Suryakantam Biography 
Suryakantam Jayanthi, shortly called Suryakantam was a popular actress of Telugu cinema who predominantly worked in the era of 1950s and 1960s. A shining character artist in the glowing golden era of Telugu cinema, great filmmakers like Nagi Redyy and Chakrapani never dared to do a movie without her! Known for her mean gestures and whip-like sarcastic dialogues, she excelled in the role of a cruel mother-in-law, beginning with Samsaram. Yet she has given some hilarious comedy scenes with comedy legend Relangi Venkata Ramaiah and Girija. She played lead role of Gundamma Katha, which was a commercial success and later she got the name – Gundamma.
She was born in 1924 near Kakinada, East Godavari district of present day Andhra Pradesh. She was inclined towards singing and dancing since young and started formal learning at the tender age of 6. She was 14th kid to her parents. But majority of her siblings didn’t survive. She married Peddibhotla Chalapati Rao, a High Court Judge at the age of 26. She started her film journey as a dancer with Gemini Studios. She acted in the Hindi film - Chandralekha, for which she was paid rupees 75. As an actress her first film was Narada Naradi, where she played a character role. After her break to movies as an actress, she quit her job in Gemini studios.
Yet the roles which she received then were not quite satisfying. She dreamt to become a Bollywood actress and used to rattle Hindi dialogues superbly. She even received her first break to Bollywood as a lead actress. But she turned down the offer stating that “I can’t live on the unhappiness of other artists”. The reason was that the previous actress was removed by the filmmakers. By the time she got her second big offer from Bollywood, she had already met with an accident which left her a scared face actress. After that she started accepting cruel roles, which she succeeded as a great actress.
Published: N/A
Updated: February 03, 2016
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