Popular actor of yesteryears and Bharathanatyam exponent ‘Vennira Aadai’ Nirmala returned to her parent party, the AIADMK, on Thursday. She met Chief Minister and AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa at the party headquarters and received the membership card from her.
“In 1986, I was fortunate enough to receive the membership card from MGR...due to many reasons, I have been away from the party for a long time... now I have returned to where I belong and am privileged to receive the membership card, once again, that too from Amma”, Nirmala told Express.
Asked about her role in the AIADMK in the coming days, she said, “Whatever Amma assigns me, I will perform.”
Interestingly, Jayalalithaa’s debut, the box office hit ‘Vennira Aaadai’, was also the one in which Nirmala made her entry.
Questioned about her contesting against the AIADMK chief way back in 1989 in Bodinaickanur in Theni district in the Assembly poll, Nirmala said, “At that time I was just a novice. I contested that election completely due to the motherly affection of MGR’s wife V N Janaki. Much water has flown under the bridge since then.”
When MGR nominated her to the then TN Legislative Council, she could not make it due to some procedural impediments.
“Amma (Jayalalithaa) has been providing excellent governance in the State and I want to be part of that Mission”, was her reason for returning to the party.
Introduced by ace film maker Sridhar in ‘Vennira Aadai’, she acquired the prefix from then on to her name. She has shared screen space with MGR and Sivaji Ganesan among others.
Nirmala started learning bharathanatyam from the age of four and thanks to her vast experience in this art form, she is now running Nirmala’s Academy of Fine Arts at Kotturpuram and in Tiruvallur district.