Mani Nagappa (born 1925) is an Indian sculptor who is known for creating statues of prominent personalities and political leaders of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

Early life

Nagappa was born in 1925 in

Madras Chennai, also known as Madras ( its official name until 1996), is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. According to the 2011 Indian ce ...

, one of the five sons of well-known Indian sculptor M. S. Nagappa. M. S. Nagappa sculpted the statues of British governors, lawyers and administrators and was awarded a "

Rao Bahadur Rai Bahadur (in North India) and Rao Bahadur (in South India), R.B., was a title of honour bestowed during British Raj, British rule in India to individuals for outstanding service or acts of public welfare to the British Empire, Empire. From ...

" title for his sculpture of

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...

. Mani Nagappa had his early education in

and was working as a

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

in Tamil films when M. S. Nagappa's death in 1942, compelled him to take over his father's business. His first sculpture, a statue of Arcot Lakshmanaswami Mudaliar, was eventually approved, thereby giving a start to his career.

Career

Nagappa has sculpted a total of 600 statues in his career. some of them being those of

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

Sivaji Ganesan Villupuram. Chinnaiya Manrayar Ganesamoorthy (1 October 1928 – 21 July 2001), better known by his stage name Sivaji Ganesan, was an Indian actor and film producer. He was mainly active in Tamil cinema during the latter half of the 20th centur ...

, U. Muthuramalingam Thevar and

R. Venkataraman Ramaswamy Venkataraman (, 4 December 191027 January 2009), also known as R. Venkataraman, was an Indian lawyer, independence activist and politician who served as a union minister and as the president of India. Venkataraman was born in Rajam ...

. In the 1980s, he sculpted the statue of India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, at the Kathipara Junction in

Guindy Guindy is a neighborhood of Chennai, Tamil Nadu. The Kathipara junction where Anna Salai, Mount-Poonamallee Road, Inner Ring Road, 100 Feet Road or Jawaharlal Nehru Road, and GST Road meet here. It is one of the important nodal points of ...

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

. In 1991, he sculpted a statue of the Tamil poet

Thiruvalluvar Thiruvalluvar commonly known as Valluvar, was a Tamil poet and philosopher. He is best known as the author of the '' Tirukkuṟaḷ'', a collection of couplets on ethics, political and economic matters, and love. The text is considered an e ...

commissioned at the rate of Rs. 1.15 lakhs by the Bangalore Tamil Sangham. However, the unveiling of the statue at the

Halasuru Halasuru, known as Ulsoor during the British Rule, is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in the city of Bengaluru. It is in central Bengaluru, and begins near the eastern terminus of Mahatma Gandhi Raste. It is renowned for its numerous temple ...

Lake in

Bangalore Bengaluru, also known as Bangalore (List of renamed places in India#Karnataka, its official name until 1 November 2014), is the Capital city, capital and largest city of the southern States and union territories of India, Indian state of Kar ...

was delayed by 18 years due to political issues. The statue was eventually unveiled on August 9, 2009 amidst controversy.

Other activities

Apart from sculpting, Mani Nagappa is also interested in collecting vintage and sports cars.

Family

Mani Nagappa's has three daughters the first is Niranjali second Gitanjali and third daughter Chitra is married to

tennis player Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

and film producer

Ashok Amritraj Ashok Amritraj (born 22 February 1956) is an Indian-American athlete and film producer. He is chairman and CEO of the Hyde Park Entertainment Group and was formerly CEO of National Geographic Films. He played tennis professionally in his youth, ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nagappa, Mani 1920s births Living people 20th-century Indian sculptors Indian male sculptors 20th-century Indian male artists Year of birth missing (living people)