Sankaramanchi Janaki was born on 12 December 1931. She made her acting debut in 1950 in the Telugu film Shavukaru. She was thereafter known as “Sowcar” Janaki.
She made her debut to the Tamil screen in 1952 through the T.R. Sundaram directorial, Vallaiyapathi which was penned by the famous poet and writer, Bharathidasan.
She went on to star in over 400 films across seven decades, sharing the screen with – among others – Sivaji Ganesan, MG Ramachandran, Gemini Ganesan, Jaishankar, R. Muthuraman, Kamalhaasan, Rajinikanth, Karthik, Mohan, and Karthi. She also shared the screen with Santhanam in her 400th movie, Biskoth.
In 1969 she received the Kalaimamani award. In 2022 she was awarded the Padmashri, India’s fourth highest civilian award.
Janaki’s younger sister, T. Krishna Kumarie, was also a popular actress and acted in over 150 films. Her granddaughter, Vaishnavi, acted in more than 30 films, including a role as Madhubala’s sister in Mani Ratnam’s Roja.
Sowcar Janaki turned 94 on Friday, 12 December.
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