similar roles. Following that, she refused the multi-starrer 1981 blockbuster film Kranti, opposite Dilip Kumar, with Manoj Kumar, Shashi Kapoor, Hema Malini, Shatrughan Sinha, Parveen Babi and Sarika as the ensemble cast, which was directed and produced by Manoj Kumar himself. Apart from Hindi films, she refused the 1989 Tamil film Mappillai, starring Rajinikanth. As said by Rajinikanth who played the lead role, "actor Vyjayanthimala was first offered the role of mother-in-law in Mappillai which was a pivotal role, but she refused the film even though the producer of the film Chiranjeevi came forward to give her huge salary, she said that she does not want to play the role of antagonist opposite me and will never agree to be part of fighting scene against me". Following many films refused by Vyjayanthimala, Dinesh Raheja from Rediff commented that "good money and pivotal roles notwithstanding...did not seem alluring enough". All her films released from 1969; Pyar Hi Pyar, Prince and Ganwaar, became huge box office successes. Ganwaar was her last Hindi film. Political career Vyjayanthimala's political career was initiated in 1984 when she contested in 1984 Tamil Nadu general election for the South Chennai constituency as the nominee of the Indian National Congress opposite Era Sezhiyan, the leader of Janata Party and seasoned parliamentarian. During the campaign, Sezhiyan made provoking quotes such as "Send me to the Lok Sabha. Send her to R.R. Sabha (an organisation promoting fine arts)" to defeat Vyjayanthimala, ironically she won the election with margin of about 48,000 votes where she gained 313,848 with percentage of 51.92%. Subsequently, she debuted in the Lok Sabha, the directly elected lower house of the Parliament of India by the end of January 1985 with Amitabh Bachchan. In 1989, Vyjayanthimala again had to face the 1989 Tamil Nadu general election, this time she was opposed by Aladi Aruna of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. She again beat her opposition by nearly 12584 votes. Later in 1993, she was nominated to the Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Parliament of India for a six-year term. In 1999, she resigned from the primary membership of the Indian National Congress party. In her letter to the party's president Sonia Gandhi, she included the reason for her resignation where she said that: "painfully watching the party drifting from its avowed principles after the death of Rajiv Gandhi, the party has lost touch with its grassroots