Bharathi Vishnuvardhan: Shining on the silver screen for five decades

She would have become a basketball player or an athlete, but luck took her to the tinsel world. And she went on to dominate the silver screen for five decades. Speak about the sports field's loss that became celluloid's gain and Bharathi Vishnuvardhan would agree with a smile. Bharathi, who completes 50 years of acting this year, says she became an actress by accident.
“I never dreamt of becoming an actress.My parents, Ramachandra Rao and Bhadravathi, who saw my acting in school, made me enter films. I was cute and active. I used to act, dance, run and play throw ball in Maharani's College,'' she says.
In 1964, Bharathi got her first acting chance when she was still in college. “I had performed a dance at a function along with my friend Radha. The dance photos were on the notice board and someone showed them to Kalyan Kumar. He chose me as heroine for the film Love in Bangalore. From then on, I stuck to acting,“ says Bharathi, who has acted with several legends including Rajkumar, Sunil Dutt, MGR, Sivaji Ganesan, B R Panthulu, Nutan and Manoj Kumar.
But, believe it or not, she has not seen her first film, `Love in Bangalore', till now. “I had a romantic role in the film. After I completed the movie, I got an offer from B R Panthulu for `Dudde Doddappa'. At that time, shootings were taking place in Chennai (then Madras). So I could not come to Bangalore and see the movie.“
Though Love in Bangalore was her first movie, Dudde Doddappa was released first.
Bharathi, who was born on August 15, 1950, has acted in more than 100 Kannada films, 17 Hindi, 25 Tamil and Telugu and 15 Malayalam films. She has played a variety of roles -student, romantic, rural belle, mythological, historical -in her own style.
Rajkumar and Bharathi were once considered the country's most popular silver screen pair.
“Sandhya Raga (1965) was my first movie with Rajkumar. I won a national award for that movie. Rajkumar was a simple and unassuming personality . People liked our pair and even producers felt that the pair would click and made 24 films with us in the lead roles.“
They acted together in movies such as Sri Krishnadevaraya, Bangarada Manushya, Doorada Bet ta and Balu Belagithu. “When we were shooting for Bangarada Manushya, there were no facilities like today. Producer KCN Gowda arranged a crane to be sent to the location atop Baba Budangiri hills. That was an exciting moment for the crew.“
Meherban was Bharathi's first Hindi movie in which Sunil Dutt and Nutan played the lead roles.
“I played Sunil Dutt's sister. But the film crew used to call Nutan and me as sisters. I learnt a lot from them.“
Other Hindi movies of Bharathi include Purab aur Paschim, Sadhu aur Shaitaan, Hum Tum aur Woh and Khel. “I believe in luck. God will give us a good time. Life depends on how we make use of that good time.“