Soundarya- A nostalgic flashback

It was all over in seconds. The Cessna aircraft which was carrying South India’s best and most popular actress Soundarya along with her brother Producer Amar was reduced to ashes within a time frame that your eyes are closed. It was an unbearable tragedy for her family members, many of her ardent fans and people in the Indian film industry.

Soundarya has now become a memory. She died exactly an year ago on April 17 and left behind memories of her glorious performance in many films, her excellent professional attitude, her extra ordinary behaviour on and off the screen and many other virtuous things that she stood for. She set her own terms and won the accolades by her sheer talents.

While all the leading ladies were competing with each other to expose and look sexy on the screen, it was Soundarya who treaded separately and picked and chose her roles. That is exactly the reason why she became a natural choice for many strong roles.

In an industry where gratitude has no meaning, Soundarya showed so much of concern for the Kannada film industry which had introduced her and helped many people who had provided some support to her father Sathyanarayana who worked as a writer and director. She was a model and even remains a model for many young and aspiring actresses who want to make a mark in the film industry.

Soundarya won many awards for her meritorious performance in films like Girish Kasaravalli directed “Dweepa’ and S.V.Rajendra Singh Babu directed “Doni Saagali’ (which won her the Best Actress award from Karnataka state government).

In the Telugu film industry she was considered as a girl next door and her selection was a must for all the roles which needed some native touch. She won the Best Actress Nandi award from Andhra Pradesh four times which included classic films like Krishna Vamshi directed “Vamshi’, “Pavithra Bandham’, and “Seetha Kalyanam”.

In Tamil she had worked with all great artists like Super Star Rajnikanth, Kamal Hassan, Vijaya Kanth, Parthibhan, Sathyaraj and others. The fact is that she is one of the few actresses who was able to do two films with Rajnikanth when he was in his prime.

Even in the Malayalam film industry she was able to prove her talents working with great artists like Mohan Lal, Jayaram and well known directors like Kamal. For that matter, Soundarya was the first choice of many top South Indian directors like Kranthi Kumar, Krishna Vamshi, S.V.Krishna Reddy, Muthyaala Subbayya. K.S.Ravikumar, Singeetham Sreenivasa Rao, S.V.Rajendra Singh Babu.

With a desire to work with great directors like Girish Kasaravalli, she decided to plunge into film production and made such a classic like “Dweepa’. Though she did not win the much desired National award for her performance in the film, she was happy that the film gained entry to many international film festivals and won many prestigious awards including the Golden Lotus award from the Central Government.

Any discussion on Soundarya and her fantastic contribution to the Indian film industry will not be complete without making any reference about Hindi film “Suryavamsham’ in which she had acted with the great Big B. She matched Big B in every frame in the film, though the film did not do that well.

Her last Kannada film “Aaptha Mithra’ is still running after competing 225 days. God knows how many days it may run in Bangalore and Mysore. The film directed by P.Vasu in which Soundarya was teamed up with Stars like Vishnuvardhan and Ramesh Arvind showed her class acting ability. The film is a great hit in all the urban centers that it has released and is now penetrating into interiors where is doing brisk business. In Bangalore city itself the collecions have crossed Rs. 2.5 crores, and in Mysore area it has already touched Rs. 1 crore. It has broken all the Box office records and Soundarya’s magnificent performance in her last film is bringing a legion of repeat audience to the theatres. Perhaps the film will remain as the Best film made in recent times in the Kannada film industry.