Trivia

During her peak period as heroine, she starred in 14 films a year and worked 16 hours a day.

She established a school, where 400 students have passed and have gone on to become doctors and engineers. She also planned to construct an old age home for senior citizens in the Telugu film industry called Adharana and own a mobile theatre to spot talent from various places in Andhra Pradesh. She is also involved in politics.

She retired from films as a heroine in the late 1970s, because she objected to heroines being asked to dress more provocatively and act and dance like vamps. She then married her family physician and has two children with him, who also became doctors. In 1989, she returned to films and television serials, playing supporting roles as mothers, aunts, and mother-in-laws.

S.V. Ranga Rao gave her the professional name of Vanisri.

She said that the most challenging roles of her career were in the Telugu films Iddaru Ammayilu (1972) and Krishnaveni (1974).

Of all her Telugu films, the three films that she hated the most are: Debbaku tha dongala Mutha (1971), Vintha Katha (1973), and Bombay Priyudu (1996).

There are two phases of career. One as a youthful heroine where she reached the top. The other is a shrewish mother-type roles where she again excelled.

In May 2020, her 36-year old son Abinaya Venkatesha Kartik, a doctor, died in his sleep, due to cardiac arrest. He left behind his wife, also a doctor, and a four-year-old son.