26 Facts About Jaggayya

Kongara Jaggayya was an Indian actor, litterateur, journalist, lyricist, dubbing artist and politician known for his works predominantly in Telugu cinema and Telugu theatre.

Jaggayya was known as Kanchu Kantam Jaggayya for his booming voice.

Jaggayya then appeared in works such as Veta, Chantabbai, Pasivadi Pranam, Dharma Kshetram and Bobbili Simham.

Jaggayya won the Andhra Pradesh state Nandi Award for Best Character Actor for his works in some of these films.

Jaggayya was born on 31 December 1926 to Seetaramaiah and Rajya Lakshmamma in Morampudi village near Tenali in Guntur district.

Jaggayya quoted on several occasions in his essays the influence his father had on his interest towards arts.

Jaggayya started acting at the age of 11, with the role of Lava in a Hindi play during his high school days in Duggirala.

Jaggayya was trained in painting under the guidance of Adivi Bapiraju, a noted painter, during his college days.

Jaggayya joined the Andhra-Christian College, in 1942, in Guntur for his higher studies.

Jaggayya used to be a member of Navya Sahitya Parishath in Guntur.

Jaggayya used to be a part of Navajyothi Artists, a cultural organisation run by Mukkamala.

Jaggayya won the best actor award in three successive years for Chesina Papam and Telangana.

Jaggayya made his cinematic debut in 1952 drama film Priyuralu directed by Tripuraneni Gopichand.

Jaggayya quit the job as news announcer as he signed three movies on a trot.

Jaggayya's planned third movie Paleru did not even see light of the day.

Jaggayya was distinguished for his booming voice and contributed as a voice artist for more than hundred feature films.

Jaggayya was the narrator, and dubbing artist for internationally recognized works such as Maa Bhoomi, and Richard Attenborough's character of John Hammond in the Telugu-dubbed version of the Hollywood film Jurassic Park.

Jaggayya acted in almost 100 films as a lead, 100 more as a co-lead and almost 200 films as a character artist.

Jaggayya was a part of almost every film of VB Rajendra Parasad's Jagapathi Pictures, K B Tilak's Anupama Pictures and Ramavijeta Films owned by brothers Prabhakar and Baburao.

Jaggayya turned into producer with a film Padandi Munduku, under the banner of Jagruthi Chitra.

Jaggayya was awarded the 'Kala Vachaspathi' for his sonorous voice.

Jaggayya was active in politics right from his student days and was allied with the socialist group within the Congress party.

Jaggayya was the first Indian film actor to be elected as a member of parliament.

Jaggayya translated Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore's Geetanjali and multiple poems into Telugu under the name Ravindra Geetha.

Jaggayya translated Tagore's play "Sacrifice" into Telugu under the name Balidaanam.

Jaggayya co-founded Manasvini Charitable Trust to honor the film literature of Acharya Aatreya.