Mysuru: Parvathamma Rajkumar had brought many heroines to the Kannada film industry and she had produced many successful films that dominated the box office.

She produced films for her husband Dr. Rajkumar and her sons Raghavendra Rajkumar, Shivrajkumar and Puneeth Rajkumar under the production house “Poornima Enterprises” that was later rechristened “Vajreshwari Combines.”

Actresses who found fame in her productions include Malashri, Prema, Rakshitha, Sudha Rani, Ramya and Anu Prabhkar.

Parvathamma was awarded with Hon. Doctorate from Bangalore University.

Among the awards she has received are the Phalke Academy Award, Kannada Rajyotsava, and a Life-time Achievement Award from the Government of Karnataka. By 2012, Parvathamma had produced over 80 films. She has spoken in defence of Kannadigas, regarding Karnataka’s position in inter-State water disputes and against infringement of the Kannada film industry’s works.

The very first movie she produced was ‘Trimurthi’ with her husband in a lead role and ‘Trimurthi’ was a great success. Her brothers S.A. Chinne Gowda, S.A. Govindaraj and S.A. Srinivas are also film producers.

Her most successful films with her husband in a lead role include ‘Trimurthi’, ‘Haalu Jenu’, ‘Kaviratna Kalidasa’ and ‘Jeevana Chaitra.’ She produced ‘Anand’, ‘Om’, ‘Janumada Jodi’ and several other movies with her older son Shivrajkumar in lead role. Raghavendra Rajkumar played the lead in ‘Chiranjeevi Sudhakar’, ‘Nanjundi Kalyana’, ‘Swasthik’ and ‘Tuvvi Tuvvi’. Her youngest son Puneeth starred in ‘Appu’, ‘Abhi’ and ‘Hudugaru’ and many other movies.

Parvathamma was born in Saligrama of Mysuru district of the erstwhile Kingdom of Mysore on Dec. 6, 1939 to Appaji Gowda and Lakshmamma, as the second of eight children. Singanallur Puttaswamaiah, her future father-in-law, placed a silver coin in her cradle and had vowed to make her his daughter-in-law. Aged 13, she married his son Rajkumar on June 25, 1953. Dr. Rajkumar died on April 12, 2006 following a cardiac arrest.