Jayasudha

Jayasudha Kapoor (born Sujatha Nidudavolu) is an Indian actress and politician known for her works predominantly in Telugu and Tamil cinema.

She has also worked in few Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi films.

Jayasudha was born as Sujatha Nidudavolu in Madras, Tamil Nadu on 17 December 1958, to a Telugu-speaking family of Nidudavolu Rameshwara Rao, and actress Joga Bai known for films such as Balanandam (1954), and Kalahasti Mahatyam (1954).

Telugu film actress and director Vijaya Nirmala is the first cousin of her father.

Jayasudha's paternal grandfather is eminent scholar and literary historian, Nidudavolu Venkatarao.

Her first marriage was to film producer Vadde Ramesh's brother-in-law, Kakarlapudi Rajendra Prasad.

However, the marriage ended in divorce.

Jayasudha made her film debut when she was thirteen years old with the Telugu film Pandanti Kapuram (1972).

Director K. Balachander gave her a small role in the Tamil film Arangetram where she shared space with Kamal Haasan.

She acted in a number of films in Telugu and Tamil mostly under Balachander's direction—Sollathaan Ninaikkiren (1973), Naan Avanillai (1974) and Apoorva Raagangal and in Idi Katha Kaadu with Chiranjeevi.

She also changed her name to Jayasudha, since there was already another actress named Sujatha.

Her fame quickly spread, where Telugu film producers were offering her good film roles.

Her roles varied from the cute-looking teeny-bopper who wore minis in Nomu (1974), to that of a tortured wife of a sadist husband in K. Balachander's film Idi Katha Kaadu (1979) to that of a comedian who discovers that her husband wants to murder her for her wealth in Money (1993).

While her debut role as a heroine in the Telugu film Lakshmana Rekha (1975) got her attention, it was really the title role in Jyothi (remake of the Hindi film Mili starring Jaya Bhaduri) that made her a big star in Telugu films.

She was now called a successor to the great Telugu actress Savitri and performed many strong roles and showed excellent range.

She is given the title "Sahaja Nati" which means "natural/realistic actress."

Known as natural actress, in a career spanning over 5 decades she received nine state Nandi Awards for her acting in works such as Jyothi (1976), Idi Katha Kaadu (1979), Premabhishekam (1981), Meghasandesam (1982), and Dharmaatmudu (1983).

She has garnered five Filmfare Awards South, for her performances in Jyothi (1976), Aame Katha (1977), Gruha Pravesam (1982), Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi (2004), and Kotha Bangaru Lokam (2008).

In commercial cinema, she received a huge break when she starred in Adavi Ramudu (1977), which broke box office records.

She performed showy roles in Telugu remakes of Hindi films, such as Yugandhar (1979) (the fighter role that Zeenat Aman originated in Don), Illalu (Reena Roy's dark-shaded role from Apnapan (1977)).

She also showed innovativeness and lack of vanity in original Telugu films like Premabhishekam (1981) where she played a supporting role as a deglamorized prostitute, while Sridevi played the female lead.

She has acted in 300-plus feature films in a variety of roles, and in one year, she had 24 film releases.

She has made her unique space in the Telugu cinema industry amidst a huge competition between her contemporary actresses Sridevi and Jayaprada.

She considers Jayaprada as her closest friend amongst her friends in the industry.

She then married Nitin Kapoor, cousin to actor Jeetendra, in 1985 and they have two children, sons Nihar (born in 1986) and Shreayan (born in 1990).

She then married 3rd time to a Foreigner

In 2008, she received the ANR National Award, and in 2010, she won the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award - South for her contributions to Indian cinema.

Jayasudha served as Member, Legislative Assembly, from Secunderabad constituency during 2009–2014 in the erstwhile combined Government of Andhra Pradesh.

She was elected as MLA from the Secunderabad constituency in 2009 Andhra Pradesh Assembly elections from Indian National Congress.

She later joined the Telugu Desam Party in 2016.

Later in 2019 she quit the Telugu Desam Party and joined YSR Congress Party.

In the 2019 biopic film NTR: Kathanayakudu, actress Payal Rajput portrayed Jayasudha onscreen.