I want people to remember me as an andala tara: Jamuna

In her last interview with Hyderabad Times, unpublished hitherto, the late actress Jamuna looked back on her life, career, and what she would like to be remembered as. Jamuna, one last time, in her own words…

They said I looked like Nargis...
I was only a teenager when Raja Rao came to Duggirala from Rajahmundry looking for me because he had heard I was a good actress. He saw me perform and asked a photographer to take pictures of me with no make-up on. I was signed for Puttilu because they thought I looked like Nargis. I earned Rs 500 per month for the project. The film didn’t work because Raja Rao was much older than me, but I clicked.

I always played a disruptor on-screen
I was lucky to play such varied characters in my career. Be it an innocent village belle dancing to Godari Gattundi in Mooga Manasulu or Satyabhama in Sri Krishna Tulabharam, I’ve played anything but the maha pativrata. Actresses back then played characters who put up with everything; my characters, like Rani Malini Devi in Pandanti Kapuram, put up with nothing. They put their foot down!

Savitri was my akka
By the time I moved to Chennai for my career, Savitri had already become famous, thanks to Devadas. When she saw my picture in the paper, she remembered me and invited me home. “Nuvve kada naku bhojanam pettindi?” she asked, recollecting our time together in Duggirala. I always called her akka and was fortunate to act with her. We were so close; she even braided my pellikuthuru jada (bridal hairdo) when I got married. I remember asking her to move on from Gemini Ganesan because he was already married. “Neekenti akka, nuvvu pedda star,” I said. But she was in love.

Felt terrible about kicking NTR
I had a soft corner for both Lord Krishna and NTR. I had prayed to Krishna to make me a star, and NTR was one of the few actors who respected women a lot. In the song O Cheli Kopama from Sri Krishna Tulabharam, I had to kick him, and I felt so bad that I apologised profusely after the scene. “Aaha em paravaledu (it’s all right), after all, it’s acting,” he replied in his baritone, making me feel better.

ANR banned me 'cos we had a tiff
ANR was always playful and never took anything too seriously. But he once unofficially boycotted me for three years because I demanded the same respect and pay he and NTR got. It was a difference of opinion. I went on to act with younger heroes like Ramanamurthy and Sridhar. But my pairing with ANR was such a hit; Nagi Reddy, Chakrapani and KV Reddy brought me back into the fold for Gundamma Katha.

I want to be remembered for my glamour
My contemporaries today play ammama and nanamma roles; I never wanted to do that. I stopped acting when the kind of roles being offered to me began to change. I want to be remembered for my glamour as an andala tara (beautiful star). I have looked glamorous on-screen through the years, and apart from my acting, aa image, ala undipote bavuntundi.