The excellence of Sankaramanchi Janaki alias Sowcar Janaki could have almost been denied to the film industry, nearly 70 years ago, when her father rejected filmmaker B N Reddy’s offer to introduce her in films. It took some convincing for him to bring her on board for the first movie under Vijaya Productions – Shavukaru (a loose version of this name was Sowcar, ultimately directed by L V Prasad) and the rest was history. The actress’ career spans over seven decades across Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi film industries; she’s outlived most of her contemporaries and is still going strong at 90.
It’s astounding to even think that not many books or biographies based on Sowcar Janaki have made it to the book stores to date. Thankfully, prominent film historian, writer Kampella Ravichandran decided to set this fact right by coming up with a book named ‘Manase Andala Brundavanam’ (a song from her film Manchi Kutumbam) recently. The book focuses on her film career, highlighting some of her best performances across multiple languages.
The book, whose preface is written by cultural critic V A K Ranga Rao and S V Rama Rao respectively, comprises many rare images of the actress and the stills from her films. Priced at Rs 200, Manase Andala Brundavanam is a treasure trove for film enthusiasts to relive the illustrious history of Telugu cinema through the career of one of its most prodigious talents. Did you know that the actress was the first choice for Devadasu and even shot for Oh Devada before being mysteriously replaced by Savitri in some time?