Bhanumathy Ramakrishna and Anjali Devi were married when they were introduced as heroines, with Bhanumathy shining as a top paid heroine who commanded greater respect than her male co-stars! She did the central role in Annai (1962) but she wasn’t playing mother to any of her own heroes. Savithiri, a powerhouse performer, was engulfed in her much public romantic relationship and matrimony with Gemini Ganesan early on in her career but she still went on to play heroine to all leading heroes in Tamil and Telugu. Padmini, Saroja Devi, KR Vijaya had superlative stints as heroines, married at the peak of their careers and continued acting in stellar roles. In fact, Padmini did her career-best film Thillana Mohanambal (1968) after her wedding!
The 80s saw the foray of some of the best actresses in Tamil cinema, all of whom saw success equally in the Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam industries as well. The list begins with Sripriya, Sridevi, Sujatha, Jayaprada, Jayasudha, Suhasini, Radhika, Ambika, Radha, Amala, Nadhiya and ends with Gauthami and Khushboo, who, for the fi rst time, also paved the way for Mumbai girls to make it big in the south. Learning the language on the go and playing lead to the top brass, Khushboo rightfully ruled the 90s too.
The call of casting a once-upon-atime leading lady as the hero’s mother after their marriage probably began with Pandari Bai, who first played heroine to Sivaji Ganesan in Parasakthi (1952) and Andha Naal (1954) and then very quickly ‘progressed’ to playing wife to the older Sivaji (Deiva Magan (1969), Gauravam (1973), etc) and as a result, his mother too. She also played the iconic role of MGR’s mother in almost every fi lm despite being younger than him in real life! This trend of casting an older heroine for the older role of the hero continued till mid 2000 (Nattamai (1994) had Khushboo play wife to the elder Sarathkumar while Meena played the younger brother’s wife.
But marriage, by the mid 80s spelt doom for an actress! A heroine could ‘comeback’ only to supporting roles and be lost in the crowd. Some actresses however did veer away from this path. Radhika, Suhasini, Gauthami, Amala and Nadhiya still get to play characters that impact the script. Heroines from 2003 onwards may have a better choice here though the mindset in what kind of roles they are cast depends on the producer-director and their fan-appeal.
In Hindi, Kajol, Kareena Kapoor Khan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan have their ‘appeal factor’ intact. One heroine who can match that level of ‘fan-appeal’ here is Jyothika, whose popularity remains undiminished by marriage or motherhood, and her ‘identity’ as a heroine stands shoulder- to-shoulder with her talented actor-producer-husband Suriya. Her fi tness and joie de vivre is evident not just in 36 Vayathiniley (2015) but in her many product endorsements as well. With her next fi lm under production, her choice of fi lms should ensure that she is here to shine bright not as the hero’s mother or sister but as the leading lady, always.
The writer is aformer journalist who has worked in the film industry for several years and is passionate about movies, music and everything related to entertainment