110th birth anniversary of a pioneering lady from India: TP Rajalakshmi. Born in Tanjore of Madras Presidency, Rajalakshmi went on to become the 1st leading lady in Tamil & Telugu films as well as the 1st female producer & director in South cinema (1/n) 
Rajalakshmi's early life was difficult. She was married off at 7 but was sent back by her in-laws after her family failed to provide the dowry demanded. In order to support her family, she joined a dance troupe (2/n)
Her big break came in 1931 when she was cast in the 1st Tamil talkie Kalidasa. From thereon, Rajalakshmi's career never looked back. Same year, she fell in love with & married her co-star TV Sundaram (3/n)
Immediately after the marriage, the couple rescued a girl child from female infanticide & adopted her. Rajalakshmi brought the girl up like her own daughter. All her life, she worked to prevent the killing of the girl child (4/n)
She gave birth to a girl child in 1936 & ensured that the child, named Kamala, was given the best education. She acted in several stage shows themed on protest against British rule & resultantly was imprisoned multiple times (5/n)
Rajalakshmi opened her own production company, named Sri Rajam Talkies. She was ahead of her time in her thoughts in many ways and pioneered use of stunt men in films for action sequences (6/n)
She was also a proponent of widow remarriage & critical of practices like sati. She even penned a book on her feminist views. Rajalakshmi was held in high esteem by "Periyar" Ramaswamy who addressed her as "sister" (7/n)
In 1961, Rajalakshmi was honoured with the Kalaimani award by Dr MG Ramachandran (MGR). When MGR came to know Rajalakshmi was unwell, he sent his own car to get her to the function, such was the high esteem in which she was viewed (8/n)
Paperclip pays respect to the "Cinema Rani" of South India on her birth anniversary (9/n)
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