Showing all artists born in 1928

Pandari Bai (Kannada: ಪಂಡರೀ ಬಾಯಿ; 18 September 1928 – 29 January 2003) was a prominent actress of South Indian languages films mostly in Kannada and Tamil during the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. She is considered Kannada cinema's first successful heroine. She has the distinction of having acted as both heroine and mother to stalwarts such as Rajkumar, MGR and Sivaji Ganesan. She was the heroine in Rajkumar's debut movie Bedara Kannappa and also Sivaji's debut movie Parasakthi.She has acted in over 1,000 films in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Hindi.

Born in Bhatkal, Karnataka, in present Uttara Kannada in a Marathi speaking family. Her father was a drawing master and a Harikatha exponent, and also a stage actor. He taught her the art of Harikatha, thus even before she was ten years old, Pandari started giving Harikatha performances.

Pandaribai began her career in acting in plays based on mythological stories before making her film debut in 1943 with the Kannada language film, Vani. She shot to fame after appearing in the hugely successful 1954 Kannada film Bedara Kannappa opposite another future star Rajkumar. In the film, she played the role of Neela, wife of Kanna (played by Rajkumar), a hunter. She established herself as a lead actress portraying a woman with a 'progressive' image assuming the burdens of a feudal patriarchy in films such as Sant Sakhu (1955) and Rayara Sose (1957).In 1959, she appeared in Abba Aa Hudugi, with her sister Mynavathi. The film is considered a landmark in Kannada cinema.

She went to act in around 1,500 films in other languages like Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi and enjoyed a long career span of nearly half a century. Her first film in Tamil Parasakthi directed by the duo directors Krishnan-Panju in the year 1952, where she paired with Sivaji Ganesan was a grand success. She played lead roles in many movies and then switched over to character roles.

Later in her career Pandari Bai played the mother of stars older than her, most of whom had played the lead with her in her earlier years. She also played as mother to actors like M. G. Ramachandran in Tamil and Rajesh Khanna in Hindi, N.T. Ramarao in Telugu. Pandari Bai also acted in a couple of Kannada TV serials Amma and Manethana (1998–2000). Both of them were produced by her sister Mynavathy's Son's company Yantra Media.The last picture in her career was "Baaro Nanna Muddina Krishna" in Kannada which had Sashikumar as lead.

Manayangath Subramanian Viswanathan also known as M.S.V., is a Tamil music director. He is popularly known as "Mellisai Mannar" (Tamil for "the King of Light Music"). His major works over the past five decades have been in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films. He has also acted and sung in a few films.

Akkamappettai Paramasivan Nagarajan (24 February 1928 – 1977) was an Indian film director, producer, actor and writer who set a trend in film making in Tamil cinema in 1960s and 1970s.

A. P. Nagarajan was born on 24 February 1928 under the name Kuppuswamy. His father, Paramasiva Gounder, died when Kuppuswamy was a young boy; within a few months, he mother Lakshmi Ammal died too. His maternal grandmother, Manicka Ammal, took charge of the boy. Afraid that he might not be cared for by the family, she admitted him to a drama company without informing them of the boy's antecedents.

Later he shifted to Avvai T. K. Shanmugam's drama company. As there were many Kuppuswamis, his name was changed to Nagarajan. Nagarajan learnt the basics of theatre and rose to play the lead in the play "Gumasthavin Penn." A remarkable actor, he brought to life all the roles he donned, his early "sthreepart" roles being very popular with the audience. He worked in the Madurai Jayarama Sangeetha Boys Company as well as Sakthi Nadaga Sabha, along with Sivaji Ganesan and Kaka Radhakrishnan.

Nagarajan started his own drama company, the Pazhani Kadiravan Nadaga Sabha, and, in 1949, married Rani Ammal. He wrote and acted in several plays and one of his plays "Nalvar" was made into a movie. Nagarajan wrote the screenplay for his own story and play the hero in this film. His film career thus began in 1953.

He also acted in many movies for producer M. A. Venu, formerly of Modern Theatres, such as Mangalyam, Nalla Thangal and Pennarasi. He wrote the screenplay for Town Bus and by 1956 decided to focus on writing. He wrote Naan Petra Selvam and Makkalai Petra Maharasi — in the latter, he introduced the ‘Kongu' Tamil accent for the hero. The first of his many mythological films — Sampoorna Ramayanam (1958) — was a big success, and Rajaji, who had little regard for cinema, watched this film and praised Sivaji Ganesan's performance as Bharatha in it.

He then started to produce in partnership with actor V. K. Ramaswamy. Some of the works of this period include Nalla Idaththu Sammandham (1958), Thayai Pol Pillai, Noolai Pol Selai (1959) and Paavai Vilakku. He made his directorial debut with Vadivukku Valaigaappu (1962). He launched his own production company with Navarathri and then went on to make a mark in the field of mythological cinema as well.
In 1965, a year after the release of Karnan, Thiruvilayadal hit the screens and set box office records. This was followed by Saraswathi Sabatham, Kandhan Karunai, Thiruvarutchelvar, Thirumal Perumai, Agasthiyar, Thirumalai Deivam, Karaikaal Ammaiyar and Sri Krishna Leela. He made Thillana Mohanambal and Raja Raja Chozhan, both of which too deserve to be restored.

Thillana Mohanambal is a novel published as a serial in the famous Anandha Vikatan (Tamil weekly). Sri Kothamangalam Subbu a staff of Gemini studios wrote the story with the pseudo name Kalaimani. The story was read by millions of Tamil across the globe and they felt as if they are part of the turmoils of the hero Sikkil Shanmughasundaram, a nathaswaram player powerfully portraied by Sivaji ganesan and Thillana Mohanambal equally well done by Padmini.

Director A.P.N very scrupulously condensed the story so that it was thoroughly enjoyable for 150 minutes. The specificity of the movie is that it had the pleasing music set to score by K.V.Mahadevan. Another important aspect of the movie is that the contribution of the supporting actors played a very important role in making the film crispy like those of Manorama, Nagesh, T.S.Balaiah and A.V.M Rajan. In short, this film could be classified one among the ten best movies of Tamil cinema.

P. Madhavan is a Tamil film director and film producer in Tamil cinema in 1960s and 1970s.Madhavan has directed 49 films and produced 39 films under the banner Arun Prasad Movies.

Madhavan started his career as an assistant to director T. R. Ragunath. He also worked as an associate director to C. V. Sridhar before becoming a full-fledged director. His notable films include Dheiva Thaai, Vietnam Veedu, Thanga Pathakkam, Kanne Pappa, and Kuzhanthaikkaga.

He was also the first chairman and managing director of the M.G.R Film City and the State Film Development Corporation. He has also served as a chairman of the National Film Awards.