She specialized in the role of the bossy tomboyish village belle which brought her huge success as a top Kannada heroine in the late 1970s. Her most successful pairing was with Srinath and they acted together in about 35 films. She shared screen with Kannada actors including Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan, Srinath, Ashok and Shankar Nag. Her debut as a heroine was in the 1972 film Yaara Saakshi, directed by veteran director M. She entered the Kannada film industry in a small role in Mane Katti Nodu in 1966. Manjula started her acting career in 1965 with a drama troupe Prabhat Kalavidaru. She was married to film director Amrutham who worked with her in films such as Hudugaatada Hudugi and Kanasu Nanasu. Her father Shivanna was a police sub inspector.

Shivanna and Deveramma in Honnenahalli, a village in Tumkur District. She acted in more than 100 films and won several awards for her performances, including a Filmfare Award. She was one of the most successful and prominent actresses of Kannada films in 1970s and 1980s.

Manjula (8 November 1954 – 12 September 1986) was an Indian actress who acted in predominantly Kannada language films in addition to Tamil (credited as Kumari Manjula) and Telugu films (credited as Kannada Manjula).