Vyjayanthimala - Early Life

Early Life

Born in Triplicane situated near Parthasarathy Temple in a orthodox and religious Tamil Brahmin family to M. D. Raman and Vasundhara Devi. Her mother was a leading actress in Tamil Cinema in 1940s where her film Mangama Sabatham was the first ever Tamil film to be declared a "colossal" hit at the box office. She used to call her mother by her name as her mother was 16 years elder than her when she was born. Similarly, she also calls her father as "Anna", means elder brother, as her father happened to be the eldest in their family and everyone called him as "Anna" which is common among Brahmin joint family. During her childhood, she was raised primarily by her maternal grandmother, Yadugiri Devi, and her father, M.D. Raman. She was also known as mononym "Papakutty", which means little child. Her ancestor are from Mysore (now Karnataka). In 1938, her grandfather Gopalacharya, the late Mandayam Dhati, started a nursing home on Narayan Shastri Road, Mysore.

At age 5, Vyjayanthimala was chosen to perform a classical Indian dance for Pope Pius XII while her mother shared the honor as an audience member in 1940 at Vatican City. Vyjayanthi did her schooling at Sacred Heart Higher Secondary School, Presentation Convent, Church Park, Chennai. She learned Bharata Natyam from Guru Vazhuvoor Ramiah Pillai and Carnatic music from Manakkal Sivaraja Iyer. She had her arangetram at the age of 13 and started performing all over Tamil Nadu later.