Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao said that Dadasaheb Phalke awardee Paidi Jai Raj, born in Telangana, rose to the top of the Indian film industry and spread the glory of Telangana at the national level. Mr. Rao paid glorious tribute to Paidi Jairaj on his 113th birth anniversary (September 28). On the occasion, the Chief Minister remembered Paidi Jairaj’s services to the national film industry.
The Chief Minister said that the journey of Paidi Jairaj in the first phase of Indian Film industry from ‘silent films’ to talkie was commendable. As the very first action hero on the Indian silver screen, Jairaj was a pride for Telangana.
“It is a great moment that Paidi Jairaj became a top hero in Bollywood even before the early stage of Telugu film industry,” he said. Apart from his unique acting skills, Mr. KCR hailed the first generation Telangana film actor, who also excelled as a director and producer and received the prestigious Dadasaheb Phalke Award. The Chief Minister extolled Jairaj as the founder of the Telangana film industry.
Mr. Rao recalled that Jairaj had acted in more than 300 films not only in Hindi but also in Marathi, Oriya, Bengali, Punjabi, Konkani, Gujarati, Malayalam and many national languages and became the doyen of the Indian film industry.
Recognising his services to film industry, Mr. KCR said the State government honoured Paidi Jairaj by naming the meeting hall in Rabindra Bharati as Paidi Jai Raj Preview Theatre.
He said that the respect for Telangana language, culture and literature increased in the film industry with the State government’s constant efforts in the home state. After the formation of Telangana, Chief Minister said that Telangana youth were excelling in many fields in the film industry with the encouragement provided by the State government through the Department of Culture.
