M. S. Sundari Bai Biography 
M. S. Sundari Bai was a singer actress of south Indian cinema in the early talkies, at a time when singing actresses were high in demand. She mainly worked mainly in Tamil cinema from the 1940s to the 1970s playing different roles. Bai was the wife of Padma Shri Kothamangalam Subbu, best known as a Tamil writer and cine personality. Sundari Bai remained at her career peak in the 1940s and also had a handful of good roles in the 1950s, and as age conquered her, she started accepting aged and less-significant character roles as well, before she disappeared from screen in 1970s. She passed away in 2006 in Chennai, where she spent her last years.
M. S. Sundari Bai was born in Madurai, Tamil Nadu in the year 1923. During her teens, a family friend suggested to send her to Mumbai to pursue a professional career in entertainment field. Thus she appeared in an advertisement film in the 1930s. She joined film industry in her late teens. When Gemini Studios were started in 1940, Sundari Bai joined Gemini as a staff artiste. She also got opportunity to appear in a character role in the first film Madanakamarajan launched by Gemini Studios in 1941.
Her roles as a slum girl in Nandanar (1942) and a maid in Dasi Aparanji (1944) elevated her position in the industry, and very soon she started getting more roles from cine world. She later fell in love with Kothamangalam Subbu and got married. After marriage she continued with her professional career. Some of her noted roles later are Kannamma En Kadhali, Miss Malini, Chandralekha, Avvaiyyar, Vanjikottai Valiban, Deivapiravi, Padikkadha Medhai and Sila Nerangalil Sila Manithargal.
Published: February 19, 2019
Updated: February 19, 2019
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