‘Superstar’ is a word we often use to define an actor who has a huge following. But there was an actor from Telangana who excelled in Hindi cinema and became the first Superstar of Indian cinema. His name is ‘Paidi Jairaj’ and his birth anniversary will be celebrated grandly by the Telangana government on the 28th of this month. Sadly, the current generation has no idea who Paidi Jairaj is. He was the first actor with Telugu origins to receive the prestigious ‘Dadasaheb Phalke’ award.
Jairaj acted as a hero in 156 films and played character roles in another 200 films. He played prominent roles in Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi and Gujarati films. He hails from Karimnagar and was born on 28th of September in 1909 to Achyutiah and Andalamma. He directed the second film of Dilip Kumar titled ‘Prathima’ in 1945 which was produced by ‘Bombay Talkies’. He received ‘Dadasaheb Phalke’ award in 1980 along with many other national and international awards throughout his career. The legendary actor’s birth anniversary will be celebrated in 33 mandals to introduce him to the younger generation.