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( 1922 – 1982 )

Son of Smt. Nagamanamma and Lakshminaaraayana Sastry, the grandsire of Kuchipudi; trained and chisselled by his father in this art right from his childhood; Vedaantham Jagannaadha Sarmais known or his excellent portrayal of female characters, like SATHYABHAAMA, USHA and GOLLABHAAMA.

Widely toured all over India along with his fathering 1940’s, when the Kuchipudi form was in need of a lip, he was instrumental along with others in rejuvenating and popularizing this art form, started an institute of dance, NARTHANASALA, at Rajahmundry in early 1940’s, and later shifted to Madras following Lakshminaaraayana Sastry, entered the film world as dance director and was associated with nearly fifty films of Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Oriya languages, of them notable films such as ILAVELPU, CHENCHULAKSHMI,I RATNA PRABHA, BANGARUPAPA and KALAIARASI, THAI ILLA PILLAI.

Settled yderabadin 1964 and established KUCHIPUDI KALAKSHETRAM in 1965; his popular disciples include Sumathy Kousha, Krishna Kumari, Shanthi Akella, Bharathi, Usha Gayathri and R. Vijaya Lakshmi; he choreographed dance dramas MOHINI BHASMAASURA, USHA PARINAYAM and BHAAMAKALAAPAM and traveled abroad conducting performances of his disciples.

He was conferred with many titles and honours in recognition of his contribution as both performer and guru; mention should be made of the titlesNATYACHARYA, BHARATAKALA PRAPOORNA by Andhradesh Sangeet Natak Akademi (1980), NRITYA VIDWANMANI by Tyagaraja Government Music College, Hyderabad (1977); served as member of Andhra Pradesh Sangeet Natak Akademi and as a member of the committee for preparing Kuchipudi dancellabus.

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