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Desk. Padma Shri awardee Saukar Janaki has passed away at the age of 94. He breathed his last while undergoing treatment in the ICU of a private hospital in Chennai. She was suffering from breathing problems and old age problems for some time. Recently, his health deteriorated again and his family took him to Kauvery Hospital in Chennai, where he died. Nadigar Sangam President Nassar has also confirmed this sad news. Recently, actor Kayal Devraj had shared the news of Saukar Janaki being admitted to the hospital on social media and gave information about his health.

In 1950, Saukar Janaki debuted in cinema with the Telugu film 'Shavukaru' directed by LV Prasad. He entered Tamil cinema in 1952 with the film 'Valayapati' directed by TR Sundaram. Over the years, Janaki has worked in Telugu, Tamil, Kannada and Malayalam films. In 1959, he worked with Dr. Rajkumar in Kannada cinema's first pan-India film 'Mahishasur Mardini'. His first film in this language was 'Devakannika' in 1954. He debuted in Malayalam cinema much later with the 1964 film 'School Master'. Janaki entered the world of television in 1991 with Doordarshan's Tamil show 'Oorarinda Rahasyam'.

Saukar Janaki worked in more than 400 films in Telugu, Malayalam, Tamil and Kannada languages, 3 Hindi films and one Malayalam film and was successful in winning everyone's hearts. The Government of India honored him with the Padma Shri award in 2022 for his contribution to the film industry. Saukar Janaki had worked in many great films in his career, including 'Vaddante Dabba', 'Kanya Shulkam', 'Pichchi Pullaiya', 'Rechukka-Pagatichukka', 'Rojulu Marayi', 'Sonthavoor', 'Jayam Manade', 'Doctor Chakraborty', 'Sansaram Oka Chadarangam', 'Todikodallu', 'Babu Bangaram', 'Geethanjali'. Many hit movies like this are included. He was last seen in 'Anni Manchi Sakunmule'.

Soukar Janaki, whose birth name was Shankaramanchi Janaki, was born in a Kannada speaking family in Rajahmundry, Andhra Pradesh. She was married by her family at an early age. She worked as a radio jockey in Akashvani Madras All India Radio. In 1947, she was married to Shankaramanchi Srinivasa Rao. She appeared for her matriculation examination while pregnant and later graduated from Gauhati University in Assam. They have two daughters and one son – Yagya Prabha Koti, Venkatraman Shankaramanchi and Sachi Rao. Saukar's younger sister Krishna Kumari and granddaughter Vaishnavi Arvind also followed his footsteps and made acting their career.