Yesteryear Actresses Who Made Mother Roles Memorable in Telugu Movies

Malayali actress Sithara was one of the top heroines of South India during her time. In a career span of nearly 30 years, she took a few brief gaps and now is entertaining us in mother roles. She starred in many super hit films like Srimanthudu, Bhale Bhale Magadivoy, and Bharat Ane Nenu, etc where she played mother to the lead characters.

One of the most sort out heroines with some of the best following during the 90s was Ramya Krishnan. Versatile with the roles she chose, Ramya excelled in any role that was given to her. She is one of those rare heroines to have stayed for a considerable amount of time. Even after her marriage to director Krishna Vamsi, she continued to mould herself in the roles she would fit in best and has now become a pro in character roles. Her latest portrayal as Sivagami in ‘Baahubali’ is a great example that Ramya Krishnan is still in her elements.

Best remembered for her role in ‘Roja’ as Roja, Madhoobala did carve a niche for herself during her tenure. After starring in a few South Indian films, she ventured into Bollywood and earned decent following. The last movie that we saw her in Telugu was ‘Ganesh’ alongside Venkatesh. After a gap of 12 years, she appeared as heroine’s mother in Mohankrishna Indraganti’s ‘Anthaku Mundhu Aa Taruvatha’. She was also noticed for her possessive mother role in ‘Surya Vs Surya’.

Roja had some of the best hits in Telugu and Tamil industries to her credit. She was also one of the leading actresses of the 90s. However, she always managed to stay in the limelight. Her last outing as a leading lady was in a devotional movie ‘Durga’. She then took a gap of 9 years and returned to the Telugu screens playing mother roles with ‘Shambo Shiva Shambo’, ‘Golimaar’ etc.

During the 90s, Raasi was a heroine who was labelled as a ‘traditional’ girl. She worked more on those roles that carried more weightage for heavy drama and sentiments. She always had her bag of movies full. Her last appearance in Telugu was an item song in Ravi Teja’s ‘Venky’. After a gap of 14 years, she was recently seen in Nandini Reddy’s directorial ‘Kalyana Vaibogame’ and looks spectacular as ever.

Right from her childhood, Meena has been impressive with her acts. Acting across all the languages down South, she is one of those few heroines who has been successful in all four languages. Her last appearance in Telugu as a heroine was Srihari’s ‘Simhachalam’. After a gap of 5 years, she revived her career in Telugu by playing Jagapati Babu’s wife in the Tamil – Telugu bilingual ‘Kathanayakudu’. She was well applauded for her role in her latest film ‘Drushyam’ in Malayalam as well as in Telugu.

The actress who gave a commendable performance in the movie ‘Peddarikam’ alongside Jagapathy Babu was quite famous in her times working simultaneously in all the South Indian languages. After a gap of close to a decade, she returned to the Telugu screens playing mother roles. She was latest seen in Mahesh Babu’s ‘Srimanthudu’ as his mother. Coincidentally, this time too she paired alongside Jagapathy Babu

Pragathi, whom we know now as a very prominent mother in many Telugu and Tamil films was once upon a time an actress. She was introduced by Bhagyaraj as a heroine in ‘Veetla Visheshanga’ in Tamil and went on to do a couple of movies back then. After her early marriage and a brief gap, at the age of 25 she returned to play mother to heroines her same age. She even won a Nandi Award for her role in ‘Yemaindhi Ee Vela’ as the Best Supporting Actress.

Annapurna has remained as the first cine-mother figure in our memories of watching movie from childhood. Looks like it’s just a cakewalk for her to essay such roles as she does it very convincingly. Annapurna will always remain as the best and first mother of TFI.

The first film that strikes your mind is ‘Sankranthi’ where she played mother to 4 kids. She had earlier won 3 National Awards for Best Actress. After playing actress during her earlier times, Sharada turned towards playing mother roles and equally excelled at it. ‘Yogi’, ‘Sankranthi’, ‘Stalin’ etc are just a few examples.

From where do we start about this amazing actress? The first movie that will strike your mind will be ‘Murari’. But, she actually plays the role of Mahesh’s sister-in-law, in the movie. Since she and her husband do not have kids, they decide to raise Mahesh and consider him as their kid. She also received a Nandi award for her role in this film. Her other role as mother in ‘Ninne Pelladutha’ is one we definitely connect to.

We’ve seen her as a mother, mostly to heroines and yet for the pleasant smile she carries, it feels she is one among our family members. Her role in the movies starting from ‘Nuvve Nuvve’, ‘Nuvvu Naku Nachav’, ‘Manmadhudu’, ‘Dil’, ‘Athadu’ etc, have impressed many and that is one reason she continues in mother roles.

After having a successful career as a female lead in many movies opposite the biggest stars of those times, Jayasudha made a smart and great comeback by donning the role of a friendly mother in Puri Jagannadh’s ‘Amma Nanna.. O Tamil Ammai’. She even received a Filmfare Award for her performance. Ever since then, it was no looking back for Jayasudha as she went on to grab some of the best opportunities in some remarkable movies.

Suhasini too excelled in her career as an actress during her regime and then made a comeback as a mother through movies like ‘Peddababu’, ‘Amma Cheppindi’, ‘Leader’, etc. This proved her mettle as a supporting actress as well. Her role in ‘Gabbar Singh’ received a SIIMA nomination for Best Actress in a supporting role.

She is the daughter of stage and film actor Mysore Lokesh but had only a brief duration as a leading lady, in the initial part of her career. She found her track back with the movie ‘Prasthanam’ and ever since then she has been picking decent roles carving a niche for herself. She further strengthened her place as mother with movies like ‘Race Gurram’, ‘Malli Malli Idhi Rani Roju’ , ‘S/O Satyamurthy’ etc.

A multi-talented artist that she is, Rohini has emerged as a successful actress even in supporting roles. After a brief gap, she made a surprising come back with her role as mother of Gautham in ‘Ala Modalaindhi’. This role fetched her many more roles and of course her latest being the role of Sanga, mother of Shivudu in ‘Baahubali : The Beginning’, was appreciated very well.

The National Award winning actress is known as one of the most famous mothers now in South Indian Films. Initially she played the mother roles in ‘Rakhi’, ‘Jagadam’ and further strengthened it with ‘Vedam’ and ‘Puli’ in Telugu. In parallel, she went on to become a successful supporting actress in the Tamil industry and her role as mother in ‘Raghuvaran B.Tech’ (‘ Velaiyilla Pattathari’ in Tamil) was an outstanding performance.