T. P. Rajalakshmi
T. P. Rajalakshmi was born in Thiruvaiyaru, Tamil Nadu, India on November 11th, 1911 and is the Film Director. At the age of 112, T. P. Rajalakshmi biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 112 years old, T. P. Rajalakshmi physical status not available right now. We will update T. P. Rajalakshmi's height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, and measurements.
In order to support her family, Rajalakshmi joined a drama troupe and acted in stage plays. She learnt dance and music from Sankaradas Swamigal, a popular dramatist. Rajalakshmi got her big break in 1931, when she was cast as the heroine in the first Tamil talkie, Kalidas. Later on, Rajalakshmi turned out to be the star cast of those days. Many directors and producers requested Rajalakshmi to provide her call sheet for the upcoming films.
She was honored with the title "Cinema Rani" and later, she was awarded the "Kalaimamani" award (1961–62) for her excellence towards the Cine Industry, for which Dr.M.G.Ramachandran, who later became the Chief Minister, honoured T. P. Rajalakshmi by sending his own car to Rajalakhmi's house in order to invite the pioneer to the venue, where Rajalakshmi was facilitated and awarded.
As a novelty, Rajalakshmi introduced a sequence in which a song is heard over the radio. It was a period when radio was not yet a familiar medium of entertainment.
Rajalakshmi employed stunt sequences to portray the kidnapping of the heroine by a hired gang for which she engaged well known stunt actors of the day – 'Battling' C. S. D. Singh and 'Stunt' Rajoo.
In addition of being a First Lady Director & producer of South Indian Cinemas, T.P.Rajalakshmi also holds a historic record of being the First Heroine of Tamil Films. Movie: Kalidas is the first Talkie film of South India & T.P.Rajalakshmi is the heroine of Kalidas movie. The movie reel of Kalidas was brought to the theatres as a procession by Tamil audiences in Chennai. All along the way, people lit Agarbathis and broke coconut, welcoming the Film Reel of the First Talkie movie starring their favourite Cinema Rani T.P.Rajalakshmi. Kalidas is a movie that showed the audience that 'MOVIES CAN SPEAK'. All the films that were released before Kalidas movie were Silent Movies. Also it is noted that before Rajalakshmi turned out to be a Heroine, male actors used to disguise as Women actors and act in movies for the heroine roles.
A staunch patriot, Rajalakshmi was associated with the Freedom Movement and the Indian National Congress. To express her devotion to the cause, she produced a film, India Thai. The British Indian censors objected to the title of the film, but TPR never minded the protest and she released the film daring in the name of the Indhiya Thaai. Heavily mauled by the censors, this film fared badly at the box office but she did not mind the loss for her, rather she felt it was her contribution to the Freedom Movement.
She later switched to matronly roles in movies such as Idhaya Geetham. Rajalakshmi became wealthy, owning sizeable properties in Kilpauk. In one of her movies, Nandakumar, T. P. Rajalakshmi objected to wearing a "katcham" (a bra-like costume). Noted star Durga Khote wore it for the Marathi version without a murmur of protest. However, Rajalakshmi threatened to walk out of the movie, and left with no option, a 1930s – Poona-fashion "jumper" blouse was used for the replacement of the katcham.
When T.P.R was staying at a hotel for her film shoot, Kumari Rukmini (Actress Lakshmi's mother) was staying on the next room where TPR stayed. Kumari Rukmini along with her parents met the star-Rajalakshmi & expressed Rukmini's interests & passion to act in movies. T.P.R recommended Rukmini for the film & Rukmini's film acting career thus begun. Similarly, when T.P.R visited Madurai for her film shoot, playback singer T.M.Soundarrajan visited T.P.Rajalakshmi as a courtesy call & asked for a singing chance.
T.P.R acted many films with V.A.Chellappa, T.R.Mahalingam, N.S.Krishnan, M.G.Chakrapani (brother of actor and former CM of Tamil Nadu- Dr.M.G.R). The combination of T.P.R & V.A.Chellappa was a super-hit expectation of the audiences and fans.
Other leading stars like Sandhya (Mother of Ms.J.Jayalalithaa), Sivaji Ganesan, Padmini, Savithri, Gemini Ganesan, M.G.R, T.R.Mahalingam, M.N. Nambiar and others from the film industry of those days had a great respect for T. P. Rajalakshmi, and the entire South Indian Film Industry of those days were so proud for T. P. Rajalakshmi's achievements and contributions for the development of Tamil Cinemas.