Child Artiste to Supporting Actress, Negative Roles to Heroine - She Has Done it All! Most Prolific Supporting Actress of All time!

M N Rajam started her acting career a  child artist at the age of seven in stage plays and entered the world of movies at the age of nine in the year 1949 through the movie Nalla Thambi starring NSK and Bhanumathi. Her role as a vamp at the young age of 14, in the super hit M R Radha starrer Ratha Kanneer in the year 1954, proved to be the turning point in her Tamil Movie career. She has mentioned in several interviews that she had hesitated and had been reluctant to perform a scene in the movie in which she was supposed to kick M R Radha who was already a Super Star and senior actor then. But it was M R Radha who had given her the confidence to perform the scene and the movie had gone on to become a super hit movie. After that she had acted with all leading actors of the era, MGR, Sivaji, Gemini, SSR and others. Though she had acted in various roles it is only the negative roles which she had played in hundreds of movies that had got her a name in the industry. This particular song is from the movie Paavai Vilakku starring Sivaji Ganesan, Sowcar Janaki, Pandari Bai, Kumari Kamala along with M N Rajam in lead roles. The film was based on the popular Tamil novel "Paavai Vilakku" by Akilan. The story was known for its twists and turns and complex characters, which were brought out on screen in brilliant fashion by A.P. Nagarajan through his screenplay and by the fine performances Sivaji, Sowcar Janaki, Rajam, and Kumari Kamala and others. But the film had not done well at the box office. This song was the last song that was shot inside the famous Taj Mahal after which permission to shoot movies inside the Taj Mahal has not been given (to other movies) till date. The song was written by Maruthakasi. Music by K V Mahadevan and sung my C S Jeyaraman and P Susheela. This wonderful composition by K V Mahadevan based on Hindustani Classical music is truly a timeless classic!

The First Dance Super Star of Tamil Cinema - Kumari Kamala

Kumari Kamala entered the Tamil Movie Industry in the year 1938 at the age of four as a child artist and dancer in the movie Vaalibar Sangam. Her dancing skills and talent got noticed from the outset and she started doing more films including a few Hindi films. Her first major hit was Jagathalaprathapan which was released in 1944, a movie that featured her famous snake dance performance. She played a double role in the movie Sri Valli in 1945. She learnt Bharatha Naatiyam under the tutelage of Vzhuvoor B Ramaiah Pillai and took that particular form of dancing to great heights even after leaving the movie industry by establishing a famous dance school in Long Island in the US. Legend has it that her dance movements were so swift and flowing, the motion picture cameras of the 1930s and 1940s were unable to capture her movements perfectly! She has starred in more than 100 movies and Tamil and other South Indian Languages. Enjoy her performance in this song from Sivaji's Debut movie Parasakthi. Music by R Sudarsanam and Lyrics by the former CM of Tamil Nadu M Karunanidhi.