Introduction of Prof. Lakshmi Padmanabhan 

Prof. Lakshmi Padmanabhan  is a mix of many things, a shapeshifter  if you will,  thanks to her habit of  reinventing  herself at the different stages of her life. The dual life as Keralite and Mumbaikar  continues  to date. Right now , her image in the cultural circles of her hometown ,Palakkad and elsewhere  in Kerala,  is of a Film Producer, a patron of good cinema and the arts  after she financed  an award winning  feature film in Malayalam titled Kamboji  in 2017.

Journalism for her is , to borrow poet Robert Frost’s words, the road not taken.    She, however, dabbled in it  as a freelancer.  Her reviews & features were published in prestigious  magazines of the 80’s like The Illustrated Weekly of India, Eves Weekly, Mirror , Care  etc.  She had given talks on AIR, Mumbai  and  taken part   and won prizes in television quiz programmes  in DoorDarshan’s heyday.

Her interest in politics is but  natural  , hailing as she does  , from Kerala, a state that has been in the van guard of  political movements of all shades. The  WPF ( Women’s Political  Forum ) was an initiative of Ms Sandhya Sinha , a distinguished  participant in the S P Jain programme .  A few like minded course mates joined her  in the venture . Lakshmi Padmanabhan was one of them.