Sukumari – The iconic mother of Malayalam screen of 1980s and later

Sukumari (1940 – 2013) was a prominent and iconic character artist of south Indian cinema, who predominantly worked in Malayalam cinema. She was a successful stage actress too with four decades of experience in this field. She is best known for playing mother roles on screen, and has also carried with ease vamp roles. For her contributions to south Indian cinema, she was honoured with Padma Shri in 2003. She was also a recipient of National award for best supporting actress for 2010 Tamil film, Namma Gramam. She received Kerala state award for second best actress four times apart from honours such as Kalaimamani award, Critics’ awards etc. In 2013 she succumbed to burns caused during her worship at her residence in Chennai.

Sukumari was born in Nagercoil of Travancore Kingdom, now a part of Tamil Nadu. Her acting career began at the age of 10 as a child actress and later spanned to more than 6 decades giving different shades to more than 3000 movies belonging to different languages, though there is no official record regarding the same, and hence it’s a herculean task to list some of her best roles. She has excelled in every shade of acting including drama, comedy and grey shades. Her comic roles in Vandanam, Poochakkoru Mookkuthi and Boeing Boeing were enough to break her dramatic roles till then. Her vamp roles in Amme Narayana and Archana Aradhana, and dramatic role in Sreedhanam are a few more memorable roles. Her role as Maggi in Chattakari is also memorable.

After a great experience in theatre, she made her film debut in the lead role through the Tamil film Or Iravu. Sukumari was the second wife of famous film director, A. Bhimsingh who delivered numerous hits in both Bollywood and South Indian film industry and also received numerous awards. They got married in 1959. She became a widow when she was only 38. The couple has one son who is a doctor by profession.

Sukumari – Some interesting facts

1. She has played mother to Mammootty and Mohanlal in countless movies in 1980s, 1990s and later, and after Kaviyoor Ponnamma she remained the most popular screen mother to Malayalam heroes and heroines. During her later years she played many grandmother roles.

2. She was a cousin to Travancore sisters and Ambika Sukumaran, a member of royal family. Malayalam actors – Sobana, Vineeth and Krishna are her relatives.

3. After her husband’s death, she rebooted her filmy career very soon to financially support her family. She was in her late 30s. Though she faced criticism she never cared about it.

4. His son Suresh is a doctor by profession, and has also done brief roles in a few Malayalam movies of 1980s. But he never took acting seriously.

5. Her stepsons – Lenin and B. Kannan are famous film editor and cinematographer respectively.

6. She studied till second grade at LP School, Poojapura.

7. She was a singer and also conducted many music concerts. She also appeared in TV shows and soaps.

8. As a stage actress, she has appeared in more than 1000 stage shows and had 4 decades of experience with Y.G. Parthasarathy Troupe.

9. She received Kerala state award for second best actress for Chattakari in 1974, various film in 1979, Koodevide and Karyam Nissaram in 1983 and Arappatta Kettiya Gramathil in 1986.

10. Sukumari appears as a dancer in dance sequence – Aaja Chaya Kare Badra in 1958 Bollywood movie, Lajwanti. 

11. Actress Manorama to Tamil cinema is what Sukumari to Malayalam films, and they remained good friends in real life too. Both were contemporaries in south Indian screen portraying similar kind of character roles. Manorama passed away two years after the tragic accidental death of Sukumari.