Brahmanandam is a popular Telugu comedian.
Introduction-
Kanneganti Brahmanandam was born on 1 February 1956 in a small village of Chaganti Vari Palem, Muppalla, near Sattenapalle, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh.
He was born into a poor family and suffered from poverty in his childhood.
Brahmanandam’s father, late Nagalingachary, used to work as a carpenter and also used to tutor children.
His mother’s name is Lakshminarasamma.
Brahmanandam has seven siblings, five brothers and two sisters.
He is the second youngest sibling.
Struggling from poverty-
His father’s meagre income wasn’t sufficient to feed the family.
So, all through his childhood Brahmanandam struggled with poverty.
Once, during Diwali, his father wasn’t able to afford crackers for his children.
But when Brahmanandam and his siblings persisted for crackers, his father was forced to ask money from his employer.
Brahmanandam accompanied his father and observed his struggle and hesitance in asking for money and during that moment, he understood the meaning of poverty and the true value of money.
At that time, he was 8.
Education & career-
Brahmanandam did his schooling in Sattenapalle and in 1968, he studied Pre-University Course (PUC).
He graduated from Dantuluri Narayana Raju College (D.N.R), Bhimavaram, Andhra Pradesh.
Later, Brahmanandam studied for a Master of Arts (MA) from Andhra University, Visakhapatnam.
After finishing his education, he started working as a Telugu lecturer in Attili, a village in West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh.
A born actor-
Brahmanandam developed interest in acting at a young age.
He won numerous prizes for acting in his elementary school.
Even while working as a lecturer, Brahmanandam used to make people laugh with his acting.
Entering the film industry-
Brahmanandam started his film career on 1 February 1985 by acting in Shri Tatavatharam movie.
This movie was directed by Satyanarayana Vejella and was released in 1988.
After acting in this movie, Brahmanandam wasn’t sure of his acting career, so he thought of abandoning his acting career and resume working as a Telugu lecturer.
But luckily, Jandhyala, a director, identified his talent and gave him a chance to act in one of his films.
Likewise, Brahmanandam acted in his second film, Satyagraham and he became Jandhyala’s disciple.
Kickstarting his acting career-
During the shooting of Chantabbai film, Brahmanandam got introduced to Chiranjeevi, a famous actor.
He showcased his mimicry skills to him and he was very impressed.
So, Chiranjeevi invited Brahmanandam to Madras (now Chennai) and promised him that he would help him in getting opportunities to act in films.
Three persons namely, Jandhyala, Chiranjeevi and D. Ramanaidu helped him in kickstarting his acting career.
First film award-
Brahmanandam won his first ever film award of the Best Comedian Award from Vamsi Berkley for his performance in Aha Naa-Pellanta! film.
Dilip Kumar presented this award to him.
Later, Brahmanandam won several awards.
In January 2009, he received the Padma Shri award.
Brahmanandam also won six state Nandi and six CineMAA Awards, a Filmfare Award South and three South Indian International Movie Awards.
Guinness World Record-
On 24 June 2010, the Guinness World Records acknowledged Brahmanandam for most screen credits (acting in the highest number of films) for a living actor.
At that time, he had acted in 857 films.
As of December 2021, Brahmanandam acted in a total of more than 1154 cinemas.
He acted in lead roles only in a couple of films, Babai Hotel (1992) and Pellama Majaka (1993).
Slowing down-
In his initial 35 years of acting career, Brahmanandam worked really hard as he used to work in 3-4 shifts round-the-clock in different states of India.
As a result of overworking, his health got negatively affected.
In January 2019, Brahmanandam suffered from a severe breathing problem and was taken to the Asian Heart Institute (AHI) in Mumbai where he underwent a heart bypass surgery.
So, now, he is acting in only a few films.
His family-
Brahmanandam is married to Lakshmi Kanneganti and this couple has two sons, Raja Goutham Kanneganti and Siddarth.
Goutham is also an actor.
Some interesting facts about Brahmanandam-
- Brahmanandam’s inspirations are A. P. J. Abdul Kalam, Narendra Modi, Mahatma Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and B. R. Ambedkar.
- His hobbies are drawing pencil sketches, cartoons, making clay toys and playing with his grandchild.
So, how are you inspired by the success story of Brahmanandam?
Share with me in the comment section below.
Featured image credit- Sakshi Tv/Wikimedia Commons
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