P. Bhanumathi:

P. Bhanumathi Ramakrishna is remembered as one of the first female superstars of Telugu cinema. She also worked in Tamil films. Bhanumathi was born on 7th September 1924, her father was also an actor and admirer of music, so she got formal training of acting and classical music at a very young age.

Excelled in various fields of filmmaking acting, directing, producing, singing, music composing and editing, she was fondly known as ‘Ashtavadani’, someone who can perform eight tasks simultaneously.

P. Bhanumathi was honoured with Padma Shri in 1966 and Padma Bhushan in 2001.



This interview was conducted by Randor Guy on 15th March 1989 while P. Bhanumathi was 65.

Madabhushi Rangadorai, fondly known as Randor Guy is a well-known author, columnist and film historian, and also a lawyer by profession. He has written books like “Memories of Madras: Its Movies, Musicians & Men of Letters”, “A History of Tamil Cinema”, “Starlight, Starbright: The Early Tamil Cinema”. Guy has also written fiction novels like “Chaya” and “Kasi”.

Language: Telugu, Duration: 1hr and 48 Min

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