Noted Telugu film actor Jaya Prakash Reddy passed away this morning (8th September) at his residence in Guntur (Andhra Pradesh) after suffering a cardiac arrest. He was 74. Besides Telugu films, he also worked in several Tamil films in which he dubbed his own dialogues.
Jaya Prakash made his acting debut in his forties. Before that, he worked as a sub-inspector of police. He got a break in Venkatesh starrer Brahma Puthrudu (1988). His life-changing role came more than a decade later when he got the chance to play the Rayalaseema-slang-speaking antagonist in Nandamuri Balakrishna’s film, Samarasimha Reddy. He could speak any dialect or slang of Telugu effortlessly. He was as good in comic roles as in villainous ones. In the 2008 romantic-comedy Ready, he played a comical village hothead to great effect. Two years later, he reprised the role in the Tamil remake, Uthamaputhiran. Among the other Tamil films he worked in were Aaru and Anjaneya.