Manjula (Kannada actress)

Manjula was born to M. H. Shivanna and Deveramma on Monday, 8 November 1951 in Honnenahalli, a village in Tumkur District. She belonged to a prominent lingayat[2] family, her father Shivanna was a police sub inspector. She was married to film director Amrutham who worked with her in films such as Hudugaatada Hudugi and Kanasu Nanasu. The couple had a son, Abhishek, who married Sushma Srinivas, in 2009; and an adopted daughter, Abhinaya.

Manjula started her acting career in 1965 with a drama troupe Prabhat Kalavidaru. She entered the Kannada film industry in a small role in Mane Katti Nodu in 1966. Her debut as a heroine was in the 1972 film Yaara Saakshi, directed by veteran director M. R. Vittal. She shared screen with Kannada super stars like Rajkumar and Vishnuvardhan and other prominent actors like Srinath, Ashok and Shankar Nag. Her most successful pairing [1] was with Srinath[3] and they acted together in about 35 films.[1] She starred in over one hundred films. She specialized in the role of the bossy tomboyish village belle which brought her huge success as a top Kannada heroine in the late 1970s. Some of her notable films are Sampathige Savaal, Eradu Kanasu, Sose Thanda Sowbhagya, Besuge and Seetharamu. She also acted with well known actors in other languages like Ramakrishna (Telugu), Kamalahasan and Rajinikanth (Tamil). Her popularity declined in the early 1980s after the news of her marriage was publicized. During the last few years of her career and life she had to be content with small and supporting roles.

Manjula suffered from weight related problems during the early 1980s, while she was at the top of her career, and that ended her career as a romantic actress. She had a hurried marriage with Amritam. The film offers dried up and she had financial difficulties. She died due to a kitchen stove-burst on 12 September 1986.

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