Actor · Telugu cinema
Jayasudha
Jayasudha movies: 149 Telugu films on file, 1969–2026. Earliest on file: Aadarsa Kutumbam (1969). Latest release: Summer Holidays (6 November 2026).
- Films on file
- 149 (149 as actor)
- Years on file
- 1969–2026
- Born
- 17 December 1958 · December birthdays (Wikidata)
- Selected films on file
- Yevadu, Govindudu Andarivadele, Bommarillu
- Record
- Q6167685 on Wikidata
Jayasudha (born Sujatha Samarthi, 17 December 1958), also known as Jayasudha Kapoor, is an Indian actress and politician who has worked mainly in Telugu cinema, with some films in Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam and Hindi. Called “Sahaja Nati”, the natural actress, she has had a career of more than five decades and over 300 feature films. She has won nine Nandi Awards and five competitive Filmfare Awards South, and received the ANR National Award in 2008 and the Filmfare Lifetime Achievement Award – South in 2010.
Family background
Jayasudha was born in Madras into a Telugu-speaking family. Her father, Samarthi Ramesh Chander, was a follower of the Brahmo Samaj, and her mother, Joga Bai, who acted in films such as Balanandam and Kalahasti Mahatyam (both 1954), was the daughter of the scholar and literary historian Nidudavolu Venkatarao. Her paternal grandfather was the brother of director Vijaya Nirmala’s father.
Early career
She made her film debut at the age of thirteen in the Telugu film Pandanti Kapuram (1972). K. Balachander gave her a small role alongside Kamal Haasan in the Tamil film Arangetram, and she went on to work in several films under his direction, including Sollathaan Ninaikkiren (1973), Naan Avanillai (1974) and Apoorva Raagangal. Because another actress was already called Sujatha, she changed her screen name to Jayasudha.
Stardom
Her first lead role in Telugu, in Lakshmana Rekha (1975), drew attention, but it was the title role in Jyothi (1976), a remake of the Hindi film Mili, that made her a star. It won her both the Nandi and Filmfare awards for Best Actress, and she came to be seen as a successor to the celebrated Telugu actress Savitri. Her commercial breakthrough came with Adavi Ramudu (1977), which broke box office records.
Her range was wide. She played a lively teenager in Nomu (1974), the tormented wife of a sadistic husband in Balachander’s Idhi Katha Kadhu (1979), which also starred Chiranjeevi, and a woman who discovers her husband plans to kill her for her money in the comedy Money (1993). She took on roles in Telugu remakes of Hindi films, such as Yugandhar (1979) and Illalu, and without vanity played a deglamorised sex worker in a supporting part in Premabhishekam (1981), with Sridevi as the lead. In one year she had 24 releases, and she held her own amid strong competition from her contemporaries Sridevi and Jayaprada.
Awards
Her Nandi Awards for Best Actress came for Jyothi, Idhi Katha Kadhu, Premabhishekam, Meghasandesam (1982) and Dharmaatmudu (1983). She later won Nandi Awards in supporting and character categories for Swathi Chinukulu (1989), Jailor Gaari Abbayi (1994), Yuvakudu (2000) and Shatamanam Bhavati.
At the Filmfare Awards South she won Best Actress – Telugu for Jyothi, Aame Katha (1977) and Grihapravesam (1982), a Special Jury Award for Premabhishekam, and Best Supporting Actress – Telugu for Amma Nanna O Tamila Ammayi (2004) and Kotha Bangaru Lokam (2008). Her other honours include the Pride of Indian Cinema Award (2007).
Politics
Jayasudha was elected to the Andhra Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Secunderabad in 2009 as an Indian National Congress candidate and served until 2014. She joined the Telugu Desam Party in 2016 and moved to the YSR Congress Party in 2019.
Personal life and legacy
In 1985 she married Nitin Kapoor, a cousin of the actor Jeetendra; they have two sons, Nihar and Shreayan. She also appeared on television in the ETV serial Janani (2000–01). In the 2019 biopic NTR: Kathanayakudu, she was portrayed by Payal Rajput.
Career on file
Jayasudha appears in 149 Telugu films on file at Tollywood Desk, dated from 1969 to 2026. The earliest of them is Aadarsa Kutumbam (1969), and the most recent release is Summer Holidays (2026). The most widely covered of these, counted by Wikipedia language editions, are Yevadu (2014), Govindudu Andarivadele (2014) and Bommarillu (2006). Other recent releases on file are Bhairavam (2025), Common Man Pellam (2025) and Miss. Shetty Mr. Polishetty (2023).
Kaikala Satyanarayana is the most frequent co-star, sharing 28 films with Jayasudha, followed by Akkineni Nageswara Rao (24) and Brahmanandam (24). Among directors, Dasari Narayana Rao cast Jayasudha most often, in 25 films; next are K. Raghavendra Rao (13) and V. Madhusudhan Rao (5). Music on 35 of them is by K. Chakravarthy, with Chellapilla Satyam (10) and K. V. Mahadevan (9) next. Sri Venkateswara Creations produced nine of them, more than any other banner on file. Across these films the credits on file name 82 different directors, 56 music directors and 227 other credited actors.
Runtime is on file for 98 of them; they average 147 minutes, and the longest is Vishnu at 180 minutes. 15 of them have a streaming (OTT) release noted on the site. By decade the list splits into 1960s (1), 1970s (28), 1980s (49), 1990s (22), 2000s (20), 2010s (23) and 2020s (6). 1982 is the busiest single year, with ten films.
Figures come from the films on file at Tollywood Desk and change as records are added.