Rajasulochana

Chittajallu Rajeevalochana (15 August 1935 – 5 March 2013), better known as Rajasulochana, was an Indian classical dancer and actress. She acted in more than 300 Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi language films.

She was born on 15 August 1935 in Bezawada (now Vijayawada), in Andhra Pradesh. Her father, Pilliarchetty Bhakthavatsalam Naidu, worked in Indian Railways and was transferred to Madras as PA to the General Manager of M&SM Railway. At school, her name was erroneously recorded as Rajasulochana.

She learned Indian classical dance from Lalithamma, K. N. Dhandayuthapani Pillai, Acharyulu and Vempati Chinna Satyam, Krishnakumar, Vishnu Vysarkar, and Kalamandalam Madhavan.

The Kannada stage and screen maestro H. L. N. Simha gave her an acting opportunity in Gunasagari (Kannada, 1953), produced by Gubbi Veeranna. Subsequently, she acted in about 274 films in all South Indian languages. She acted with all the leading stars of South Indian cinema such as M. G. Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, N. T. Rama Rao, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Rajkumar, S. S. Rajendran, Prem Nazir, A. P. Nagarajan and M. N. Nambiar.

She founded the dance school "Pushpanjali Nritya Kala Kendram" in 1961 in Chennai. It has trained many students in Indian classical dance forms and celebrated its Silver Jubilee in 1986. She gave many dance performances in India and abroad and got critical acclaim for the dance dramas.

She had a son out of her first marriage and after it ended in a divorce, she married actor-director C. S. Rao and had twin daughters. One daughter lives in Chennai. The other twin daughter and son live in Chicago, Illinois.

Rajasulochana died in Chennai on 5 March 2013 at the age of 77. Condoling her death, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said the actress had left an imprint for herself in the film industry. She was engaged in creating artistes in her dance school "Pushpanjali Nrithya Kala Kendram" here, Jayalalithaa said.