B. Shanthi in Kumbakonam) is an Indian actress who has appeared in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films.
She was born as Shanthi to Aranmanai L Balakrishnan and Rukmani at Kumbakonam in a Saurashtra family.
[1] Debuting through C. V. Sridhar's Vennira Aadai in 1965, she has acted as lead roles in over 400+ films encompassing four languages - Tamil, Malayalam, Telugu & Kannada.
Her screen name in Malayalam films was 'Usha Kumari' In addition to her acting career, Nirmala is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer.
[5][6] This annulment made Nirmala's nomination valid and the writ petition against it was dismissed.