Mahesh Babu unveils statue of veteran Telugu actor Vijaya Nirmala

Telugu superstar Mahesh Babu, along with his father, veteran actor Krishna, unveiled the statue of his stepmother and well-known actor-filmmaker Vijaya Nirmala on Thursday here. The grand unveiling was done on the occasion of Vijaya Nirmala's 74th birth anniversary. Vijaya Nirmala, who had starred in over 200 films and had directed 44 in her illustrious career of over three decades, passed away in June 2019. She made her acting debut at the age of five in the 1950 Tamil film "Machcha Rekkai", and at 11 she made her Telugu debut with the film "Panduranga Mahatyam". She rose to stardom opposite Prem Nazir in the 1964 Malayalam film "Bhargavi Nilayam", and went on to work with him again in "Udhyogastha". As a leading lady, she made her Telugu debut with "Rangula Ratnam" alongside Vanisri and Anjali Devi. In 1967, she starred in Telugu film "Sakshi" and it's on the sets of this film she met actor Krishna with whom she worked in 47 films and eventually ended up marrying. However, it was her second marriage. Vijay Nirmala was one of the very few female filmmakers to really make a mark as a director. In 1971, she made her directorial debut via the Telugu film "Meena", which was based on the eponymous popular novel written by Eddanapudi Sulochana Rani. Two year later, she directed her first Malayalam film Kavitha. She was the only female director to work with major stars like Sivaji Ganesan and Rajinikanth. She directed the latter in the Telugu remake of "Amar Akbar Anthony", which also starred her husband Krishna. Her other popular directorial projects include "Rowdy Rangamma", "Sirimalle Navvindi", "Bezawada Bebbuli" and "Collector Vijaya" among others. With 44 films as director to her credit, she holds a Guinness Record for most number of films directed by a female filmmaker.