She is multifaceted. A French lecturer, an All India Radio artiste, a movie dubbing artiste, a child actor and a classical dancer. She is Krishna Kashinath better known as Mokshagundam (Vavilikolanu) Krishnakumari.
Krishnakumari hails from a family of academicians. Her father Vavilikolanu Venkata Ramana Rao studied Law and worked with the Hindu Religious Endowments Board. Her mother Padmasini was the first lady senate member of Andhra University when Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was its Vice-Chancellor. Padmasini had another distinction. Along with her brother Nemili Krishnamurthy, she was among the first few students to learn to sing ‘Jana Gana Mana…’ from Rabindranath Tagore himself who had set tune to his Bengali lyric on February 28, 1919 at Madanapalle. Tagore had gone there at the invitation of the Irish poet James H. Cousins who was also the principal of Besant Theosophical College, Madanapalle.
Krishnakumari’s entry into the tinsel world was rather unexpected. When she was seven she found herself acting along side celebrities like Ch. Narayana Rao, Bhanumathi Ramakrishna and Kamala Kotnis in Tahsildar (1944). “I was learning dance from the legendary Rukmini Devi at Kalakshetra at that time. Producer-director Y.V Rao was on the lookout for a child actor to play the hero’s sister. He was my father’s friend and my father could not refuse his offer. So that was the only film I have acted. It is a good role and the teasing song, ‘ aha yemandune chinavadina… ’ which I myself rendered and acted, is remembered even today (as was the general practice in those days, for the gramophone records it was recorded again by K. Jamuna Rani, then a 7 year old). This film brought me closer to Bhanumathi and the friendship continued till her passing away,” she recalls. Incidentally, it was Krishnakumari who translated Bhanumathi Ramakrishna’s autobiogaraphy, Nalo Nenu ’ to English, titled, Musings .
Later she became more popular as a dubbing artiste. “Much before that it was All India Radio that helped me hone my skills through its plays. I had the opportunity of participating in radio plays along with stalwarts like Vangara Venkata Subbaiah, Kommuri Padmavathi Devi, Katuri Annapurna and Atluri Pundarikakshaiah to name a few,” she recalls.
It was Atluri Pundarikakshaiah who introduced her to N.T. Ramarao who was in search of a suitable voice to dub for B. Saroja Devi in the film Panduranga Mahatyam ’.“I have also dubbed for Saroja Devi in NTR’s Sita Rama Kalyanam . NTR was so dedicated to his work and his film, it is inspiring. Though he need not be present when I was dubbing for Saroja Devi’s character in both these films, as he had already completed his work, he still used to be at the mike, delivering his dialogue along with me. When I asked him why he was doing this, he replied, ‘I want you to get into the right mood of the character. If I also dub with you it will be easier for you to carry on the right emotions in your voice.’
“Raj Kapoor’s Premalekhalu ( Aah in Hindi) in which I dubbed for Nargis was another movie I cherish. Arudra and K. Ramalakshmi are family friends and the offer came through Arudra. I was in my final year of college and since the examinations are fast approaching I said I cannot travel to Bombay (Mumbai). So the dubbing was held at Bharani Studios,” she recalls.
Krishnakumari has also lent voice to Vyjayanthimala and Padmini when their Tamil movies were dubbed into Telugu and to Telugu heroines when their films were dubbed in Tamil. “Having been born and brought up in Chennai, I am proficient in Tamil. In fact I had my degree from Presidency College and it was after marriage (to Mokshagundam Kashinath) I did my post graduation in French and taught French at Vanitha Mahavidyala, Hyderabad. Now retired, she leads a quite life in Shanti Nagar, Hyderabad making occasional trips to USA where her two daughters live. In 2012 Krishnakumari was felicitated for her many talents by the Hyderabad based cultural and service oriented organisation, Sankalpa.
