Jamuna, a multi-lingual heroine who ruled movies in 90s

Hyderabad: Right in the first month of 2023, one more veteran Telugu film artiste has embarked on her final journey which began with Superstar Krishna in later part of 2022 and continued with Kaikala Satyanarayana by the year end. Jamuna (1936-2023) was among the rare crop of film heroines of the 1950s who was sought after across many film industries of the country, where film making had acquired traction of its own.

Her movie record speaks for itself. 88 films in Telugu, 27 in Tamil, 11 in Hindi and eight in Kannada…. In all, Jamuna was featured in 134 films as per data available on digital media, spread over a four-decade phase, beginning from the 1950s. She was quite notably seen in the 2015 release 'Baahubali' albeit in a small role, yet it added up to the fact that she was still in circulation. A Kannadiga from Hampi, who was originally christened Jana Bai, Jamuna saw her cinematic career touch impressive heights when nearly 80 films of hers saw the light of the day all across India. Her heroes were not just the top two in Telugu – N T Rama Rao and Akkineni Nageswara Rao - but even the A-listers of Tamil cinema like M G Ramachandran, Sivaji Ganesan, Gemini Ganesan in both original creations and many Telugu remakes.

In Hindi, she made a debut with none other than the actor-singer Kishore Kumar in the 1957 film 'Miss Mary', produced by the legendary AVM Productions and directed by L V Prasad. This multi-lingual hit had one unique feature which was that Jamuna was featured in all the three versions - Tamil, Telugu and Hindi- it was made in. In 1967, she bagged the Filmfare Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in 'Milan', a remake of the humungous hit 'Mooga Manasulu' whose songs are still a rage in the Hindi film world.

Rightfully considered a contemporary of all-India fame heroines like Vyjayantimala and Padmini of that era, she excelled in the zone that she operated and was the favourite of the audience who preferred her family-type roles and performances.