Showing all artists born in 1938

Kumarimuthu (20 December 1938– 28 February 2016) was a Tamil film actor comedian and politician of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). He was known for his unique comical laugh.

Kumarimuthu was a member of Nadigar Sangam and was involved in a controversy where he was expelled from the Nadigar Sangam over allegations of speaking negatively about the association, after he questioned the intent behind the land lease and building demolition.  He died at the age of 77 on 28 February 2016 due to age-related ailments.

Jaishankar was an actor in Tamil cinema. He is sometimes referred to as the Thennagathu James Bond (South Indian James Bond) because of his dashing roles in films such as Vallavan Oruvan and CID Shankar.

Jaishankar was called Subramaniam Shankar at birth, on 12 July 1938.  His father was a magistrate, and Jaishankar was educated at PS High School and The New College, Chennai, where he was awarded an honours degree. He studied law but gave it up after a year because of his interests in the theater and other art forms.

He joined Cho's Viveka Fine Arts, which consisted mostly of Mylaporeans where he did insignificantly small roles. Obviously not happy he moved out and the break came with Koothabiran's Kalki Fine Arts where he made a mark playing a lead role in Kalki's 'Amara Thaara'.

In an era dominated by Sivaji Ganesan, M. G. Ramachandran and Gemini Ganesan, he created his own niche with portrayals of interesting characters. He was popularly known as South Indian James Bond because of his roles as the investigative detective in Vallavan Oruvan and CID Shankar and Friday star because he invariably had a release every week, He was also adept at comedy and contemporary portrayals as seen in Pattanathil Bhootham, Noottrukku Nooru and Kuzhandaiyum Deivamum. With the emergence of Rajinikanth and Kamal Hassan, he began to play villain and father roles in many films, among them Murattu Kaalai, Apoorva Sagodharargal and Thalapathi.

He is also remembered for his philanthropy as he helped the needy without any publicity.

Among his more memorable roles was the teacher's role in the K Balachander film, Noothukku Nooru. He was last seen on screen in Iravum Pagalum, which had also been the title of his debut film.

Jaishankar died of heart attack on 3 June 2000, at the age of 62 in Chennai. He is survived by his wife and sons.

Each year his son, Dr.Vijay Shankar, conducts 15 free eye surgeries on his father’s birthday.  He planned to create a trust in his father’s memory and conduct these camps on a larger scale and later include some more specialities like cardiac surgeries also.

Girish Raghunath Karnad (Kannada: ಗಿರೀಶ್ ಕಾರ್ನಾಡ್; born 19 May 1938) is a contemporary writer, playwright, screenwriter, actor and movie director in Kannada language. His rise as a playwright in 1960s, marked the coming of age of modern Indian playwriting in Kannada, just as Badal Sarkar did in Bengali, Vijay Tendulkar in Marathi, and Mohan Rakesh in Hindi. He is a recipient of the 1998 Jnanpith Award, the highest literary honour conferred in India.[2]

For four decades Karnad has been composing plays, often using history and mythology to tackle contemporary issues. He has translated his plays into English and has received acclaim.[3] His plays have been translated into some Indian languages and directed by directors like Ebrahim Alkazi, B. V. Karanth, Alyque Padamsee, Prasanna, Arvind Gaur, Satyadev Dubey, Vijaya Mehta, Shyamanand Jalan and Amal Allana.[3] He is active in the world of Indian cinema working as an actor, director, and screenwriter, in Hindi and Kannada flicks, earning awards along the way. He was conferred Padma Shri and Padma Bhushan by the Government of India and won four Filmfare Awards where three are Filmfare Award for Best Director - Kannada and one Filmfare Best Screenplay Award.


Girish Karnad was born in Matheran, Maharashtra to Rao Saheb Dr Karnad and Krishna Bai Mankeekara. Krishna Bai was a widow and was serving as a homemaker for Rao Saheb and his bedridden wife for about five years. Rao Saheb and Krishna Bai married according to Arya Samaj tradition. His initial schooling was in Marathi. In Sirsi, Karnataka, he was exposed to travelling theatre groups, Natak Mandalis as his parents were deeply interested in their plays. As a youngster, Karnad was an ardent admirer of Yakshagana and the theater in his village. His family moved to Dharwar in Karnataka when he was 14 years old, where he grew up with his two sisters and niece.


