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 a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is 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 India ...

Early life

Nagappa was born in 1925 in

Madras Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

, 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 __NOTOC__ Rao may refer to: Geography * Rao, West Sumatra, one of the districts of West Sumatra, Indonesia * Råö, a locality in Kungsbacka Municipality, Halland County, Sweden Transport * Dr. Leite Lopes–Ribeirão Preto State Airport , IAT ...

" 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. Born duri ...

. Mani Nagappa had his early education in

and was working as a

choreographer Choreography is the art or practice of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer is one who cr ...

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. Mani was the only son of M. S. Nagappa who took on sculpting as a profession.

Career

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

Jawaharlal Nehru Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat— * * * * and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...

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

U. Muthuramalingam Thevar Ukkirapandi Muthuramalinga Thevar (30 October 1908 – 30 October 1963), also known as Pasumpon Muthuramalinga Thevar, was an Indian freedom struggle fighter, politician, patriarch of Thevar community and a close accomplice of Subash Chand ...

and

R. Venkataraman Ramaswamy Venkataraman (, 4 December 191027 January 2009) was an Indian lawyer, Indian independence activist and politician who served as a Union Minister and as the eighth president of India. Venkataraman was born in Rajamadam village in Ta ...

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

Guindy Guindy is one of the most important neighborhoods of Chennai, Tamil Nadu, and is nicknamed as ''The Gateway to Chennai''. The Kathipara junction where Anna Salai, Mount-Poonamallee Road, Inner Ring Road, 100 Feet Road or Jawaharlal Nehru Roa ...

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

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

Thiruvalluvar Thiruvalluvar (Tamil: திருவள்ளுவர்), commonly known as Valluvar, was a celebrated Tamil poet and philosopher. He is best known as the author of the ''Tirukkuṟaḷ'', a collection of couplets on ethics, political and ...

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

Halasuru Ulsoor, or Halasuru, is one of the oldest neighbourhoods in the city of Bangalore. It is located in central Bangalore, and begins roughly near the eastern terminus of MG Road. It is renowned for its numerous temples and market. History and ...

Lake in

Bangalore Bangalore (), officially Bengaluru (), is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It has a population of more than and a metropolitan population of around , making it the third most populous city and fifth most ...

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 racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cove ...

and

film producer A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, di ...

Ashok Amritraj Ashok Amritraj (born 22 February 1956) is Chairman and CEO of the ''Hyde Park Entertainment Group'' and was formerly CEO of National Geographic Films. Career Amritraj has produced over 100 films during his 35-year career with collective worldw ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nagappa, Mani 1920s births Living people 20th-century Indian sculptors Indian male sculptors 20th-century Indian male artists