| 3 | | Kannada actress born in Aragal, Mysore, Karnataka. Star in 70s melodramas continuing [[Kalpana]]’s 60s films. Best work under [[Puttanna Kanagal]]’s direction in films built around her unique presence. Shot repeatedly and at length with an obsessive physical grossness, her body becomes the target of a destructive neurosis that [[ |
| | 3 | Kannada actress born in Aragal, Mysore, Karnataka. Star in 70s melodramas continuing [[Kalpana]]’s 60s films. Best work under [[Puttanna Kanagal]]’s direction in films built around her unique presence. Shot repeatedly and at length with an obsessive physical grossness, her body becomes the target of a destructive neurosis that [[Puttanna Kanagal|Kanagal]] usually ascribes to the male lead. Her persona became an emblem elaborated over a series of films starting with [[Nagara Haavu]] and was later used by other film-makers. Her wooden acting coupled with a statuesque presence often adds a voyeurist dimension to long and complicated stories that end with the desecration of what she embodies and, sometimes, with her death (e.g. [[Ranganayaki]]). Even her absence in Kanagal’s Manasa Sarovara (1982) led to speculation about the ‘real’ meaning of the theme of a doctor who leaves his wife to cure a mentally deranged girl, falls in love with her, and goes insane when she falls for his nephew. Directed a TV series, Namma Nammalli. Briefly a member of the Karnataka State’s legislative assembly representing the BJP. |