Jaggayya (Telugu actor)

Kongara Jaggaiah (Telugu: కొంగర జగ్గయ్య) (31 December 1926 – 5 August 2004) was an Indian film actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema and theatre.^[1] He was popularly known as Kanchu Kantam Jaggaiah (Telugu) for his booming voice, He was starred in eighty films, doing versatile characters in lead and supporting roles.

In 1962, He produced Padandi Munduku, the first Telugu film to be screened in Soviet Russia at the Moscow International Film Festival.^[2][3] In 1992, the Government of India has honoured him with the Padma Bhushan for his contributions towards Indian cinema.^[4]

Early life

Jaggayya was born in a well-to-do family in Morampudi village near Tenali in Guntur district. He started acting at the age of 11, with the role of Lava in a Hindi play. As a student, he joined the Congress party in Tenali, which was involved in the Indian Independence Movement at that time. After his school education, he joined a periodical named Desabhimani (meaning "Patriot") as a journalist.^[5]

Later he worked as an editor for the weekly Andhra Republic. He joined the Andhra-Christian College in Guntur for his higher studies, where N. T. Rama Rao, (in his later days) also happened to study at the same time. Both of them acted together in several plays. Jaggaiah won the best actor award in three successive years. He got trained in the art of painting under the guidance of Adivi Bapiraju, a famous painter. After working as a teacher for a brief while, he became a news anchor.^[6]

Cinema

He debuted in movies with the role of lead actor in Tripuraneni Gopichand's Priyuralu. He came back into reckoning when two of his successive movies, Ardhangi and Bangaru Paapa did very well. He was very active in Telugu films from 1950s to 1970s and later, acted occasionally till his death. He played several roles such as hero, second lead, comedian and villain in several movies.^[7]

Voice

The voice of Jaggaiah filled theatres paleing the dialogue rendition of others into insignificance. He was distinguished for his voice and gave voice-over (dubbed) in almost 100 films. He gave his voice to Sivaji Ganesan in many Telugu movies that the latter acted in, apart from being the voice for his movies dubbed from Tamil. The narrator's voice in Maa Bhoomi (Gautam Ghose,1979) is his. He also dubbed for Richard Attenborough's character of Hammond in the Telugu-dubbed version of the film Jurassic Park. He was given the title 'Kala Vachaspathi' (Vachaspathi= Lord of Speech) for his sonorous voice.^[8]

Politics

Jaggaiah was active in politics right from his student days and was allied with the socialist group within the Congress party. When the group was disbanded, he joined Jayaprakash Narayan's Praja Socialist Party, but returned to Congress in 1956, heeding the call of Jawaharlal Nehru. In 1967, he was elected as a member of the fourth Lok Sabha, the lower house of the Parliament of India from the constituency of Ongole on a Congress Party ticket. He was the first Indian film actor to be elected as a member of parliament.^[9]

Literary achievements

He translated Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore's Geetanjali into Telugu under the name Ravindra Geetha. He also translated Tagore's play "Sacrifice" into Telugu under the name Balidaanam.

Awards

Civilian honours

• Padma Bhushan, Government of India in 1992

Nandi Awards

• Nandi Award for Best Character Actor

State Awards

• Andhra Pradesh Government cash award for producing Padandi Munduku in 1962
• Title of Kalaimamani from Tamil Nadu government

Other honours

• Title of Kala Vachaspathi from the Sanskrit Viswa Vidyalaya, Delhi
• Title of Kala Prapoorna from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam
• Honorary D. Litt. from the Telugu University, Hyderabad

Filmography

Death

He had undergone a Hip Replacement surgery and complications after the surgery resulted in his death.^[4]

References

External links

• Jaggaiah at the Internet Movie Database