Vijaya Nirmala

Vijaya Nirmala (born Nidudavolu Nirmala; 20 February 1946 – 27 June 2019) was an Indian actress, director, and producer known for her works predominantly in Telugu cinema along with a few Malayalam and Tamil films. In a career spanning over six decades, she acted in more than 200 films and directed 44 films. In 2002, she entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the female director who has directed the most number of films in the world. In 2008, she received the Raghupathi Venkaiah Award for lifetime achievement in Telugu cinema.

Born as Nirmala, she ventured into acting as a child artist with films like Macha Rekai (1950) and Panduranga Mahatyam (1957). She debuted as a lead actress in the 1964 Malayalam film Bhargavi Nilayam which became one of the biggest hits of that year. She then acted in the Tamil film Enga Veettu Penn (1965) produced by Vijaya Productions. She added Vijaya to her name as a mark of gratitude to the production house that gave her a break as an artiste. She debuted as a leading lady in Telugu with Rangula Ratnam (1966).

She made her directorial debut in Telugu with Meena (1973) and went on to direct over 44 films. She acted with her husband Krishna in over 40 films from Sakshi (1967) to Sri Sri (2016) and the duo was considered as a hit pair. She launched her own production house – Vijaya Krishna Movies and went on to produce 15 films under the banner. She also handled the operations of Padmalaya Studios and Padmalaya Tele Films. Her son Naresh is also a noted actor in Telugu cinema.