Vuppaladadiyam Nagaiah Sarma (28 March 1904 – 30 December 1973), popularly known as Chittoor Nagaiah, was an Indian actor, singer, music composer, and director known for his works in Telugu, Tamil cinemas and Telugu theatre. Nagayya was born on 28 March 1904 to Ramalinga Sarma and Venkata Lakshmamba, a Telugu-speaking brahmin family in a tiny hamlet near Repalle, Guntur district, Andhra Pradesh.

His parents believed that Nagaiah was born to them by the blessings of the Snake God, hence named him Nagaiah. His maternal grandmother adopted him and took him to her native village, Gonugur, near Kuppam and later to Chittoor. He took up studies with a scholarship provided by the Tirupati Devasthanam and later completed his B.A., degree in Chittoor. Brought up in Chittoor, Nagayya was closely connected to Rama Vilasa Sabha, a Telugu theatre association in the city.

He performed several stages plays ‘Sarangadhara’, ‘Viswamithra Chitra Nilayam’, ‘Savitri’, ‘Bruhannala’ and ‘Ramadasu’ and bagged a gold medal for his female role as ‘Chitrangi’, in the play ‘Sarangadhara’.
After working as a clerk in a government office, Nagayya became a journalist with Andhra Patrika. Mahatma Gandhi and Nehru influenced him and he participated in the freedom struggle (Dandi Satyagraha) in 1930, later went on to work for some gramophone companies including Hutchins, Twin etc., Nagaiah attended the Guwahati Congress conclave with S. Srinivasa Iyyengar in 1926.

His first wife Jaya Lakshmi died giving birth to a daughter shortly after the marriage. He then married Girija, and she too died due to miscarriage in the eighth month. His first daughter died of an undiagnosed illness. Nagaiah then started visiting Ramana Maharshi Ashram, Arunachalam, number of times, staying there for quite a long time with vairagya.

Nagaiah found patronage from the legendary figures in Carnatic music Musiri Subramania Iyer and GN Balasubramanian in his endeavours in Carnatic music. MS Subba Lakshmi happens to be Nagaiah ‘s contemporary. Through his musical renderings, he could impress the young Kamala Nehru (wife of Jawaharlal Nehru) at Anand Bhavan in Allahabad, on his way back from Guwahati congress conclave (1926).
He joined the Chennapuri Andhra Maha Sabha, a popular cultural Association of Andhras in the erstwhile Madras. Nagaiah developed a lifetime friendship with Bommireddy Narasimha Reddy (BN Reddy- famed filmmaker of India).

H. M. Reddy, a legendary figure in the pre-independence era arrived at Madras from Kolhapur and formed the Rohini Pictures with the association of B.N. Reddy and actress Kannamba. The firm started its first venture in Telugu through the film ‘Gruhalakshmi’ in 1938, in which Nagaiah played a significant role, as the brother of the then-popular heroine Kannamba. Later, the association of B.N. Reddy and Nagaiah worked through several hits with Vahini Studios.

‘Vande Matharam’ (1939), ‘Sumangali’ (1940), ‘Devata’ (1941), ‘Bhakta Potana’ (1942) a famous 14th century Telugu poet, ‘Swarga Seema’ (1945), ‘Yog Vemana’ (1947) a Telugu poet and yogi estimated to belong to 17th century, were huge hits produced under their combination. Nagayya was also the protagonist in Viswa Mohini (1940), the first film on the Indian motion picture world, which was screened at the Venice Film Festival. Nagaiah was the costliest actor in those times and used to charge Rs. 1,00,000 for each film in 1940s. He was soft spoken and nice human being with compassion. His house used to be a choultry for many upcoming film artists, providing food and shelter to countless people.

He started getting offers from the Telugu and Tamil film industries equally. Nagiah became the highest-paid actor by the time he was making the film ‘Beedalapatlu’(1950). His performance in the film ‘Yogi Vemana’ influenced a boy who later turned into a saint and performance in the film ‘Yogi Vemana’ influenced a boy who later turned into a saint and became popular as ‘Balayogi’ at Mummidivaram, Andhra Pradesh. In the last scene of the film a big crowd of devotees line up on either side of the pathway that leads to a cave to have a last glimpse of the saint (Yogi Vemana) who is about to go there to attain “Jeeva Samadhi”.

The principal actors, the crowd and the film unit, including the light boys, were spell bound by the performance of Nagaiah, and were almost in tears. Such was the performance of the thespian, even an astute filmmaker like K.V. Reddy was so overwhelmed by the scene that he forgot to tell “cut” which made Nagaiah wonder how long he had to stay in that suffocating cave. Soon, K.V.Reddy regained consciousness and rushed towards the cave not only to heap praise on the veteran actor but also to say sorry for the inconvenience he had caused.

Thyagayya (1946) film produced and directed by Nagaiah based on the life of Saint Thyagaraja was a musical hit movie. Nagaiah also played the role of 12th century saint Gora Kumbhar in Chakradhari (1948) a Gemini Studio production, and a social film Naa Illu (1953) which was Nagaiah’s own production. In 1964, Nagaiah essayed 17th century saint Kancharla Gopanna in Ramadasu (1964). This film which was co-written, directed and produced by Nagaiah won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in Telugu. Mohammad Rafi sang a beautiful song ‘Kaheka Rona’ in this film.

 Nagaiah was the first South Indian actor to be awarded the Padma Shri award by the Government of India in 1965.
 Thiruvankur Maharaja honoured Nagaiah with the title – Abinava Thyagaraju. The Maharaja made Nagaiah to sit beside him on his throne and tendered “Padapuja”.
 Mysore Maharaja awarded Nagaiah with 101 silver plates that also consisted of several gold coins. He also gave a gold chain to Nagaiah, which had a pendant of Bhagawan Rama.
 Nagaiah received Best Actor Award by the Andhra Film Journalists Association (1939)

He was a method actor, and his forte was usually playing intense characters, often immersing himself in the study of the real character’s traits and mannerisms. Indian film journalist and the Editor of Film India, Baburao Patel described Nagayya as “The Paul Muni of India” (Paul Muni was a famous American stage and film actor, who was nominated for the Academy award for Best Actor five times, winning the award for his role in the 1936 film The Story of Lousi Pasteur). Nagaiah was considered the best character actor in South Indian cinema during 1940s and 1950s.

Nagaiah made significant contributions to Telugu cinema, and starred in about two hundred Telugu films. Nagaiah also starred in about one hundred and sixty films in Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi. In his honour, the Chittoor Nagaiah Kalakshetram of Arts was established in Chittoor of Andhra Pradesh.
He was the founder of the Sri Thyaga Brahma Gana Sabha and he, along with a few others was instrumental in ensuring that the Sabha had a land and also built the famous Vani Mahal on that land at T.Nagar, Chennai.
Nagaiah was felicitated by a life size statue in Panagal Park, T.Nagar, Chennai at his demise.

Nagaiah was a fine actor, great musician, accomplished music director, producer, stage artiste, freedom fighter, and above all, a fine human being who was very compassionate. He died on December 30, 1973 in Madras.