Jaya Prada biography
Date of birth : 1962-04-03
Date of death : -
Birthplace : Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, India
Nationality : Hindi
Category : Famous Figures
Last modified : 2010-10-18
Credited as : Bollywood actress, politician, Kalakar Award for Best Author 2005
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Early Childhood
Jaya Prada was born as Lalit Rani on April 3, 1962 in Rajahmundry town of Andhra Pradesh. Her father, Shri Krishna was a Telugu film financier, while her mother Shrimati Neelavani was a house wife. She was educated at Rajalakshmi Women's College, situated in Rajahmundry, East Godavari District. At an early age, Jaya was enrolled for classical dance and music, which helped her gain entry into the world of cinema. While performing dance at school, a renowned director saw her and offered her a small role in ‘Bhoomi Kosam’. This was the beginning of her acting career in Tollywood.
Entry into Films
Jaya Pradha’s first biggest hit was ‘Anthuleni Khatha’, directed by K Balachander, which was released in 1976. This was followed by ‘Siri Siri Muvva’, directed by K. Vishwanath, which also went onto become a Jaya Pradablockbuster hit. The Hindi version of the movie ‘Sargam’ was also a smash hit. After this, the NT Rama Rao (NTR) starrer ‘Adavi Ramudu’ broke all box office records. Moreover, her duet with NTR 'Aaresukoboyi Paaresukunnanu' became an all-time classic hit. This gave her immense success and she claimed the no 1 slot in Tollywood.
Following this, she even starred in films of other languages, such as Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada, Hindi, Marathi, etc. She won her first Filmfare nomination for Best Actress for the film ‘Sargam’. Her next nominations came in 1984 and 1985 for Prakash Mehra’s ‘Sharaabi’ and K. Vishwanath’s ‘Sanjog’, respectively. Jaya Prada’s versatility gave her an opportunity to act with almost all the great actors in the industry like NTR, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Krishna, Shoban Babu, and Krishnam Raju, Chiranjeevi, Rajnikanth, Kamal Haasan, etc.
In Bollywood, Jaya Prada successfully paired up with Jeetendra, Dharmendra, Amitabh Bachchan, Rajesh Khanna, Rakesh Roshan and Rishi Kapoor. She even teamed well with her immediate screen rival Sridevi. Her role in Hindi film ‘Tohfaa’, released in 1984, gave her a traditional conservative image, which helped her immensely when she plunged into politics later in life. In her 30-year old career, Jaya Pradha has acted in 300 films. Since 2004, the actress has taken up mature roles.
Other Ventures
Jaya Pradha entered into politics, at Shri N T Rama Rao’s invitation, in 1994. She initially joined the Telugu Desam party and later, joined Chandra Babu Naidu Group of the ruling Telugu Desam Party. She was nominated to be an MP in Rajyasabha by TDP party. Due to her differences with party Supremo N. Chandrababu Naidu, she switched over to Samajwadi Party and contested elections from Rampur parliamentary Constituency in UP, during the last General elections, in 2004. She even owns the Jaya Prada Theater in Chennai.
