Film industry remembers Silk Smitha on her 60th birthday

Actress Silk Smitha passed away in the year 1996, but film industry has not forgotten her.

If the actress was alive, she would have celebrated her 60th birthday today. Many movie groups online have been sharing memories on her films, her hit songs and more on the occasion. The actress, who was lovingly called ‘Silk’ by her fans, was found dead in her apartment in Chennai in 1996 and it was adjudged a suicide.

Silk Smitha, who was born Vijayalakshmi Vadlapatla in a Telugu family in Eluru, entered film industry as a supporting actress. It is after working in the film ‘Vandichakkaram,’ a Tamil movie that was released in the year 1979, that she got her stage name ‘Silk Smitha.’ Her role in the film was also named ‘Silk.’ Soon after, she is said to have become a sought-after sex symbol in movies. She has done about 450 movies in Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi languages.

A few of her popular dance numbers in Malayalam are from the films ‘Spadikam,’ in which she performed with Mohanlal for the popular song ‘Ezhimala Poonchola’ sung by K S Chithra and Mohanlal himself; the song ‘Puzhayorathil Poonthoni Entheela,’ from the film ‘Adharvam’ starring Mammootty and Thilakan; ‘Jumba Jumba’ from the film ‘Nadodi’ and ‘Paattu Paadava’ from the film ‘Saakshal Shreeman Chathunni.’ In other languages, her performances in films like Moondru Mugam and item numbers like Amaran, Halli Meshtru (in Kannada) were also celebrated at the box office. One of her most respected films is ‘Moondram Pirai,’ by Balu Mahendra, remade in Hindi as ‘Sadma,’ with Sridevi, Kamal Hassan, and Silk Smitha reprising their roles.