Kongara Jaggayya

Film career Jaggayya made his cinematic debut in 1952 drama film Priyuralu directed by Tripuraneni Gopichand. This movie was produced by Donepudi Krishnamurthy, also known popularly as Gokul Krishnamurthy. He quit the job as news announcer as he signed three movies on a trot. His second movie, Adarsham, didn't do well at box office. His planned third movie Paleru did not even see light of the day.

Bangaru Papa, directed by B N Reddy, released in 1955, was the first breakthrough film for Jaggayya. He was distinguished for his booming voice and contributed as a voice artist for more than hundred feature films. He dubbed in Telugu language for veteran Sivaji Ganesan. He 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. He acted in almost 100 films as a lead, 100 more as a co-lead and almost 200 films as a character artist. He 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. His last film as an actor was Kunthi Putrudu, which starred Mohan Babu as lead and was directed by Dasari Narayana Rao.

He turned into producer with a film Padandi Munduku, under the banner of Jagruthi Chitra. The film was released in January 1962 and was a regarded as first Telugu social film made on the basis of Indian Independence movement.

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

Political career 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 and multiple poems into Telugu under the name Ravindra Geetha. He also translated Tagore's play "Sacrifice" into Telugu under the name Balidaanam. He also co-founded Manasvini Charitable Trust to honor the film literature of Acharya Aatreya. The lyrics of all the film songs written by Athreya was consolidated into seven volumes.

Death Due to complications after a hip replacement surgery, Jaggayya died on 5 March 2004 at Chennai, Tamilnadu.

Vintha Samsaram 'Prestige' Padmanabham

Padi Pantalu Civil Engineer Srinivasa Rao

Jeevithamlo Vasantham Raghupathy

Dongala Veta Sahasavanthudu Vikram Mahendra Mira

Naagu

Maa Inti Mahalakshmi Nagabhushanam Maharaju Maha Manishi

Sri Vemana Charithra

Yuddha Bhoomi Rocky Raktha Tilakam

Vintha Dongalu Duggirala Kesava Rao

Ramudu Kadhu Rakshasudu Judge Jaganmohana Rao Bhargav