Malayalam voice artist Ananda Valli passed away at a private hospital in Trivandrum yesterday. She was aged 67 and had reportedly been undergoing treatment for blood cancer. Apart from winning the state award for dubbing, she has also appeared in quite a few movies.
Ananda Valli, a native of Kollam, started her career in theatre in the 1960s. Her first association with cinema, however, came through acting in the 1973 film Eanippadikal. She debuted as a voice artist in Malayalam cinema through the 1973 film Devi Kanyakumari.
She won the State Award for the best dubbing artist in 1992 for the film Adhaaram. She had dubbed for Geetha in the movie. She has lent her voice for almost all the leading ladies of the 80s and 90s including Poornima Jayaram, Geetha, Madhavi, Menaka, Suhasini Maniratnam, Shanthi Krishna and Meera Jasmine.
Ananda Valli has worked in more than 3000 movies and been the voice of more than 10,000 characters. During a career spanning over four decades, there have been occasions when she had dubbed for up to seven characters in a movie. In the movie Vendor Daniel, she dubbed for three characters in the same frame. She lent her voice to both Lakshmi and Urvashi in Sibi Malayil’s award-winning movie Bharatam starring Mohanlal.
She is best known to the audience as the voice of actress Madhavi in the tragedy Akaashadoothu. She had also dubbed for Sumalatha in Padmarajan’s cult classic Thoovaanathumpikal. Ananda Valli dubbed for Geetha in all the 115 movies that the actress acted in Malayalam.
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Ananda Valli also witnessed the debut of both Mohanlal and Mammootty as she worked on their debut movies. Her last dubbing performance came in the 2002 Dileep starrer Mazhathullikilukkam when she dubbed for veteran actress Sharada. She was also acting in Neelakkuyil, a teleserial currently broadcast on television.
Diphan, the late Malayalam director was Anandavally’s son. He passed away in March 2017 due to liver cirrhosis and kidney failure. She is survived by her daughter Anu Lakshmy.
Image Courtesy: East Coast Daily