He earned his Bachelors of Arts degree in mathematics and statistics from Karnatak Arts College, Dharwad (Karnataka University), in 1958. Upon graduation Karnad went to England and studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Lincoln and Magdalen colleges in Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar (1960–63), earning his Master of Arts degree in philosophy, political science and economics.
Career


After working with the Oxford University Press, Chennai for seven years (1963–70), he resigned to take to writing full-time. While in Chennai he got involved with local amateur theatre group, The Madras Players.


During 1987–88, he was at the University of Chicago as visiting professor and Fulbright playwright-in-residence. During his tenure at Chicago Nagamandala had its world premiere at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis based on Karnad's English translation of the Kannada original. Most recently, he served as director of the Nehru Centre and as Minister of Culture, in the Indian High Commission, London (2000–2003).


He served as director of the Film and Television Institute of India (1974–1975) and chairman of the Sangeet Natak Akademi, the National Academy of the Performing Arts (1988–93).

Sishtla Sreeramamurthy Janaki, commonly known as S. Janaki, is an Indian playback singer. Janaki has sung nearly 20,000 songs, encompassing most of the languages of South India, during a career that has lasted over 50 years. She has won four National Film Awards and 31 different State Film Awards. Her association with singer S. P. Balasubramanyam and composer Ilaiyaraaja is among the most popular musical combinations in South India.

She is known as, "The Nightingale of the South". She is a recipient of a Honorary doctorate from the University of Mysore and the Kalaimamani award from Tamil Nadu State Government. In 2013, she refused the offer of a Padma Bhushan award by the Government of India, saying that it had come too late and that South Indian artists were not given their due recognition.S. Janaki was born in a Telugu-speaking Brahmin family in Pallapatla, Repalle Town, in Guntur, Andhra Pradesh. Her father, Sishtla Sreeramamurthy, was a teacher and an Ayurveda doctor. She was interested in music from an early age and performed at the age of three. She was taught music by Sree Paidiswamy, a Nadaswaram Vidwan for a year and also learned a few songs from Varanasi Balaramayya. She was inspired from film music and used to render the songs of Lata Mangeshkar, P. Leela, Jikki and P. Susheela on stage before entering films.

The first movie recording made by Janaki in Tamil was for the film Vidhiyin Vilaiyattu but was not released. Later in that year she duetted with P. B. Sreeivas to sing Kannukku Nere for use in Magadhal Naattu Mary. This was released and 1957 became her breakthrough year as she obtained work in other languages also.During the 1960s, Janaki worked as a playback singer mainly in the Kannada and Malayalam cinema industries. Music directors such as S. M. Subbaiah Naidu, G. K. Venkatesh and M. S. Viswanathan provided songs specifically with her in mind

Through her work with Venkatesh, Janaki came to the notice of Ilayaraja, who had been an assistant music director under Venkatesh for several years. Ilayaraja used Janaki’s singing skills in his first movie, Annakilli, and that turned out to be a hit. Thereafter the two collaborated in numerous successful productions over the next two decades, with Ilayaraja not only composing for Janaki but also sometimes duetting with her. She was also increasingly given work by other music directors. For example, from M. S. Viswanathan in Avargal, from K. V. Mahadevan in Mazhai Megham), Sankar Ganesh in Aasai Manaivi and from V. Kumar in Oruvanukku Oruthi.After 20 years of working in the industry, she won her first National award, given for her performance in Sendhoorappoovey, and in 1977 was also awarded by the Tamil Nadu government.


Malaysia Vasudevan began singing Tamil in the late 1970s and duetted with Janaki in a song from Padinaru Vayadinile and in Kovil Maniyosai from the movie Kizhakke Pogum Rail. Other collaborations with Janaki included in Muthal Mariyadhai. They sang every variety of songs, though their village and folk kind of duets are more in number. This singing pair who rendered absolute melodies like Agaya Gangai rendered several hit sensuous songs like "Nilakayithu" also and their evergreen duets cover variety of songs from melody, classical, pathos to pop, sensous and fun-filled songs for movies during period of mid 1970s to mid 1990s.
Janaki worked with A. R. Rahman, beginning with the album Fantasy and then later in films such as Gentleman, Kathalan, Uyire and Jodi. She received a Tamil Nadu State Film Award for her work with him in Sangamam and has said that I have sung several beautiful songs for Ilayaraja, which were real gems. After IR’s songs and before people started forgetting me, Rahman gave me beautiful songs so that new generation also gets connected to my songs.

