The Travancore sisters refer to the trio of Lalitha, Padmini and Ragini, who were actresses, dancers and performers in Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada films.[1][2]
The Travancore sisters learned dancing under Guru Gopinath and guru T. K. Mahalingam Pillai.[3] Ragini died from cancer in 1976, Lalitha in 1982, and Padmini died in 2006. Few documents relating to them survived, except for dozens of films and articles in Indian newspapers. The Travancore sisters grew up in a joint family tharavadu Malaya Cottage in Poojappura, Thiruvananthapuram.[4] The Travancore sisters were nieces of the famous beauty Narayani Pillai Kunjamma, who spurned the king of Travancore in favour of marrying the aristocratic landowner Kesava Pillai of Kandamath and through her related to the actress Sukumari's mother Sathyabhama Amma and the Travancore Royal Family through their cousin Ambika.[5] They came to be known as the Travancore sisters. Uday Shankar called the sisters to Chennai (then Madras) to act in a film based on dance which he was planning to make. Padmini and her sisters were disciples of the noted Indian dancer Guru Gopinath.
The matriarchial head of the family was Karthyayini Amma whose husband was Palakunnathu Krishna Pillai of Cherthala alias 'Penang Padmanabha Pillai'or P K Pillai, who had six sons of whom Satyapalan Nair was a leading producer of many early Malayalam films. Another son, Raveendran Nair's daughter Latika Suresh, is a leading producer of Malayalam TV programs. They performed at the 1955 Filmfare Awards.[6]
Dance and musical drama performances in films.
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