Pushpalatha

Pushpalatha (1937 or 1938 – 4 February 2025) was an Indian actress, who worked predominantly in Tamil-, Telugu-, Kannada- and Malayalam-language films. She acted in lead and character roles in more than 100 films. Her debut film was Sengottai Singam, released in 1958. When Pushpalatha co-starred with A. V. M. Rajan in Naanum Oru Penn, the two fell in love and got married. In 1964, she was a model for Lux soap.

Pushpalatha's native home was Mettupalayam, Coimbatore. Her father sold brass and silver. She was the fifth child among the 8 children of a strict Chettinadu Catholic family. She completed Bharatnatyam at the age of 9. In 1955, she had a cameo role in the movie Nalla Thangai, produced and directed by actor S. A. Natarajan.^{[citation needed]}

She made her debut in the movie Konga Nattu Thangam (1962). Following that, she has acted as lead actress and supporting actress in more than one hundred films, such as Sarada, Paar Magaley Paar, Naanum Oru Penn, Yarukku Sontham, Thaaye Unakkaga, Karpooram, Jeevanaamsam, Dharisanam, Kalyanaraman, Sakalakalla Vallavan, Simla Special, Puthu Vellam and Ammavum Neeye Appavum Neeye. She has acted in several Telugu and Malayalam films. Pushpalatha produced two films. Both of them failed at the box office.

AVM Rajan and Pushpalatha were one of the popular star couples in Tamil cinema. Pushpalatha was a Christian, while AVM Rajan was at the time a fervent Hindu devoted to Lord Muruga. Pushpalatha produced two films, both of which failed commercially. Pushpalatha financially suffered for that reason. The couple had two daughters, one of whom is Mahalakshmi, also an actress. Their family has converted to Christianity, doing fulltime ministry today.

Pushpalatha died on 4 February 2025, at the age of 87.