Sriranjani Jr.

Sriranjani (22 February 1927 – 27 April 1974) was an Indian actress active in Telugu and Tamil films. She was the younger sister of Sriranjani.^[1] She is known mainly for her tragedy roles particularly as the long-suffering wife.^[1]

Sriranjani Jr.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1944–1974
Notable work	Gunasundari Katha (1949), Parasakthi (1952)

Life

Sriranjani was born in Murikipudi village of Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh. Her elder sister, Senior Sriranjani was also an actress and is the first Sita of the Telugu screen. Her birth name is Mahalakshmi. She had grown up with her elder sister and developed interest in movies and acting. Chitrapu Narayana Murthy encouraged her and gave her chance to act in the film Bhishma in 1944. She subsequently acted in Gollabhama, Brahmachari, Gitanjali, Madalasa, Laila Majnu etc., Her life turned brighter as a heroine character in Gunasundari Katha in 1949, directed by famous K. V. Reddy. In this film her Gunasundari character established her in the industry. She acted as heroine in the magnum opus Chandraharam. Though she acted in many films like Mantradandam, Sankranthi, Prema, Bratuku Teruvu, Svayamprabha, Ramanjaneya Yuddham her best portrayal was the all-time hit of Gunasundari Katha.

In her Tamil film Parasakthi (1952), Sriranjani portrayed the male ideal of virtuous Hindu womanhood. In the same year, she also starred with MGR in the movie Kumari. Another serious role of Sriranjani was as Chandra (the wife of the hero, a lothario who suffers from leprosy) in Ratha Kanneer, a 1954 Tamil movie. Sriranjani played Rajee in the Tamil film Rajee En Kanmani (1954).^[2] The film is based on the City Lights (1931) of Charlie Chaplin.^[1]

She retired from films in 1960, but returned for a few guest roles. She died in 1974.

Partial filmography

Telugu

• Bhishma (1944)
• Gruhapravesam (1946)
• Brahma Ratham (1947)
• Gollabhama (1947)
• Madalasa (1948)
• Gitanjali (1948)
• Gunasundari Katha (1949)
• Laila Majnu (1949)
• Vali Sugriva (1950)
• Mantra Dandam (1951)
• Sankranti (1952)
• Rajeswari (1952)
• Prema (1952)
• Manavati (1952)
• Bratuku Teruvu (1953)
• Peddamanushulu (1954)
• Amarasandesam (1954)
• Chandraharam (1954)
• Sri Krishna Tulabharam (1955)
• Santhanam (1955)
• Uma Sundari (1956)
• Penki Pellam (1956)
• Preme Daivam (1957)
• Vaddante Pelli (1957) as Gowri
• Krishna Leelalu^[3] (1959) as Devaki
• Mahakavi Kalidasu (1960)
• Sri Krishnarjuna Yudham (1963)
• Bangaru Panjaram (1965)
• Nenante Nene (1968)
• Aggi Meeda Guggilam (1968)
• Bhale Tammudu (1969)
• Ukku Pidugu^[4] (1969) as Maharani Shanthimathi Devi of Kalinga
• Raja Simha^[5] (1969) as Ratanavali
• Jeevitha Chakram (1971)
• Sampoorna Ramayanam (1972) as Sumitra
• Bhakta Tukaram (1973)
• Jeevana Tarangalu (1973)
• Galipatalu (1974)
• Inti Kodalu (1974)

Tamil

• Parasakthi (1952)
• Kumari (1952)
• Kaadhal (1952)
• Chandraharam (1954)
• Rajee En Kanmani (1954)
• Ratha Kanneer (1954)
• Anbe Deivam (1957)
• Orey Vazhi (1959)
• Thilakam (1960)

Kannada

• Premada Putri (1957)