she was born into a brahmin family in mayuram, india. her sisters rhadha and vasanti are also dancers. at an early age kamala began taking lessons in the kathak dance style from lachhu maharaj in bombay. she also took lessons in hindustani classical music from shankar rao vyas. she was discovered at age four by tamil film director a.n. kalyanasundaram iyer when he attended a dance recital. he cast her in small roles in his films "valibar sangham" (1938) and "ramanama mahimai" (1939) where she was billed as kamala. her dancing was noticed by other filmmakers and she moved to hindi films with "jailor" in 1938 and "kismet" and "ram rajya" in 1943. kamala's mother moved to madras so her daughter could train under the bharatanatyam teachers kattumannarkoil muthukumara pillai and vazhuvoor b. ramaiyah pillai. kamala's first role in a successful tamil film came in 1944 with "jagathalaprathapan" where she performed the paampu attam. kamala played a double role in her next film "sri valli" (1945) and also played krishna in the film "meera". however, it was her film "nam iruvar" that would make an impact on tamil cinema. "nam iruvar" was full of patriotism and gandhian songs, and its dances helped to revitalize and legitimize bharatanatyam. the film is credited with sparking a "cultural revolution" throughout the tamil speaking areas of india.