Jaya Prada worked in around 300 films in 8 languages.
Jaya Prada first appeared in a 3-minute song in the Telugu film Bhoomi Kosam.
Veteran actress Jaya Prada turned 60 Today. The actress-turned-politician has ruled the entertainment industry for many decades with her beauty, amazing acting skills and graceful dance moves. She began her career at the age of 14 and later, acted in several hit movies like Takkar, Dil-e-Nadaan and Sargam. Today, on her special day, let’s take a look at her journey.
Jaya Prada worked in many films in different languages in a career spanning almost 30 years. She was born into a middle-class family. Jaya Prada’s father Krishna Rao was a Telugu film financier and her mother Neelavani was a homemaker. According to media reports, Jaya Prada used to dream of becoming a doctor in her childhood. However, his mother got her enrolled in dance and music classes. She began taking classes in singing and dancing when she was 7 years old.
Jaya Prada’s real name was Lalitha Rani. When she started her career at the age of 14, actor Prabhakar Reddy changed her name to Jaya Prada. She first worked in the Telugu film Bhoomi Kosam where she appeared in a 3-minute song. Later, she worked in approximately 300 films in eight languages after making her debut in the Telugu film industry. Legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray once praised Jaya Prada’s beauty and described her as the most beautiful actress in Indian cinema. Her pairing with Jeetendra was a super hit on the screen. Apart from him, Jaya Prada also worked with superstars like Mithun Chakraborty, Rishi Kapoor and Amitabh Bachchan, among others. As per IMDb, Jeetendra and Jaya Prada were cast opposite each other in 25 films, out of which 19 were box-office hits.
Jaya came into the limelight after appearing in the 1979 drama Sargam. The film was written and directed by K Viswanath and also featured Rishi Kapoor, Shashikala, Shreeram Lagoo, Shakti Kapoor, Aruna Irani, Asrani, Vijay Arora and Om Shivpuri in pivotal roles. Jaya Prada played the role of a mute dancer and her acting received immense love from the viewers.
But Jaya Prada had tough initial days in Bollywood because she couldn’t speak Hindi fluently. However, her 1982 film Kaamchor was the first movie where she was seen speaking Hindi fluently. She gave the most memorable performance in the film Sanjog, in which she appeared in the double role of mother and daughter.
Talking about her personal life, Jaya Prada married film producer Shrikant Nahata in 1986, which surrounded her with controversies, as Srikanth was already married and had 3 children with his first wife.
The actress began her political career in 1994 when she joined the Telugu Desam Party. Then she joined the Samajwadi Party. Later, Jaya Prada joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in 2019.
