Suryakantham (28 October 1924 – 18 December 1994) was an Indian actress in Tollywood. She was popular for playing the role of a cruel mother-in-law in most of her movies.

This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (September 2020)

Quick Facts Born, Died ...

Suryakantham
Suryakantham in the 1954 film Chakrapani
Born	Suryakantham (1924-10-28)28 October 1924 Kakinada, East Godavari District, Madras Presidency, British India (now Andhra Pradesh, India)[citation needed]
Died	18 December 1994(1994-12-18) (aged 70)
Alma mater	Padmavathi Mahila University, A. P.
Occupation	Film actor
Spouse	Peddibhotla Chalapathi Rao

Close

Suryakantham was born and brought up in a Telugu Brahmin family residing at Venkata Krishnaraya Puram near Kakinada of East Godavari district in Andhra Pradesh.^{[citation needed]} She was the 14th child to her parents, ten of whose children had died. She learnt dance and singing at the age of six.

She married Peddibhotla Chalapati Rao, a High Court Judge, in 1950.

Suryakantham started as a dancer in Chandralekha, produced by the Gemini Studios, for which she had been paid Rs 75 in remuneration. She got her first role as character artiste in Narada Naradi, but eventually quit her job at Gemini Studios.

Later, she got a character artist role in the movie Gruhapravesam. She was offered the heroine's role in Soudamini, but did not accept it. She later was in a car accident, in which she received injuries to her face. She later played the role of a cruel mother-in-law in Samsaram.

Another "heroine" role was offered to her from a Bollywood film producer. Knowing that the producer had dropped a heroine from his movie on personal grounds, and that the same was given to her, Suryakantham rejected the offer, saying "I can't live on the unhappiness of other artists." She subsequently appeared in the Telugu film Kodarikam, which brought her a new level of success. The directors B. Nagi Reddy and Chakrapani would not do a movie without Suryakantham. They produced the movie Gundamma Katha, starring N. T. Rama Rao, Akkineni Nageswara Rao and S.V. Ranga Rao, with Suryakantham playing the lead role of Gundamma. The film was commercially successful.