Telangana Shakuntala (27 March 1951 – 14 June 2014) was an Indian actress who worked in the Telugu cinema. She was known chiefly for playing comedy and villainous characters in Tollywood. Her performances in movies like Osey Ramulamma, Nuvvu Nenu, Lakshmi, Okkadu and Veede were well received. She also acted on television and in Tamil-language films, where she is known for her role as Sornakka in Dhool. She was well known for her ability to speak in the Telangana and Rayalaseema dialects of the Telugu language and thus majority of her roles in Telugu cinema exhibited this.[1]
She made her stage début in a play at Ravindra Bharathi. She did many plays after that. She started her film career by playing a character role in 1979 Telugu film, Maa Bhoomi[2] directed by Goutam Ghose.
Personal life
She mainly acted in Telugu movies. Throughout her career she was acclaimed Marathi stage artist. She fell in love with the Telugu language when a touring stage troupe performed in her native village and she insisted on joining it. She was asked to learn the language to be able to perform well, which she mastered within a year. In one of the final interviews with MAATV, Shakunthala expressed that if she has a rebirth, she will be born in to a Telugu speaking family expressing her love for Telugu language.[3]
Death
Shakuntala suffered cardiac arrest at her Hyderabad home on the morning of 14 June 2014, five months after her 63rd birthday.[4] She was admitted to Narayana Hrudayalaya at around 2:30 AM IST, where she was declared dead upon arrival.[5]
