CHENNAI: Rotary Club of Chennai Spotlight and Vintage Heritage, a Chennai-based film club that exclusively screens old movies, will pay a
musical tribute
to veteran
actor
and dancer
Rajasulochana
on August 15 to mark her 85th birth anniversary.
Songs from Rajasulochana’s movies would be screened on the occasion, said K Sundar, founder-member, Vintage Heritage.
The programme will be held at Andhra Social and Cultural Association from 5pm onwards.
The Rotary Lifetime Achievement Award will be bestowed on veteran actor
K R Vijaya
on the occasion.
Pilliarchetty Bhakthavatsalam Naidu Rajeevalochana was born on August 15, 1934, in Bezawada (now Vijayawada), in Andhra. Even as a young girl, she showed interest in classical dance and began learning dance at Saraswathi Gana Nilayam in Triplicane here. Her first guru was Lalithamma (Bharatanatyam). Later, she learned from K N Dhandayuthapani Pillai (Bharatanatyam), Acharyulu and Vempati Chinnasatyam (Kuchipudi), Krishnakumar and Vishnu Vysarkar (Kathak) and Kalamandalam Madhavan (Kathakali).
She made her debut in Tamil cinema in the early 1950s with “Pennarasi,” a costume drama produced by M A Venu, and directed by K Somu. Her song and dance numbers won her acclaim and Rajasulochana went on to become one of the most successful stars in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Kannada and Malayalam movies.