Jaggayya
| Kongara Jaggaiah | |
|---|---|
| Born |
31 December 1926 Tenali, Guntur district, Madras Presidency, British India |
| Died | 5 March 2004 (aged 77) Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India |
| Other names | Kalavachaspati, Kanchu Kantam, Super star |
| Occupation | Actor, dubbing artist, littérateur, journalist, poet |
| Awards | Padma Bhushan 1992 |
Kongara Jaggaiah (31 December 1926 – 5 August 2004) was an Indian film actor known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema and theatre. He was popularly known as Kanchu Kantam Jaggaiah (Telugu) for his booming voice. He was starred in eighty films, as a lead actor 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. The recipient of Kalaimamani, In 1992, the Government of India has honored him with the Padma Bhushan for his contributions towards Indian cinema.
Jaggayya was born on a well-to-do Telugu speaking Kamma 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.
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.
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