Udupi Jayaram

Udupi Jayaram was a distinguished Indian choreographer, director, and actor. He was born on November 28, 1929, in Balekudru, a village in Madras Presidency, British India (Udupi). At the age of five, he explored a lot with his father in the South Kanara Mountain Ranges, where he came to understand the value of dance and music. He was raised in a great environment by his parents, Jalajamma (mother) and Ananda Bhat (father), where he learned to dance and play music at a very young age.

He was an extraordinary choreographer who had mastered various classical dance styles like Kuchipudi, Kathak, Manipuri, and Bharatnatyam. Later, he got married to his wife, Saroja, with whom he had four children (three sons and one daughter). He has directed many beautiful dance sequences for over 500 films, which include Tamil, Tulu, Kannada, Telugu, and Malayalam films. While many other choreographers were focusing on western culture, Jayaram was going solely with traditional and local dance styles. He was instructed in both dance and music by Sripadmanabha Bhat. He studied Kathakali, Manipuri, Kuchipudi, and Bhangra dance styles in addition to Bharatanatyam, which he learned from Madhusoodhan, Kathakali from Sohanlal, and Kathak from Jayappa.

He was the most experienced South Indian film choreographer and served as the dance director for Dr. Rajkumar, M.G. Ramachandran, Shivaji Ganesan, Naalai Namadhe, and various others. At the age of 17, he moved to Madras (now Chennai) and obtained his first job with Gemini Pictures as a bandmaster on the sets of the Tamil movie Chandralekha (1948). He served as the assistant choreographer in (1954) for Dr. Rajkumar's first film, "Bedara Kannappa." Although he began his dance career in (1945–1946), it wasn't until (1956) that he independently choreographed for "Bhagyodaya", which was the debut movie of Uday Kumar.

He has collaborated with nearly every major Kannada film star. Some of the best popular movies that Jayaram choreographed include Bedara Kannappa (1954), Naandi (1964), Bangaarada Manushya (1972), Naalai Namadhe (1975), Baduku Bangaravayithu (1976), Premada Kanike (1976), Sanaadi Appanna (1977), Sose Tanda Soubhagya (1977), and Malaya Marutha (1986). The last movie on which Rajkumar worked was Shabdavedhi (2000). He unfortunately died on October 13, 2004, in Chennai, India, after cardiac arrest at the age of 74. He was one of the most renowned choreographers, directors, and actors of his period; therefore, it was a huge loss for the entire Indian cinema industry.