unable to achieve the same box office success made by the Tamil version. By the end of the year, The Indian Express named Vyjayanthimala as the most successful female star of 1958. Similarly, Boxofficeindia.com ranked Vyjayanthimala at the top spot in their list of "Top Three Successful Box Office Actresses of 1958". In 1959, Vyjayanthimala reunited with Dilip Kumar for the fourth time in the bilingual Paigham. Produced and directed by S. S. Vasan, the film featured the lead actors along with Raaj Kumar, B. Saroja Devi, Pandari Bai and Motilal. Besides them, Vyjayanthimala's real-life mother Vasunthara Devi also acted in a small role where she played the role of mother to her own daughter who died in vain. Upon release Paigham became second highest-grossing film of 1959 with the verdict of a box office hit. The same year she did a Tamil film Athisaya Penn, where she co-starred with Telugu actor Akkineni Nageswara Rao for the first time. Athisaya Penn was a remake of Aasha, which again was directed by M. V. Raman. She acted opposite Pradeep Kumar in the romantic film Jawani Ki Hawa in 1959. Return to South Indian cinema and fluctuations In 1960, Vyjayanthimala mostly concentrated on Tamil films to keep in touch with the industry. Her first release in 1960 was S. S. Vasan's Irumbu Thirai, the Tamil version of Paigham. She starred opposite Sivaji Ganesan for the second time after the latter's cameo appearance in Marma Veeran (1956). Along with Vyjayanthimala, all the female cast including B. Saroja Devi, Pandari Bai and Vasunthara Devi reprised their roles from the original with S. V. Ranga Rao in Motilal's role and K. A. Thangavelu in Raaj Kumar's character. The film was followed by Raja Bakthi, again with Sivaji Ganesan. Raja Bakthi had huge ensemble cast featuring P. Bhanumathi, Padmini, T. S. Balaiah and E. V. Saroja. Her subsequent release was D. Yoganand's magnum opus Parthiban Kanavu. Co-starring Gemini Ganesan for the third time and B. Saroja Devi for the second time, the film was based on Kalki Krishnamurthy's 1942 novel with the same name. Apart from Tamil, the film was produced in Telugu and Sinhala languages. Upon release the film met with positive response from the critics and was awarded the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Tamil at the 8th National Film Awards. However, the film did not fare well at the box