Suruli Rajan was a Tamil film comedian/character artiste. He was a recipient of Tamil Nadu State Government's Best Comedian Award for the year 1981–82.

Biography

Suruli Rajan was born in 1938 in Periyakulam, near Theni. His father Ponniah Pillai worked as an accountant for farm owners of the adjoining areas in Theni. The child was named after the Suruli Velappar, the family deity at the temple atop a hill graced by the picturesque Suruli Falls.

Suruli Rajan lost his parents one after the other, and had to discontinue his schooling. He moved to his brother's house in Madurai and worked as an apprentice mechanic in a neighbourhood workshop.  Bitten by the acting bug, he acted in several amateur stage plays in Madurai before moving to Madras in 1959 in search of greener pastures.

In spite of his passion for acting opportunities were few and far between. A sudden spate of opportunities in stage plays filled him with heartening optimism. He worked with various drama troupes, including those of O.A.K.Devar, pisir Ramarao, T.N. Balu and in Karunanidhi's 'kagithapoo' staged in aid of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party's election fund. It was filmmaker Joseph Thaliayath of The Citadel Film Corporation Pvt. Ltd who brought Suruli Rajan to cinema, first in a brief appearance in Iravum Pagalum in 1965 and soon after in a more noticeable comic role in Kaadhal paduthum paadu the year following.

His friendship with T.N. Balu earned him memorable roles in blockbusters by T.R.Ramanna like naan and MoondRezhuthu. Despite his young age Suruli Rajan was offered older roles in many of his early movies. Two other significant roles in his early years were the Madras Tamil spewing cameo in APN's Thirumalai thenkumari (1970) and that of the devout fisherman in Aadhi parasakthi (1971). With his unique intonation and a flair for the absurd, Surulirajan rose to popularity in the late 70s.

Though at times bordering on the bawdy, he seldom failed to elicit a laugh. Suruli's brilliant portrayal of a niggardly rustic in M.A.Khaja's Maanthoppu Kiliye (1979) fetched him rare plaudits and has earned a place of pride in the annals of the immortal comedy sequences of Tamil cinema. 'It never rains, but pours' they say, and Suruli's capers had become a mandatory inclusion in most movies of the time. He created a record by acting in not less than 50 movies in a single year in 1980.

His career was cut short due to his untimely death in 1980 while he was in the peak of his career.

B. Saroja Devi is an Indian actress. She has acted in Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi movies. She is referred to as "Abinaya Saraswathi" by Kannada film industry and as "Kannadathu Paingili" (meaning Kannada's Parrot) by Tamil Film Industry. She has acted in nearly 200 films in a period of more than three decades. Saroja Devi is one of the most successful female film stars in the history of Indian cinema and she was at her peak as the main female lead in films in the period 1958-85.Saroja Devi received Padma Bhushan, third highest civilian award, in 2002 and in 1969, she was honoured with the Padma Sri, the fourth-highest civilian honour, by the Government of India.

Saroja Devi was born in Karnataka on 7 January 1938 to Bhairappa and Rudramma. Her father worked for the police department. Saroja Devi was their fourth daughter. But this wasn't a happy occasion for her family, especially her grandfather, Mayanna Gowda. Bhairappa managed to overrule him and insist on raising the child. Her father asked her to learn dance and encouraged her to venture into films when film offers started coming to her. A young Saroja Devi was often chaperoned to studios by him. He frequently tied her salangais, and often massaged her swollen feet after her dancing stints.

