Some of her notable films include Sampathige Savaal, Durgi, Yeradu Kanasu, Besuge and Seetha Ramu. She has starred in over one hundred films during her film career, where she played variety of roles and most of her films became successful. She paired up with most prominent Kannada actors like Rajkumar, Vishnuvardhan, Srinath and Shankar Nag, but most successful is with Srinath, they acted together in about 35 films. She made her debut as a lead actress in the film Yaara Saakshi, the film released in 1972 and it was directed by veteran director M. She then entered the Kannada film industry in a small role through the film Mane Katti Nodu in 1966, The film was directed by Sri Sadguru.
Manjula started her acting career in 1965 with a drama troupe Prabhat Kalavidaru.
Abhisekh was married in 2009 to Sushma Srinivas. She was married to film director Amritham who had directed her in films like Hudugaatada Hudugi, the couple have one son Abhisekh and one adopted daughter Abhinaya.
She belonged to a prominent lingayat family, her father Shivanna was a police sub inspector. Manjula was born in Honenahalli, a village in Tumkur district on 5 April 1951 to Shivanna and Deveramma.
