K.V.SHANTHI ,FAMOUS DANCER TURNED TO ACTOR IN MALAYALAM / TAMIL MOVIES

K.V.SHANTHI ,FAMOUS DANCER TURNED 

TO ACTOR IN MALAYALAM / TAMIL MOVIES

Famous dancer-turned-actress, K V Shanthi, is well-known for her stage name, Shanthi. She was born in Kottayam, Kerala. Her father is a businessperson and is settled in Chennai. Her entire childhood was spent in both the cities as they kept on moving. This reason might be the main cause as to why she didn't have a good slang in Malayalam, and she had to take the help of dubbing artists for her voice in Malayalam movies.

K V Shanthi didn't enter the film industry directly. Firstly, she was a famous dancer. She used to be a part of a troop for a few years and soon, she formed own troop. She continued with her troop performances all over the the country for about 3-4 years. She is a dedicated disciple of world famous dancer, Uday Shankar.

K V Shanthi, while performing with her troop, got a chance to act in movies. She appeared in movies like ‘Ponkathir’, ‘Jailppuli’, and ‘Achanum Makanum’. When the production manager of Merryland Studio came to Shanthi and asked her to play a role, she immediately accepted, though for the role was for a second heroine. She appeared as Lusie in her first Malayalam movie, 'Padatha Painkili'. It is a social drama film directed by P Subramaniam in 1957. This film was a big commercial hit then. At first, she was afraid to face the camera, but later, she met it more comfortably.

K V Shanthi appeared in the role of Sathyabhama in the movie, ‘Bhakta Kuchela’. Bhaktha Kuchela was a remarkable movie in the history of both the Malayalam and Telugu film industry. A few Telugu actors took the major roles, and a few Tamil actors took the other roles. With this movie, she reached the audience of Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam cinema. This movie is one of those movies for which Shanthi is never forgotten for.

Coming to Shanthi's personal life, she married ‘Sasikumar’, and they have a child, Shyam Kumar. She appeared in and around fifty films, and later she retired. She lives as a housemaker in Chennai now.