Saroja Devi was first spotted by B.R. Krishnamurthy singing at a function at the age of 13. Initially, she declined his offer to act in movies. She debuted with the Kannada film Mahakavi Kalidasa in 1955

Saroja Devi's first big break came in the Honnappa Bhagavatar's Kannada film, Mahakavi Kalidasa, in 1955, for which she won a National Award. It was followed by B R Panthulu's Thanga Malai Ragasiyam, where her eyes enacted a magical drama, in a dance sequence.Her debut movie in Telugu was Panduranga Mahatyam (1957) in which she acted opposite N.T. Rama Rao.After this she came under the notice of the MGR for the very first time, on K Subramaniam's sets and MGR cast her in Nadodi Manan(1958).

People doubted her ability to speak Tamil, but MGR had faith in her and encouraged her to learn and speak Tamil and cast her in his home production Nadodi Mannan in 1958 as well.It was the Tamil film Nadodi Mannan opposite MGR in 1958 that catapulted Saroja Devi to superstar status in Tamil Film industry.After this she immediately received offer to make her Hindi debut opposite Dilip Kumar in Paigam(1959). She never allowed any one to dub for her and insisted that she would speak by herself as a result none of her Tamil movies her voice was dubbed by any other artiste since the beginning of her career.Then she gave hits opposite Gemini Ganesan in Manalane Mangayin Bhagyam, Kalyana Parisu, Ode Velaiyadu papa, Kairasi and opposite Sivaji Ganeshan in Baga Pirivinai,Vidi Velli,Palum Pazhamum, Iruvar Ullam(1958 till 1960).After this she started getting offers from Tamil,Kannada, and Telugu films. She was working more than 20 hours a day in this peak period of her career(1960–69). She became the number one female lead actress of the period 1959-69 in Tamil films.

She was cast always opposite the much high in demand stars of respective film industries :NTR, ANR in Telugu, MGR, Sivaji Ganeshan, Gemini Ganesan, S.S.Rajendran in Tamil and Rajkumar in Kannada.Saroja chose to do more films in Tamil in the period 1958-1969 and after her marriage she was more active in Kannada and Telugu films from (1970–1984).

Saroja Devi's energetic performance as a patriotic queen raging against the British in Kannada flick Kittooru Rani Chennamma, which won the national award for Best Film in 1963, brought her much acclaim. Her Telugu hits were Seetha Rama Kalyanam and Jagadeka Veeranukatha in 1961 with NTR, while her hits in Hindi films included Paigham (1959), Sasural (1960), Opera House (1961), Pareeksha, Pyar Kiya To Darna Kya(1963) and Beti Bete (1964) and in addition Kannada hits like Chintamani(1957), School Master(1958), Jagajyothi Basaveshwara (1959), Kitturu Chennamma (1962).It was at this time in 1962 that she was crowned "Chaturbhaasha Taare", because of her popularity in these four languages. She had mincing accent, smart and perky attitude and this made her popular among the audience of all the four languages.She concentrated more in Tamil films as a result though she had all her films as hits in Hindi, after Preet Na Jane Reet opposite Shammi Kapoor she did not do more Hindi films.Another leading Telugu actress Krishna Kumari had dubbed her voice in Panduranga Mahatyam for Saroja Devi in the initial part of her career in Telugu Films. But in subsequent years, without any external source of dubbing, Saroja Devi acted in her Telugu films.For her films in Hindi, Kannada and Tamil she always dubbed for herself since the beginning of her career.She did only film directed by K.Balachander named Thamarai Nenjam which was a box-office hit opposite Gemini Ganeshan.

MGR Saroja Devi established a popular on screen pair and had back to back superhits from 1958-1967.The pair who began with Naadodi Mannan, went on to give do 27 films together and of them 26 were hits. the most popular being Thirudathey, Thai Sollai Thattathey, Paasam,Thaayaikaatha Thanayan, Asai Mugam, Periya Idathu Penn, Dharmam Thalaikkakkum, Neethikku Pin Pasam, Pannakkara Kudumbam,Padakoti, Nadodi, Thalibahakiyam, Naan Anayittaal, Petralthaan Pillaiya and Parrakkum Pavai. Her best performances opposite MGR were the 'rich girl' roles in Anbe Vaa, Enga Veettu Pillai, En Kadamai, Pana Thottam and Thayin Madiyil.She made a fashion statement too as women adored her dressing sense and her saris and blouses, ornaments, hairstyles were copied by girls and women.