Mumbai: Bhanupriya turn 53 today. She was a famous actress of South Indian films and needs no introduction. Bhanupriya celebrates her birthday 15 January. Bhanupriya was born in Rangampeta village, near Rajamahendravaram, Andhra Pradesh in a Telugu speaking family, to Pandu Babu and Ragamali. Her debut film is Mella Pesungal (1983).
Bhanu ventured into Hindi film industry in the 90s after gaining popularity in south. The story of Bhanupriya’s entry into films is also interesting. Bhanu’s real name is Mangalabama and didn’t have film background. While she was studying in school, K Bhagyaraj came to her school in search of a teen girl who knows dancing for his film.
Initially he selected Bhanupriya, but during the photoshoot he felt that Bhanu was too young, so he rejected her. After this, Bhanu also never went back to school again. She had already informed in school that she was going to act in films and returning to school without getting the opportunity was embarrassing for her. She feared that friends would make fun at her for being rejected. After that she launched job hunt and also got success.
She then appeared in the Telugu film Sitaara, which won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu for that year besides doing well at the box office. She then played an ornithologist in the 1985 mystery film Anveshana. In 1986, she made her Hindi film debut with Dosti Dushmani.
In a career spanning 33 years, Bhanupriya has acted in more than one hundred fifty feature films in different roles, and has garnered three state Nandi Awards, three Tamil Nadu State Film Awards, two Cinema Express Awards, two Filmfare Awards South and the JFW Divas of South India Award for her contribution to South Indian cinema. She also got the Gemini TV Puraskaram for lifetime achievement in Television and various other honours.
Bhanupriya’s personal life too is quite interesting. Bhanupriya fell in love with an NRI digital graphics engineer named Adarsh Kaushal, who lived in America. Both were in touch over phone. Bhanu’s parents were against the marriage but later got convinced and the duo got married 14 June 1998 in California. She gave birth to their daughter Abhinaya 2003. However Bhanupriya and Kaushal got divorced in 2005 and moved to Chennai with her daughter.
Bhanupriya also has a sister Shanthipriya, who was also a actress in 90s films in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. Saugandh was her debut film in Hindi film industry. But she never got the fame her sister got.
