Jaya Prada

Jaya Pradha ( born 3 April 1962) is an Indian film actress and politician.

Early life

Jaya Pradha was born Lalita Rani on 3rd April 1962 in a middle-class family in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh, India. Her father Krishna Rao was a Telugu film financier. Her mother Neelavani enrolled her in dance and music classes at an early age.

Film career

1970s

When she was fourteen years old, she performed a dance at her school's annual function. A film director was in the audience, and he offered her a three-minute dance number in the Telugu film Bhoomikosam. She was hesitant, but her family encouraged her to accept it. She was paid only 10 rupees for her work in the film, but she also received much greater opportunities, as the rushes of those three minutes of film was shown to the major figures of the Telugu film industry, and the floodgates opened. She was discovered by noted Tamil film director K. Balachander. Balachander first cast her in a small role in the 1976 Tamil film Manmadha Leelai opposite Kamal Haasan. After that, major filmmakers offered her starring roles in quality films, and she accepted them. The same year she got her first break as a heroine in K. Balachander's Anthuleni Katha where she played the roles of showcased her dramatic skills; K. Viswanath's Siri Siri Muvva showed her playing a mute with excellent dancing...
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