Vijaya Nirmala – This Telugu filmmaker holds the Guinness record of highest number of movies by a female director

Vijaya Nirmala (1946 – 2019) was a film actress and director from south Indian cinema, who predominantly works in Telugu cinema. She has also acted in Malayalam and Tamil movies. With a total of 44 films to her credit, with one each in Malayalam and Tamil and rest in Telugu, she holds the record of directing highest number of feature films by any female director, and her name is included in Guinness book of records. She is the second wife of superstar Krishna, with whom she has been paired in 48 movies and known to be one of the most popular Telugu film pairs. They have also produced many movies under the banner, Vijaya. She has no children from her second marriage, while has one son – Naresh Vijaya Krishna from her first marriage with Krishna Murthy. She is also the first woman director in Malayalam cinema.

Vijaya Nirmala was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu in 1946. Her father was into film production field, and that’s how she got linked to film industry. She joined film industry as a child artist at the age of 4. Tamil movie Machcha Rekhai in 1950 is her debut film, where she played a male child. Panduranga Mahatmyam (1957) was her first Telugu release, where she played a child role. She turned an adult actress in mid-1960s and gained stardom with a string of Malayalam movies opposite Prem Nazir – Bhargavi Nilayam (1964), Rosy (1965) and Udhyogastha (1967). Rangula Ratnam (1966) was her first Telugu film in an adult supporting role, and Engaveettu Penn – her first Tamil film.

She met Krishna on the film sets of Telugu film Saakshi (1967), and they went on to establish as a lead pair in the 1970s. They got married in 1969. Both were already married and had children from their respective marriages. Krishna didn’t break relation with his first wife and continued relationship with both. It stirred a lot of controversies then. Krishna had three more children with his first wife later. Krishna raised his stepson Naresh, and also fulfilled Nirmala’s ambitions to become a filmmaker. Produced under the home banner, Malayalam film Kavitha was her first film as a director, before she completely switched to Telugu films.

Vijaya Nirmala – Some interesting and less-known facts

1. She started her film career as a child artist with Tamil movies in the early 1950s.

2. She has acted in more than 200 films, which include 150 in Telugu, and 25 each in Malayalam and Tamil.

3. Both her husbands – Krishna Murthy and actor Krishna have ‘Krishna’ in their first names.

4. She is step-mother to Telugu actors – Mahesh Babu, Manjula and Ramesh Babu, and two more children of Krishna. Thus she is related to actors – Namrata Shirodkar who married Mahesh Babu and Telugu actor Sudheer Babu, who married Priyadarsini.

5. Her stepdaughter Padmavathi Galla is married into a business family of industrialists and politicians. Her son-in-law Jay Galla (son of Ramachandra Naidu Galla – well-known industrialist and Aruna Kumari Galla – an ex minister of Andhra Pradesh, and grandson of Paturi Rajagopala Naidu) is a well-known politician and parliamentarian.

6. Her name was entered in the books of Guinness records in 2002, to direct maximum number of films among female directors.

7. Her first hit film in a lead role – Bhargavi Nilayam (1964) was the first horror film in Malayalam. It was her first role as a lead heroine for any language, after doing several child roles.

8. She directed Telugu version of Hindi blockbuster – Amar Akbar Anthony. The movie was titled Ram Robert Rahim and released in 1980.

9. “Alliyambal Kadavil” and “Thamasamente Varuvan” are the among the iconic and evergreen Malayalam film songs filmed on Vijaya Nirmala in the 1960s.

10. She always dreamt to become a director, long before she established as an actress. She became the first woman director in Malayalam when she directed her debut film ‘Kavitha’ in 1973. It was I. V. Sasi – who was an art director then, suggested her to direct a Malayalam film which costs only half the amount needed for a Telugu film. Interestingly it’s her only Malayalam film (with budget 3 lakhs), and she played the titular role too. Later she remade it to Telugu titled Meena, and it was a hit. The movie also marked her directorial debut in Telugu. 

11. It’s believed that couples who visit Meesala Krishnudu Temple would get married, and a song sequence of Krishna and Vijaya Nirmala for their first movie together was filmed in this temple. When comedian Rajababu commented “Meerika Bharyabarthalu Ayipoyinatte” after filming the song, ‘Thali Kattu Vela…’, Nirmala became so angry. Later it was Krishna who proposed Nirmala, and she readily accepted it. In 2019 they completed 50 years of married life.

Sakshi – First film of Krishna and Vijaya Nirmala together