K P A C Lalitha

Early life

K. P. A. C. Lalitha was born as eldest among five children as Maheshwari Amma on February 25, 1947 in Aranmula, Trivandrum, Kerala to Kadaykatharayil Veettil K. Ananthan Nair and Bhargavi Amma, as the eldest among five children; her four siblings were Indira, Babu, Rajan and Shyamala. Her father was a photographer who was from Kayamkulam and mother was a housewife who was from Aranmula. She spent most of her childhood at Ramapuram near Kayamkulam, Alappuzha.

Her family migrated to Changanassery, Kotttayam for her to join dance class. She learned to dance when she was a child under the Chellappan Pilla and then with Kalamandalam Gangadharan. She started acting in plays when she was 10 years old.

Her first appearance on stage was in the play Geethayude Bali. She later joined K.P.A.C. (Kerala People's Arts Club), which was a prominent leftist drama troupe in Kerala. She was given the screen-name Lalitha and later, when she started acting in movies, the tag K.P.A.C. was added to her screen-name to differentiate it from another actress known as Lalitha.

Career

Her first movie was the film adaptation of Koottukudumbam directed by K. S. Sethumadhavan. In 1978 she married Bharathan, a noted Malayalam film director. She took a break from film acting for sometime, doing only a few films.

The second era of her career started with Kattathe Kilikkoodu (1983) directed by her husband. During this time, she did many critically acclaimed roles including those in Sanmanassullavarkku Samadhanam (1986), Ponn Muttyidunna Tharavu (1988), Mukunthetta Sumitra Vilikkunnu (1988), Vadakku Nooki Yanthram (1989), Dasharatham (1989), Venkalam (1993), Godfather (1991), Amaram (1991), Vietnam Colony (1993), Pavithram (1993), Manichitrathazhu (1994), Sphadikam (1995), and Aniyathi Pravu (1997). She won the National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Amaram (1991), a film directed by her husband Bharathan.

In 1998, when Bharathan died, she took a break for a few months, only to come back with a brilliant performance in Sathyan Anthikkad directed Veendum Chila Veetukaryangal (1999). K.P.A.C. Lalitha's notable roles in recent years were in Shantham (2000), Life Is Beautiful (2000) and Valkannadi (2002). She won her second National Film Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in Shantham (2000), directed by Jayaraj. She still appears in films.

K.P.A.C. Lalitha acted in over 500 films in Malayalam cinema. Apart from Malayalam, she acted in some Tamil films including Kadhalukku Mariyadhai (1997), Alaipayuthey (2000) and Kireedam (2007). Particularly, her performance in Tamil film Kadhalukku Mariyadhai as Shalini's mother won her critical acclaim.

Personal life

Lalitha has a daughter Sreekutty and a son Sidharth who debuted as an actor in the movie Nammal, which was directed by Kamal. After a short career in acting, he chose a career in film direction. In 2012, he made his directorial debut with Nidra, which is the remake of 1984 film with the same title written and directed by his father Bharathan.. Now Sidharth Bharathan is scaling to heights with good movies; Chandrettan Evideya and Varnyathil Aashanka are running well.

Lalitha published an autobiography, titled Katha Thudarum (Story To Be Continued), which won the Cherukad Award in 2013.

Awards

Albums

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