| Kanchanamala | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1923 Tenali, India |
| Died | 1981 |
| Occupation | Actor |
| Spouse | Gali Venkaiah |
Kanchanamala or Kanchana Mala (Telugu: కాంచనమాల) (1923–1981) was a popular Telugu film actress. She was the first glamorous film personality during those early days of Telugu cinema.
She started her film career in Srikrishna Tulabharam in a minor role as Mitravinda in 1935. Soon, she captured the audience with her beauty and played lead roles in films such as Veerabhimanyu, Grihalakshmi and Malapilla.[1]
Mothers of those days used to put their child to sleep humming this lullaby,Dina Dinamu Papadni Deevinchi pondi Devalokamuloni Devathallaara…sung by Kanchanamala.
Kanchanamala's still from the Malapilla film's promotional calendar adorned many a home. Such was the craze the wide eyed beauty, once rejected by Ramabrahmam, generated among the cine goers. During his stint as a production director with Vel Pictures, Ramabrahmam felt that she was not fit for acting and rejected her. As she rose in career, he realised he was wrong and signed her for the harijan village girl Sampalatha's character in Malapilla based on Gudipaati Venkata Chalam's unpublished novelette. Sceptics commented that the original glamour doll of Telugu cinema was a misfit for such a complex character. But she proved them wrong and came up with an earthy and scintillating performance in the first half as an illiterate downtrodden village belle and as the literate modern city woman in the later portions.
Hailed as the Greta Garbo of Telugu cinema, Kanchanamala made her screen debut with C. Pullaiah's Sri Krishna Thulabharam (1935), in an inconsequential role of Mithravinda based on a play by Telugu cinema's first lyricist Chandala Kesava Dasu. Relangi Venkataramaiah played a bit role in the movie. Her next role was as Uthara in Veerabhimanyu (1936) produced by Sagar Movietone in Bombay. Kodavatiganti Kutumba Rao debuted as a dialogue writer with this film. Mesmerised by her beauty, Jaddan Bai, actor and producer and mother of later day Hindi cinema's most elegant actress Nargis, asked her to stay back and act in Hindi films. Mehaboob Khan and popular hero of the time Motilal also told her to learn Hindi so that they can make her a big star in Hindi cinema. In Vipranarayana, Kanchanamal still a teenager, spurned their offers. Her third starring role, Vipranarayana catapulted her to stardom. Daughter of Dasari Narayana Das, her most famous play besides, Vipranarayana was Sakkubai where she played the title role.
Vandemataram celebrated 100 days and silver jubilee runs all over the South including Kerala, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. In this movie, Chittoor Subrahmanya Pillai's Madhuranagarilo challanamma bodhu was used as a duet rendered by Nagaiah and Kanchanamala.
She was born in Tenali. She has acted in only 11 films among which five were block busters. In that period she agreed to act in Gemini Bala nagamma, the first socio-fantasy film. The film was not released. As per agreement, she didn’t act in other films and thereby ending her career.
She was married to Gali Venkaiah, who died of Tuberculosis.
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