958). She was rechristened Rati but again, Hindi cinema held no attraction for Krishna Kumari. Although she had several offers in Hindi cinema, she returned to Madras. Her most successful movies have been with Akkineni Nageswara Rao, NT Rama Rao and also several mythological roles with Tadepalli Lakshmi Kantha Rao.[6][7]

Krishna Kumari acted in 150 Telugu films, and about 30 Tamil and Kannada films. Her repertoire won her fans across Indian states and the President's Award.[8]

Personal life

In 1969, Krishna Kumari married Ajay Mohan Khaitan, a businessman and journalist who had previously served as Editor of the Indian Express and was the founder of two magazines, Screen and Businessman. Ajay Mohan Khaitan had previously been married to another lady also named Krishna, who was the daughter of Ramnath Goenka, founder and owner of Indian Express. By his previous marriage, Ajay Mohan Khaitan was the father of two sons, including Vivek, who was adopted by Ramnath Goenka and given the name Viveck Goenka; he is presently running Indian Express.[9]

After marriage, Krishna Kumari chose to step away from the arclights and moved to her husband's farmhouse near Bangalore, where she devoted herself to her family and developed her interests in cooking and gardening. Krishna Kumari and Khaitan had a daughter, Dipika; according to some reports, Dipika was adopted by the couple.[10] Dipika married Vikram Maiya, who belongs Maiya family which owns the famous MTR restaurant in Bangalore and the MTR brand of ready-to-eat foods.[11]

Ajay Mohan Khaitan died in 2012 aged 85. Krishna Kumari continued to live at her farmhouse in Bengaluru with her daughter Dipika Maiya, son-in-law Vikram Maiya and grandson, Pavan Maiya. She died on January 24, 2018 in Bengaluru from bone marrow cancer.[12][13]

Filmography

Year	Title	Role(s)	Director(s)	Language(s)	Notes	Ref.
1951	Navvithe Navaratnalu	Meena	S. Soundararajan	Telugu		[14]
	Pathala Bhairavi	Gandharva Kanya	K. V. Reddy			[15]
1952	Priyuralu		Tripuraneni Gopichand
1953	Thirumbi Paar		T. R. Sundaram	Tamil		[16]
	Azhagi		Sundar Rao Nadkarni
	Manithan		K. Ramnoth			[17]
	Pichi Pullayya	Kantham	T. Prakash Rao	Telugu		[18]
1954	Bangaru Papa	Papa	Bommireddy Narasimha Reddy
	Pudhu Yugam		Gopu Sundar	Tamil
	Viduthalai		K. Ramnoth
	Thuli Visham		A. S. A. Sami
	Karkottai		Kemparaj Urs
	Jaladurga			Kannada
1956	Ilavelpu		Dasari Yoganand	Telugu
1957	Vinayaka Chaviti	Rukmini	Samudrala Raghavacharya
	Veera Kankanam	Rajini	G. R. Rao
1960	Deepavali	Rukmini Devi	S. Rajnikanth
	Pelli Kanuka	Geeta	C. V. Sridhar
	Nithya Kalyanam Paccha Thoranam	Chand	Srirama Murthy Pinisetti
	Bhakta Kanakadasa		Y. R. Swamy	Kannada
	Umma		Kunchacko	Malayalam
	Aasha Sundari		Hunsur Krishnamurthy	Kannada
	Dashavathara		P. G. Mohan
	Santhi Nivasam	Raagini	C. S. Rao	Telugu
1961	Bharya Bhartalu	Sharada	Kotayya Pratyagatma			[19]
	Vagdanam	Vijaya	Aacharya Aatreya
	Sampoorna Ramayana	Mandodari	Babubhai Mistry	Hindi
	Shri Shaila Mahathme		Aroor Pattabhi	Kannada
1962	Swarna Gowri		Y. R. Swamy
	Kula Gothralu	Saroja	Kotayya Pratyagatma	Telugu		[20]
	Mahathma Kabir		P. Srinivas	Kannada
	Thendral Veesum		B. S. Ranga	Tamil	Simultaneously shot & produced in Telugu and Tamil
	Aasha Jeevulu			Telugu
1963	Chaduvukunna Ammayilu	Vasantha	Adurthi Subba Rao
	Lakshadhikari	Padma	V. Madhusudhan Rao
	Punarjanma	Radha	Kotayya Pratyagatma
	Chandrakumara		N. S. Varma	Kannada
1964	Doctor Chakravarthy	Dr. Sridevi	Adurthi Subba Rao	Telugu
	Gudi Gantalu	Kasthuri	V. Madhusudhan Rao
1965	Antastulu	Mala
	Sri Simhachala Kshetra Mahima	Apsarasa Sirisha	B. V. Prasad
	Uyyala Jampala (1965 film)		K. B. Tilak
	Sathi Savithri		P. R. Kaundanya	Kannada
1966	Sri Krishna Tulabharam	Jambavathi	Kamalakara Kameswara Rao	Telugu
	Chilaka Gorinka	K. Usha Devi	Kotayya Pratyagatma
1967	Chikkadu Dorakadu	Padmavathi Devi	B. Vittalacharya
	Iddaru Monagallu
	Shri Krishnavataram	Lakshana	Kamalakara Kameswara Rao
	Ummadi Kutumbam	Sarada	Dasari Yoganand
	Pedda Akkayya		B. A. Subba Rao
	Vasantha Sena	Vasantha Sena	B. S. Ranga
	Punyavathi	Shanti	V. Dada Mirasi
	Bhuvana Sundari Katha	Bhuvana Sundari	C. Pullaiah
1968	Vara Katnam	Sujatha	N. T. Rama Rao
	Uyira Maanama	Russian woman	K. S. Gopalakrishnan	Tamil
	Tikka Sankaraiah	Susheela	Dasari Yoganand	Telugu
	Nindu Samsaram	Jyothi	C. S. Rao
	Pedarasi Peddamma Katha	Nagakanya	G. Suryam
1971	Sampoorna Ramayanam	Mandodari	Bapu
	Varalakshmi Vratam		B. Vittalacharya
1972	Manavudu Danavudu		P. Chandrasekhara Reddy
	Bharya Biddalu	Susheela	Tatineni Rama Rao
1973	Neramu Siksha		K. Viswanath
1975	Yashoda Krishna	Devaki	C. S. Rao
	Gunavanthudu		Adurthi Subba Rao
1976	Jyothi	Vishali	K. Raghavendra Rao
	Secretary	Dr.Vijayalakshmi	K. S. Prakash Rao
1986	Veer Eklavya		Vijay Reddy	Hindi		[21]
2003	Fools		Dasari Narayana Rao	Telugu	Special appearance	[22]

