Vennira Aadai Nirmala

Vennira Aadai Nirmala (born as A. B. Shanthi in Kumbakonam) is an Indian actress who has appeared in Tamil, Malayalam and Telugu films.

She is born as Shanthi to Balakrishnan and Rukmani at Kumbakonam. She has three siblings. She remains unmarried.

Debuting through C. V. Sridhar's Vennira Aadai in 1965, she has appeared in over 200 films in Tamil. She has acted in around 50 films in Malayalam with the screen name Usha Kumari. In addition to her acting career, Nirmala is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. She acts in the TV series Deivamagal in her own house.

M. G. Ramachandran had adopted her as his sister and wanted to be his heir in politics. But she refused. MGR had nominated her to the Tamil Nadu Legislative Council. Her swearing in ceremony was scheduled for 23 April 1986. Nirmala had earlier declared insolvency and according to Article 102-(1)(c) of the Indian Constitution, an insolvent person can not serve as a member of parliament or state legislature.

This annulment made Nirmala's nomination valid and the writ petition against it was dismissed. However, Nirmala withdrew her nomination to the council. Miffed with this incident, MGR decided to abolish the council.

• Kannadasan Award in 2009