Women's Day Special: Leelavathi - A forgotten queen of Sandalwood!

On the day when the whole world is celebrating the Women's Day, we would like to remember actress Leelavathi, who has been forgotten by Kannada film industry. Here is an attempt to throw a light on her problems, which she faced in the recent past, and the way the industry responded her during the tough times.

Leelavathi is breathing a sigh of relief, as her actor-son Vinod Raj, who had a heart attack a few days ago, is doing fine and expected to get discharged in a couple of days. Luck, which was not on her side in most part of her life, smiled on her when an operation theatre at a private hospital, which was reserved for another patient became available at the hour of crisis and that almost saved his life. This might have given her happiness, but can we undo what has happened to her family in the last six month?

In a span of six months, fire has broken out twice in Leelavathi's farm house damaging the property worth lakhs, which affected Vinod Raj's health. It is not clear whether it happened by accident or miscreants set the fire. This can only be answered by the actress' family. This evokes a few questions in her fans mind. Isn't there a limit for her problems? Why always her? “I wish every mother should be blessed a son like Vinod Raj but I pray to the God that no mother must go through what I underwent in my life,” says the tearful actress. Can anyone understand the hidden meaning from this statement?

The legendary actress, who has acted in over 600 films, has done wide variety of roles but the audience love her to see in the roles of mother. In fact, people around her seem to have not been kind enough because no one stood behind her during the bad phase. It is shocking to note that nobody from Sandalwood lent her helping hand nor met her family when her son suffered the heart attack.

The associations like Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce, Artists guild, etc., did not turn up to her to ask whether she needs any help nor they provided financial assistance. Nonetheless, Leelavathi, like her on-screen roles, does not complain about this ill-treatment and lives her life like a role model for women for which we are remembering her on this Women's Day.