Vidhubala at 70: Celebrating the iconic heroine of Mollywood

KOZHIKODE: Vidhubala was active in cinema for only seven years. She has not acted in films for four and a half decades but even today, Vidhubala remains an iconic heroine in the minds of Malayalees. Vidhubala turns seventy today. She is active in social and cultural philanthropic fields.

A psychology clinic is being run near Kozhikode Christian College. She said that she is happy to be able to do what she likes, which is how the Vidhubala Counseling Center started. Despite being busy with movies, she earned her degree in psychology because she liked it a lot. There are no special celebrations on her birthday.

It was her own decision to leave film acting. So far, there has been no difficulty in that regard. She is not much connected with the movie scene now and has no plans to act again.

Family has always been her top priority. She believes that if the family is good, society will be good.

Although she was in the film industry for a short time, she was a part of about 100 films including Shankhupushpam and Aradhana. Apart from acting, she also excelled as a dubbing artist. She was born on May 24, 1954, as the daughter of famous magician Professor Bhagyanath and Sulochana. Both her father and mother were freedom fighters. Famous cinematographer Madhu Ambat is her only brother. She was active in dancing and her father's magic shows.

She entered cinema in 1964 as a child actor at the age of eight. She was active in the cinema from 1973 to 1980 and achieved the status of a heroine. She acted with the superstars of that time, such as Prem Nazir, Sathyan and later Kamal Haasan. She continued her education during this period. She appeared in more than 100 films including Bhumi Devi Pushpiniyayi, College Girl, Pravaham, Ummachu, Abhinandanam, Sarpam, Pichipoo and Njavalpazhangal. She has also acted with former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.

She stopped acting before her marriage, with her last film being Abhinayam in 1981, where Jayan was the hero. After marriage, she settled in Kozhikode. Her husband is Murali Kumar, a producer and theater owner. Their son is Arjun Krishna, who was active in the field of television until recently. From 2010 to 2020, she anchored the show Kadhayallith Jeevitham, which aired on Amrita TV.