Kongara Jaggayya

Kongara Jaggayya
Born	December 31, 1928 Tenali, Guntur district, AP, India
Died	March 5, 2004 (aged 75) Chennai, Tamilnadu, India
Other names	Kalavachaspati, Kanchu Kantam
Occupation	Actor, Dubbing Artist, Literaute, Journalist, Poet

Kongara Jaggayya (Telugu: కొంగర జగ్గయ్య) (31 December 1928 – 5 August 2004; also transliterated as Jaggaiah) was an Indian Film Actor from Telugu cinema & Theater . He was popularly known as "Kanchu Kantam" Jaggayya (Telugu for his booming voice.

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 theIndian 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; Jaggayya 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

In films

He debuted in movies with the role of the hero in Tripuraneni Gopichand's Priyuralu (lover-girl). However, this and his subsequent movies did not do well. 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.

Voice

The voice of Jaggayya 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. 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

In politics

Jaggayya 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.

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.

List of Movies

S No	Movie Name	Year of release	Character
1	Priyuralu	1952
2	Adarsham	1952
3	Bangaru Papa	1954	Manohar
4	Ardhangi	1955	Nagu (Chinna Babu)
5	Donga Ramudu	1955	Dr. Mohan
6	Muddu Bidda	1956
7	Edi Nijam	1956
8	Veera Kankanam	1957
9	Varudu Kavali	1957
10	'Thodi Kodallu	1957	Vaikuntam
11	M.L.A.	1957	Dasu
12	Bhale Bava	1957
13	Aalu Magalu	1957
14	Mundadugu	1958
15	Appu Chesi Pappu Koodu	1958	Dr. Raghu
	Bhagya Devata	1959
16	Pelli Kanuka	1960
17	Velugu Needalu	1961	Dr. Raghu
	Pellikani Pillalu	1961
18	Intiki Deepam Illalu	1961
19	Constable Koothuru	1962
	Chitti Tammudu	1962	Ramu
20	Aradhana	1962	Sarathi
21	Pooja Phalam	1964
22	Manchi Manishi	1964
23	Eedu Jodu	1964
24	Dr. Chakravarti	1964
25	Aatma Balam	1964
26	Uyyala Jampala	1965
27	Sumangali	1965
28	Preminchi Choodu	1965	Vasu
29	Manasulu Mamatalu	1965
30	Gudi Gantalu	1965
31	Antastulu	1965
32	Navarathri	1966
33	Manase Mandiram	1966
34	Aastiparulu	1966	Younger son of Zamindar
35	Prana Mithrulu	1967
	Bandipotu Dongalu	1968	Bandipotu Naganna
36	Adrustavanthulu	1969
	Ardha Rathri	1969
37	Thalli Thandrulu	1970
38	Srimanthudu	1971
	Ramalayam	1971	Ramaiah
39	Naa Thammudu	1971
40	Chinnanati Snehitulu	1971
41	Badi Panthulu	1972	Police officer
42	Devudu Chesina Manushulu	1973
43	Deeksha	1974
44	Alluri Sita Rama Raju	1974	Rutherford
45	Shri Rajeshwari Vilas Coffee Club	1976	Seshadri
46	Paadipantalu	1976
47	Ramarajyamlo Rakthapasam	1976
	Adavi Ramudu	1977	Forest Officer
48	Chanakya Chandragupta	1977	Voice double for Sivaji Ganesan
49	Manassakshi	1977
50	Karunamayudu	1978
51	Ram Robert Rahim	1980
52	Nyayam Kavali	1981	Lawyer Dayanidhi
53	Seethakoka Chilaka	1981
54	Bobbili Puli	1982	Gopinath
55	Yamakinkarudu	1982
56	Meghasandesam	1983
57	Disco King	1984
58	Anubandham	1984
59	Swathi	1985
60	Adavi Donga	1985
61	Agni Parvatam	1985	Jagannadha Rao
62	Vijetha	1985
63	Kiraathakudu	1986
64	Veta	1986
65	Chantabbai	1986
66	Ramu	1987
67	President Gari Abbayi	1987
68	Aradhana	1987
69	Pasivadi Pranam	1987
70	Vishwanatha Nayakudu	1987	Voice double for Sivaji Ganesan
71	Jeevana Ganga	1988
72	Alludugaru	1990	Ramachandra Prasad
73	Joker	1993
74	Detective Narada	1993

Awards and honours

• Padma Bhushan, Government of India in 1992.
• Title of Kala Vachaspathi from the Sanskrit Viswa Vidyalaya, Delhi.
• Honorary D. Litt. from the Telugu University, Hyderabad.
• Title of Kalaimamani from Tamil Nadu government.
• Title of Kala Prapoorna from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam.
• Padandi Munduku (Literal translation: Let's go forward), a film produced by him, won Rs. 50,000/- cash award from the Government of Andhra Pradesh.

Death

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