Veteran Telugu actor Geethanjali Ramakrishna dies at 72

Geetanjali featured in close to 400 films across the four South Indian languages, mostly in Telugu. Her last role was in Tamannaah Bhatia starrer, That Is Mahalakshmi, the Telugu remake of Queen.

Well-known veteran Telugu actor Geethanjali Ramakrishna breathed her last on Thursday in a private hospital in Hyderabad, according to a Times of India report. She was 72. The report further added that Geethanjali suffered a massive cardiac arrest while undergoing treatment related to breathing issues.

Geethanjali made her film debut in NTR directed film, Seeta Kalyanam.

In her illustrious career spanning over five decades, she has approximately acted in over 400 films across languages. While she predominantly worked in Telugu filmdom, she also starred in films in other languages such as Tamil, Malayalam and Hindi.

In 1961, she made her acting debut via Telugu film Seetha Kalyanam. She played goddess Sita in the film, which was directed by NTR. Some of her other popular Telugu films include Dr Chakravarthy, Murali Krishna, Bobbili Yuddham, Devata, Poola Rangadu, Sambarala Rambabu and Kaalam Marinidi among others.

In Tamil, she has worked in films such as Sarada, Adhe Kangal and En Annan among others. In Hindi, she worked in five films and these are Paying Guest, Parasmani, Do Kaliyaan, Balram Sri Krishna and Bandhu. She also worked in three Malayalam films.

Originally named as Mani, Geethanjali was born at Kakinada in Andhra Pradesh. At the peak of her career, she married fellow actor Ramakrishna with whom she had shared screen space in many films. Post marriage, Geethanjali took a long sabbatical and returned to face the arc lights as a character artiste. In the last decade, she played the role of grandmother in a few Telugu films.

Her last on screen appearance will be Tamannaah Bhatia’s That Is Mahalakshmi, the Telugu remake of Queen. In the film, she has played Tamannaah’s grandmother. The last rites of Geethanjali will be performed on Thursday evening. Tributes have started to pour from members of Telugu film fraternity.

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