She essayed memorable roles in Tamil movies like ‘Ulagam Sutrum Valiban,’ (1974), ‘Ninaithathai Mudippavan’ (1975), ‘Anbe Aaruyire’ (1975) and ‘Shankar Salim Simon’ (1978). Manjula performed with legends like late Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan and M G Ramachandran as well as present stars like Kamal Hassan and Rajinikanth. She continued to bag lead roles till the late 70s and then appeared in supporting roles. Born on September 9, 1953, Manjula made her debut in Gemini Ganesan-starrer ‘Shanthi Nilayam’ (1969), but the movie that shot her to fame was ‘Rickshawkaran’(1971), starring MGR. “She detached the gold pendant, which had a picture of Lord Venkateswara on it, and just handed it to me saying she loved the movie,” said Ravikumar. He said the actress presented him with a gold dollar from a chain she was wearing as soon as she had seen his movie ‘Sakthivel’ (1994), in which she had a supporting role.
Director KS Ravikumar, who cast Manjula in his five Tamil movies, said the reason why he had chosen her was not just because she was a great performer but also because he was her fan. Manjulamma has been part of our lives all these years,” she added. “Sundar and I got married in the following March.
