Geetanjali

Geetanjali Biography

Geetanjali is a film actress associated with south Indian films during classic era – 1950s to 1970s. She has also appeared in a few Hindi films in the 1950s and 1960s during her younger days. She predominantly worked in Telugu movies, and has done a few Tamil and Malayalam movies. Her real name is Mani. Interestingly when she acted in Bollywood classic Parasmani in the early 1960s, the filmmakers rechristened her as Geetanjali so as to avoid confusions with the film title. She played Shanthi's sister in Devanand starrer Paying Guest (1957), role of princess in Parasmani and supporting role of Menaka in 1968 super hit film, Do Kaliyaan.

Geetanjali was born as Mani in Kakinada, East Godaveri district of Andhra Pradesh. Late Telugu actor Ramakrishna is her husband. The actor has appeared in over 200 films in supporting roles belonging to different south Indian languages. The couple has one son. Mani started her film journey with Hindi movies in the second half of 1950s. As she couldn’t make it big, she moved to south Indian cinema in the 1960s where she succeeded. Yet she achieved only limited success and faded away from limelight in the 1970s. She finally got settled with family life after her marriage.

Geetanjali was first seen in 1957 Bollywood classic, Paying guest. It’s her first credited role. She appeared in a couple of Hindi movies in the 1960s, before she turned busy down south. Illalu, Sitarama Kalyanam, Dr. Chakravarthy, Murali Krishna, Abbayigaru Ammayigaru, Kaalam Marindi and Sambarala Rambabu are some of her most popular film roles. She also served as a member of the Nandi Film Award committee.

Published: September 01, 2018

Updated: September 01, 2018