Malini – Tamil & Telugu lead film actress of late 1950s and early 1960s

Malini is a less-known Tamil and Telugu film actress of classic era who worked in a very few movies between 1957 and 1962. Though her career span was very small, she played lead roles opposite top heroes of the era including Sivaji Ganesan, M.G.R, K. Balaji and S. S. Rajendran. She was launched to Tamil film scene as the female lead of Sivaji Ganesan’s Sabaash Meena in 1958. She has already acted in Telugu films then. Among all actors her pairing and screen chemistry with Balaji was appreciated most. They together worked in Azhagarmalai Kalvan for the first time in 1959, followed by Uthami Petra Rathinam and Ellorum Vazhavendum.

Actress Malini took several screen names in her brief career journey as an actress. Her real name is Vijayalaxmi, very often confused with her contemporary actress, L. Vijayalakshmi. In fact she took a different screen name for her Telugu movies. She used the name Kusuma Kumari for Bavamaradallu released in 1961. She has earlier done Akka chellelu (1957) in Telugu which marked her screen debut. Both the movies were directed by C. V. Ranganatha. She played the titular role in NTR’s Telugu film, Vijayalaxmi. For her Tamil films, she used the screen name, Malini. Her performance in Uthami Petra Rathinam opposite Balaji is one of her impressive roles, though the movie was not a commercial hit.

Actress Malini – Less-known and interesting facts

1. Her real name is believed to be Vijayalaxmi. Less data is available about this actress, who played a titular role in a Telugu film, Vijayalakshmi. Hence her real name is often confused by her screen character names. She took the screen name – Kusuma Kumari for Telugu movies and Malini for Tamil movies.

2. She got her first break to acting through Telugu film, Akka chellelu in 1957, and then worked in both Tamil and Telugu cinema, under two screen names.

3. She was paired with S. S. Rajendran for Thalai Koduthaan Thambi, MGR for Sabaash Mapillai and Kalyan Kumar for Azhagu Nila, her last release, before she retired from films in 1962.