ALAPPUZHA: Veteran actress PK Kanchana, 88, who won the state award for best character role (female) in the movie Olappeeppi which was released in 2016, passed away at her ancestral house in Pattanakkad on Thursday. Her funeral will be held on the premises of the house at 2 pm on Friday.
Kanchana hails from Pattanakkad and is the wife of actor Kundara Bhasi who predeceased her. She stopped acting 38 years ago after her two sons, the late Pradeep Kumar and Premlal, requested her to stay with them. Kanchana was living with her younger son Premlal and family at her ancestral home.
Known as Punnassery Kanchana, she acted in many dramas during her younger days. She made her screen debut in the 1950 movie Prasanna, which was directed by M Sriramulu Naidu.
In this movie, she played a leading role alongside Kottarakkara Sreedharan Nair, Pappukutty Bhagavathar and Ragini.
She had taken part in the 50th-anniversary celebrations of the film Enapravukal released in 1965 in which she had acted. Krish Kaimal, the director of Olappeeppi, saw her in the group photo of the
celebrations and approached her to don the role of Biju Menon’s grandmother in his movie. After that, she went on to act in C/o Saira Banu and Cross Roads.