Legendary actor Sowcar Janaki passed away in Chennai on Friday at the age of 96 due to age-related ailments. The actor was known for her memorable roles in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam films. Her last film was Anni Manchi Sakunamule, released in 2023 and directed by Nandini Reddy. Despite being more than 90 years old at the time, Janaki was very active on the sets.
“Through producer Swapna garu, I got connected to Amma (Janaki). Actually, she didn’t want to do any more films, but when I narrated the story to her, she liked the comedy and emotional parts of the film and was excited about it,” said Nandini Reddy. “She also liked the grace in her role, which was another reason for her to do the film,” added the director.
The film was shot in Ooty, while Janaki was based in Bengaluru. Considering her age, the team wanted to make special arrangements for her travel, but Janaki had her own preference.
“We worried a lot about how she would travel, but she asked us to arrange a car, so we arranged one for her to travel from Bengaluru to Ooty. She also brought her own costumes. She sent me pictures of the sarees she wanted to wear and brought them herself,” recalls Nandini Reddy.
“After she reached Ooty, we gave her a good guest house and made her very comfortable. We took care of her as if she were a delicate glass doll. I told her that I would shoot her scenes at whatever time was convenient for her. I thought I would need three to four hours a day to shoot her scenes. But when she came to the sets, it was completely different. We gave her the dialogues before and after she came to the sets. She didn’t need any scene papers because she could remember all her dialogues without any help. We were actually surprised. Even at that age, she never looked at the scene papers on the sets,” recalls Nandini.
“After every scene, she would come to me and ask, ‘Dialogues okay, amma?’ She was a great lady,” said Nandini Reddy. The director also recalled how Janaki always addressed her as “Director Garu”, despite Nandini repeatedly asking her to call her by her name.
“I told her many times, ‘I am like your granddaughter. Don’t call me Director Garu. Call me Nandu or Nandini.’ But she said that when she was working as a professional, she had to respect the director. So, she always called me ‘Director Garu’. That showed her professionalism,” recalls Nandini.
Nandini also revealed that Janaki was an excellent cook and would prepare food for the team during the shoot. “I don’t know whether everyone knows this, but she cooked very well. She took her time, planned accordingly and cooked for us two or three times,” said Nandini.
Another thing that surprised Nandini was Janaki’s approach to dubbing. The dubbing process took place in Chennai, and Janaki wanted to dub her own lines. “The surprising part is that she never looked at the script. She delivered every line without any paper because she memorised all her dialogues while acting on the sets. It was quite surprising to me. She was a great lady and also very well-spoken,” said Nandini.
The director also recalled Janaki’s disciplined lifestyle. “She used to have only one meal a day and was always health-conscious,” said Nandini. Janaki acted in hundreds of films across South India, but Nandini says they never discussed her illustrious film career.
“We never really discussed her past films because she was a legendary actor, and I felt I was too small to tell her anything or discuss her past films. But she always spoke about how women should be financially independent. She always stressed that point in our discussions because it was something she strongly believed in. I actually visited her houses in Bengaluru and Chennai, and she lived alone,” recalls Nandini Reddy.
Nandini paid her tributes to Janaki and described her as one of the legendary actors of Indian cinema. “I am lucky that I directed her in her last film, but we have lost a great actor and a good human being,” said Nandini Reddy.
