It was Bollywood that gave actress-dancer Padmini, who died Monday, the national and international prominence that she well deserved.
Padmini was Raj Kapoor's first heroine from the south when he was struggling to find a replacement for Nargis.
She was already doing Hindi films, having debuted with "Payal" in 1957, when Raj starred opposite her in "Jis Desh Mein Ganga Behti Hai", the 1960 blockbuster.
Her "Oye hoye hoye hoye hoye", that innocent mix of joy and banter, became a national buzzword as the film went on to win awards at home and abroad.
But the sequence of Padmini under a waterfall, popular for its sensuality, was panned by critics for possible vulgarity.
Her southern oomph was a major attraction of the film that had great music by Shankar Jaikishan, who composed some of the most lilting songs of Hindi cinema sung by Mukesh and Lata Mangeshkar.
"Aa ab laut chalen," the climax song came to be regarded as a patriotic song, to be played on national days. It became the title of the maiden film that Raj's son Rishi Kapoor produced years later.
Then came "Aashiq" when Raj and Padmini scorched the screen with romance and songs, again a Shankar Jaikishan and Lata-Mukesh combination.
When Raj indulged in nostalgia in "Mera Nam Joker," Padmini was the only heroine he repeated, something unusual for him.
Along with Vyjayanthimala Bali, who had preceded her to national prominence via Bollywood, Padmini gave Hindi film dances a distinct southern classical touch. Critics thought it was "pseudo classical," but it has stayed a part of film choreography till today.
Like Vyjayanthimala, Padmini proved to be at home in any language that few other artistes emerging from regional cinema have been able to accomplish.
Undoubtedly among the most remarkable artistes to come from southern India, Padmini never really left her roots even after her marriage and migration to the US. She divided her time doing films in Mumbai and Chennai, while running a school of Indian dance in New Jersey.
She did that for a good 20 years before returning to Chennai when her husband K.T. Ramachandran died.
At the height of her popularity in Bollywood, she played Draupadi in Babubhai Mistry's "Ramayan".
She was legendary Ashok Kumar's ladylove in "Kalpana", the only film he produced. Playing a tomboy in contrast to the traditional courtesan played by Padmini in that film was her sister Ragini.
Along with Raj and Nargis, Padmini enjoyed immense popularity in the erstwhile Soviet Union. If Raj was called "Tavarish Brodigya," a street was named after Padmini.
The international high for the three came in "Pardesi", a landmark Indo-Soviet co-production. Director Vasili Pronin's film also had Prithviraj Kapoor and Balraj Sahni.
The film, entitled "Khozhdenie Za Tri Morya" in Russian, was about a Russian (played by Oleg Strizhenov) travelling to India in the 15th century to establish a trade route, and meeting his ladylove in the process.
Hollywood, that failed to understand the nuances of "Mother India" when it was entered for the Oscar that year, did not seem to think much of this Indo-Soviet effort. It was dubbed an adventure film, a travelogue and "kiddie-entertainment" by Hal Erickson in film journal All Movie Guide.
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