Vijaya Nirmala was an Indian actress, director, and producer who predominantly worked in South Indian Cinema. She died of a heart attack at the age of 73 in Hyderabad, India.
 Wiki/Biography
G Vijayanirmala Garu was born on 20 February 1946 (age: 73 years, at the time of death) in Tamil Nadu, India. In childhood, she used to work in films as a child artist.
Family
The information about her parents and siblings is not known. Her father was a film producer. She married Late. Krishna Murthy first. However, she divorced him after having an affair with an actor, Krishna Ghattamaneni. Later, she got married to Krishna Ghattamaneni.
Vijaya Nirmala with her husband, Krishna Ghattamaneni
She had a son with his ex-husband named Vijaya Naresh.
Vijaya Nirmala with her son and daughter in law
Her grandson, Naveen Vijaya Krishna is also an actor.
Naveen Vijaya Krishna is the grandson of Vijaya Nirmala
She is the step-mother of actors, Ramesh Babu, Mahesh Babu and actress, Manjula.
Vijaya Nirmala with Mahesh Babu
Career
In 1950, when she was only four years old, she appeared in a Tamil film, Machcha Rekhai as a child artist. In 1957, she made her debut in Telugu cinema with the film, ‘Panduranga Mahatyam.’
Vijaya Nirmala debuted with Panduranga Mahatyam (1957)
In 1964, Nirmala made her Malayalam film debut with the film, ‘Bhargavi Nilayam.’ She made her debut in the mainstream cinema with the Tamil film, Enga Veetu Penn which was released in 1965. Apart from acting, she was also a director. She made her directorial debut with the Telugu film, ‘Meena’ which was released in 1971. In 1973, she directed her first Malayalam film, ‘Kavitha.’
Vijaya Nirmala directed Kavitha
She also had starred in several other films including Bhargavi Nilayam (1964), Manchi Kutumbam (1965), Chitthi (1966), Nishagandhi (1970), Alluri Seetarama Raju (1974), Hema Hemeelu (1979), etc. She was the only female director in the world to have directed the most number of films including Devadasu (1974), Panchayathi (1977), Hema Hemeelu (1979), Bezawada Bebbuli (1983), Mogudu Pellala Dongaata (1992), Neramu Siksha (2009), etc.
Awards/Achievements
- Raghupathi Venkaiah Award (2008)
- Guinness World Record for being a female director to have directed the most number of films (44)
Favourite Things
Death
On 26 June 2019, she died of Heart Attack at the age of 73 at Continental Hospital in Gachibowli, Hyderabad, India.
Facts
- She rose to fame with a Malayalam hit, ‘Bhargavi Nilayam’ (1964) in which she starred opposite Prem Nazir.
- Nirmala met her second husband, Krishna Ghattamaneni on the sets of ‘Saakshi’ in 1967. It was her second Telugu film. After that, they acted along with each other in 47 films.
- She had her own production house, Vijaya Krishna Movies that had produced 15 films.
- ‘Vijaya’ was not her real name. After 1965, she named herself as Vijaya Nirmala when she paid tribute to the famous studio, Vijaya Movie Studio which gave her first starring role.
- She was the aunt of actresses, Jayasudha and Subhashini.