The news of her mother’s demise did not stop Revathi from completing the schedule her troupe had committed to. Much in agony, she enacted her role in the play ‘Ponniyin Selvan’ at the Corporation Kalai Arangam in Coimbatore, before leaving for Chennai, where her mother Nanjil Nalini, renowned theatre and film artiste, passed away. She politely but firmly brushed aside the suggestion to leave immediately. Prakash Kutti, producer of the play, at once started looking for flight bookings, offering to even cancel the show. But Revathi was determined. She appeared in both back-to-back shows that afternoon before leaving for Chennai.
“I wondered what my mother would have done in these circumstances. She would have definitely finished her assignment, whatever the situation. Such was her passion,” says Revathi. “It was a commitment and she wouldn’t want to disappoint the audience,” she adds.
“It is a huge blow to me because I have never been separated from my mother. She was one of the finest actors on stage and cinema besides being an excellent dubbing artiste. Recently, she came back to stage — after 20 years — to act in the play ‘Karnan.’ We were planning to celebrate her turning 75 but fate had other plans,” expands Revathi.
Born in Thakkalai in 1944, Nalini started acting at the age of 13 and continued till her last breath. She acted in number of drama troupes, including Vairava Nadaga Sabha, S.S. Rajendran, T.K. Shanmugam (TKS) and ‘Major’ Sundararajan. She later started Revathi Fine Arts in her daughter’s name. She made her silver screen debut in ‘Enga Oor Raja.’ The association continued with Annai Abirami , Thanga Pathakam and many more. She acted with Rajinikanth in Dharma Yudham , Kamal Haasan in Aadu Puli Aattam and Sathyaraj in Rickshaw Maama. She has acted in more than 100 films and on stage remains as one of the actors who have crossed thousands of performances on stage.
From the State Government’s Kalaimamani, which she received from the then Chief Minister MGR, in the presence Governor Prabhudas Patwari, she bagged all the awards named after some of the stalwarts of Tamil cinema, Aringar Anna award, Sivaji Ganesan, Kalaignar, Selvi Jayalalithaa and AVM awards to name a few. ‘Mandhira Vasal,’ ‘Azhagi,’ ‘Krishnadasi,’ ‘Valli,’ and ‘Soolam’ are some of the TV serials in which she played major roles.
