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If we happen
to meet any non-telugu people and if our discussion turns towards
films, the first film that comes our mind as the best telugu film
is 'Sankara Bharanam'. Sankarabharanam is the brain child of quintessential
director K Vishwanath. But its the JV Somayajulu. He suited to the
role of 'Sankara Sastry' very well.
Before joining films, he used to serve the theater lovers with his
'natakas'. He acted in the play 'Kanyasulkam' for 500 times
in his career along with his brother actor JV Ramana Murthy for
45 years.
The woman behind the success of JV Somayajulu is none but his mother
Ms. Saradamma. She used to encourage her children to be more righteous
by making them imbibe 'Bhagavat Geeta'. She used to attend all the
plays by JV Somayajulu. After the play is over, she used to arrange
dinner for the crew and then used to give suggestions to improve
their performance. Whenever there is a women acting in Somayajulu's
play, she used to make her feel comfortable by proving a room in
her house.
JV Somayajulu's passion for Kanyasulkam was ignited by his teachers.
They used to celebrate the birthday of Gurajada by uttering a few
pages of 'Kanyasulkam'. They used to claim that it's humanly impossible
to exhibit 'Kanyasulkam' as a play. Then Somayajulu and Ramana Murthy
concise the Kanyasulkam without losing the impact and rewrote the
play version. Then they started looking out for the suitable actors.
As Somayajulu used to be the development officer for their village,
he used to meet lot of Surpanch and Munasoobs. He observed their
way of thinking and their mannerisms. He used all of that to create
the 'Ramappantulu' character of 'Kanyasulkam'. He started acting
as Ramappantulu in Kanyasulkam. And their run of the play 'Kanyasulkam'
never stopped.
In the early 1980s, K Vishanath was searching for an actor to play
a role that has the attributes of a pure Brahmin and a music exponent.
JV Somayajulu acted in a old role in a film called 'Raa Raa Krishnaiah'.
During that period the music director of that film SP Bala Subramanyam
observed the talent of Somayajulu and aptly recommended him to K
Vishwanath. Finally JV Somayajulu was taken for the role of 'Sankara
Sastry'. And the rest is history.
He got his first commercial break as an actor in cinemas in his
50's. Later on he acted as an opportunist in 'Allari Pillalu', Muslim
Village Lord in 'Nelavanka'. He also acted in 'Rowdy Alludu', 'Swathimutyam',
'Thyagayya', 'Saptapadi', 'Vamsa Vruksham' etc. His role as a strict,
yet caring father in 'Vijeta' got lot of appreciation. He also acted
in a Hindi film called 'Pratibandh'. He was instrumental in making
a 13 episode serial of 'Kanyasulkam'. He acted as Ramappantulu'
in the soap opera too.
He started an organization called 'Rasaranjani' along with his contemporaries
like Chatla Sriramulu, Garimella Srirama Murthy, Rallapalli. 'Rasaranjani'
is taking steps to promote plays in Telugu. JV Somayajulu is retired
from his Government work. He is not straining himself by acting
in films. The latest film done by him is the 'Kodanda Ramudu' in
which, he played a small role.
JV Somayajulu will be remember as 'Sankarabharan Sankara Sasthy'
by the next generations to come. He is one of the actors who shot
to fame with a film and never turned back.
Disclaimer:
The above information is compiled from an article written by
Sri PV Rama Mohan Niadu
Also Read about
other celebs: N T Rama Rao and Raghupati
Venkaiah Naidu
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