Her filmography includes collaborations with some of the biggest names in South Indian cinema. She also made her presence felt beyond regional cinema, with Hindi appearances including New Delhi, Pratibandh, Kshatriya and Aaj Ka Goonda Raj.

The actress reached one of the major milestones of her career with the Telugu film Sruthilayalu, for which she received the Nandi Award for Best Actress in 1987.

Then Came Ambareesh And A New Chapter

Sumalatha's personal and professional life became closely linked to Kannada superstar Ambareesh. The two met while working together and eventually married on December 8, 1991. Their son, Abhishek Ambareesh, was born in 1993.

Ambareesh went on to become a prominent politician, serving as a Member of Parliament and later as a Union minister and Karnataka minister. His death in November 2018 marked a turning point for Sumalatha and their family.

From Cinema To A Mandya Political Battle

Just months after Ambareesh's death, Sumalatha entered electoral politics. In 2019, she contested the Mandya Lok Sabha seat as an independent candidate, taking on Nikhil Kumaraswamy, the son of former Karnataka chief minister H.D. Kumaraswamy. The result became one of the most talked-about contests of that election. Sumalatha won Mandya by more than 1.25 lakh votes, becoming one of the most prominent independent winners of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Her political journey later took another turn. In 2024, she joined the BJP after the party chose not to field her from Mandya, with the seat going to H.D. Kumaraswamy under the BJP-JD(S) alliance arrangement.

A Career Defined By Reinvention

What makes Sumalatha's story stand out is the sheer range of her public life. She went from being a young actress working across multiple film industries to becoming the wife of one of Karnataka's most recognisable stars, and later carved out an identity of her own in politics.

Her journey is ultimately less about leaving one world behind and more about repeatedly finding a new place in the spotlight.