Madhavi Krishnan
IHFS – Excellence Award For Performing Arts
Before anybody else from Singapore made inroads into the impregnable Tamil film world, there was one brave young girl who stamped her presence there. She is none other than Madhavi Krishnan. She portrayed varied roles with leading stars and soon she earned herself a respectable place in the Tamil film world with her acting prowess and charisma.
She went to Chennai to learn Kathakali and Bharathanatyam dances and graduated in both. Her dancing partner was her roommate, Ganga, Together they were known as Ganga-Madhavi team and performed stage programmes all over Chennai. They have also performed on Singapore stage in the early 1970s.
While she was performing stage shows in Chennai, yesteryear comedian actor Durairaj spotted her and introduced her to the director of the movie Ayeram Kaalathu Payir. And that’s how she made her debut in that movie AKP and one of the actors in the movie was AVM Rajan. The rest is history as they say.
In 1966, when the author made a tour of the Tamil film world representing the Indian Movie News Readers Club, he had the most hospitable moments with Madhavi and her mother in Chennai. She hosted many parties for the author to interact with the stars in Chennai and one of the memorable one was when the author had an invitation to attend Tamil Film world’s, ‘Kathal Mananan,’ (Romeo of Tamil movies) Gemini Ganesan and his wife, actress Savithri’s daughter Chamundeswari’s, birthday celebrations. The whole lot of the Tamil film world artistes were there. Everyone was there, including Sivaji Ganesan, the thespian of Tamil cinema.
Madhavi went on to act in more than thirty movies, mainly in Tamil but occasionally in Telegu and Malayalam. She acted with the top actors and actresses of the Tamil film world, including MGR, Asokan, Nagesh and others. She made history being the first and the only artiste from Singapore in the 1960s. It took another 30 years for others to make headway into the Tamil film world again.
She returned to Singapore in the late 60s and joined the National Dance Theatre Company. She established herself a reputable name and represented Singapore in many world tours, performing mesmerizing Indian dances.
Madhavi was one of the founding members of the National Dance Theatre Company which was established in 1970 by the Singapore Government, and was its principal dancer.
Madhavi returning home to Singapore after finishing her cinema stint. Welcome reception BY IMNRC, she is with her sisters, brother, on the right, and IMNRC members, including the president of IHFS Photo from the author’s private collection.
For her dedication to the Singapore arts scene, she was aptly rewarded the inaugural Cultural Medallion in 1970. Her name will have a permanent place in the cultural field of Singapore for being the first to receive the Cultural Medallion Award, the highest accolades in Singapore for cultural contributions.
Madhavi is married to Dr Rajalingam Chinniah, a medical doctor at Fiona Stanley Hospital, Australia. They live in Perth with their daughter, Anjali Chinniah, a lawyer who was graduated from the Cardiff University and did her Masters at London University.