In pop culture

• Krishna Kumari was portrayed by actress Pranitha Subhash in the 2019 biographical film N.T.R: Kathanayakudu, based on the real life and acting career of N. T. Rama Rao.[23]

References

1. "Krishna Kumari is no more". Deccan Chronicle. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
2. "Yesteryear actor Veteran actor T Krishna Kumari of Telugu cinema no more". The New Indian Express. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
3. "Not ready for greasepaint". The Hindu. 30 June 2006. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
4. "Veteran actor T Krishna Kumari was truly a 'star of south'". The New Indian Express. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
5. "Changing roles with the years". The Hindu. Retrieved 28 May 2016.
6. "The original swashbuckler". The Hindu. 3 April 2009. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
7. "Krishna Kumari: An actress with cinematic and natural charm". The Hindu. 24 January 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
8. "My Mother T. Krishna Kumari". maiyapublishing.com. Archived from the original on 25 March 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
9. "'Sowcar' Janaki talks about sister Krishna Kumari". Telangana Today. 27 January 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
10. "A book about former Telugu actress Krishna Kumari Khaitan's culinary skills reveals the food connoisseur's special recipes". The New Indian Express. 15 October 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
11. "T Krishna Kumari: A glamourous actress who had immense family values". The Times of India. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
12. "Telugu actress T Krishna Kumari to undergo chemotherapy for bone marrow cancer". International Business Times. 28 March 2017. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
13. "Krishna Kumari-An actress of substance". The Hans India. 25 January 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
14. "Navvithe Navarathnaalu (1951)". The Hindu. 19 January 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
15. "Pathalabhairavi (1951)". The Hindu. 13 April 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
16. "How Kalaignar's movie scripts show a subtle blend of Dravidian politics, mythology and women-centric stories". The New Indian Express. 8 August 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
17. "Manithan 1953". The Hindu. 9 March 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
18. "Pitchi Pullaiah (1953)". The Hindu. 12 October 2013. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
19. "Bharya Bharthalu (1961)". The Hindu. 28 April 2016. Retrieved 1 February 2020.
20. "Vizag's contribution to films". The Hindu. 27 January 2007. Archived from the original on 11 January 2013. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
21. "VEER EKLAVYA (1986)". British Film Institute. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
22. "Movie review - Fools by Gudipoodi Srihari". Idlebrain.com. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
23. "Pranitha Subhash to play yesteryear heroine Krishnakumari in NTR biopic". The Times of India. 22 December 2018. Retrieved 1 February 2020.

External links

• Krishna Kumari on IMDb