Amala Akkineni

She was one of India’s darling film stars–pretty, vivacious and a stunning dancer. She is a strong promoter of vegetarianism and an Animal Rights Activist who is actively involved with The Blue Cross. Amala was born in Bengal to an Irish Mother and Bengali Father. She has an elder brother and sister. She was educated in Kalakshetra, Madras. She was a Bharatanatyam dancer by profession. Winning overnight fame in a Tamil film by famous director T. Rajender, she charmed cinegoers in a flurry of fifty films. She acted in a number of Telugu and Tamil movies. Her performance in Pushpak, Agninakshtram (Gharshana), Nirnayam and Shiva are unforgettable. In 1992, she married Nagarjuna Akkineni, who is a Telugu super star. Her son Akhil (born in 1994) also acted in a movie ‘Sisindri’. After a series of visionary past-life experiences, she walked away from the glitter of movie stardom and entered the hapless world of Hyderabad’s sick, beaten and homeless stray animals.