Vijayashanti

Some Lesser Known Facts About Vijayashanti

• Vijayashanti was 14 years old when she made her first film. She did not attend any college.

  

• Her ancestral home is in Ramannagudem village, near Eturnagaram in Telangana. Vijayashanti once said that she always felt more belonged to Telangana than her birthplace Madras.

• Her mother was the elder sister of actress and producer Vijayalalitha.

• Vijayashanti’s husband, M. V. Srinivas is a nephew of the South Indian politician, Daggubati Purandareswari.

• She has acted in the Telugu, Hindi, Kannada, and Malayalam films.

• Vijayashanti’s talent was spotted by the Telugu film director,  T. Krishna on the sets of the film ‘Navodayam’ (1983), where he had gone to meet his friend, Madala Rangarao. After this, Vijayashanti and T. Krishna teamed up, bringing her a breakthrough movie ‘Neti Bharatam’ (1983), which later got her many women-centric roles in the films.

• Her film ‘Pratighatana’ was one of the biggest blockbusters of the 1985. She received her first Nandi Award for it.

  

• The Hindi film director  K. Viswanath, introduced Vijayashanti to the Indian cinema. She co-starred with Anil Kapoor in the film ‘Eeshwar’ (1989), which was a remake of the Telugu film ‘Swathi Muthyam’ (1986).

• In 1987, her movie  ‘Swayam Krushi’ was screened at the Moscow International Film Festival. Chiranjeevi was her co-actor in this film.

• Her movie ‘Padamati Sandhya Ragam’ (1987) was screened at the Louisville International Film Festival. Hollywood actor Thomas Jane was her co-actor in this film.

• Her 1990 blockbuster film, ‘Karthavyam,’ got her the status of ‘ HERO,’ winning her the National Film Award for Best Actress by the Government of India and the Best Actress Award by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. Made in the 90 lakhs budget, it earned over 7 crores in South India alone. This film was also screened at the 14th International Film Festival of India.

  

• Another remake of ‘Karthavyam’ was the film ‘Vyjayanthi IPS’ (1990), dubbed in the Tamil language. With this, Vijayashanti became famous in the Tamil cinema. ‘Karthavyam’ was also remade in Hindi as ‘Tejaswini’ (1994), where Vijayashanti performed the lead role. This also became a hit at the Hindi box office.

• After ‘Karthavyam,’ Vijayashanti entirely shifted from glamorous roles to women-oriented action roles. This questioned her status of being turned into a ‘HERO’ as the film industry was male-dominated during those days.

• She did not rely on the stunt doubles for the risky stunts and would jump from 30 feet without caring about any injuries.

• She became the highest-demanding heroine of India in the 1990s, equal to the demands of her co-stars Rajinikanth and Amitabh Bachchan.

• The film song “Laloo Darwaja Laskar” from the movie ‘Mondi Mogudu Penki Pellam’ (1992) became her career-defining song. This film was praised and remade in Hindi by the name ‘Meri Biwi Ka Jawab Nahin’ in 2004.

• Her film ‘Police Lockup’ (1993) won her Filmfare Award for the best actress. In this, she played a dual role.

• Vijayashanti has also been a film producer. In 1993, she produced the films ‘Nippu Ravva’ and ‘Aashayam.’

• Her film, ‘Osey Ramulamma’ (1997) gave her the name ‘Ramulamma/Ramulakka’ (meaning God) by the people. This movie got her the fourth Nandi Award and the 6th Filmfare Award for Best Actress.

  

• Vijayashanti’s other Bollywood films were ‘Zamaanat’ (1977), ‘Muqaddar Ka Badshah’ (1990), ‘Apradhi’ (1992), ‘Rowdy Durbar’ (1997), ‘Gundagardi’ (1997), ‘Adavi Chukka’ (2000), and Nayudamma (2006).

• After a break of 13 years from the film industry during which she joined Indian politics, Vijayashanti returned to the film industry in 2020 as an actress in the film ‘Sarileru Neekevvaru.’

• Vijayashanti did 19 films with Chiranjeevi. Most of these films were hits at the box office.

• She worked with actors like Rajinikanth, Kamal Haasan, Suresh Gopi, Yuvathurki, and Kallu Kondoru Pennu.

• She shifted her career to Indian politics in 1998 when she joined the Bharatiya Janata Party. Along with Cricketer Srikkanth, Vijayashanti is the star campaigner for BJP Lok Sabha Polls in Tamil Nadu.

• Vijayashanti was the first actress to be featured in the commercial of Sarees.