Jandhyala (filmmaker)


Jandhyala Veera Venkata Durga Siva Subrahmanya Sastry, known mononymously as Jandhyala, popularly known as Haasya Brahma, was an Indian film screenwriter, director and actor known for his works in Telugu cinema. In a film career spanning twenty four years, he has garnered four state Nandi Awards and the Filmfare Award. Jandhyala has been a dialogue writer for National Award winning works such as Sankarabharanam, Saptapadi, Seethakoka Chiluka, Sagara Sangamam, and Swathi Kiranam. He received the Nandi Award for Best Dialogue Writer for Aapadbandhavudu.
Jandhyala is known for his directorial works such as Nalugu Stambhalata, the bilingual dance film, Ananda Bhairavi, screened at the International Film Festival of India, and has garnered the state Nandi Awards for Best Feature Film, Best Direction, and Best Story. He then directed the dramedy works such as Srivariki Premalekha,, Rendu Rellu Aaru, Seeta Rama Kalyanam, Chantabbai, Padamati Sandhya Ragam, which received the Filmfare Award for Best Film – Telugu, and Nandi Award for Best Story. with screenings at International Film Festival of India, and Louisville's International Film Festival.

Early life

Jandhyala, also known as Haasya Brahma Jandhyala, was born on 14 January 1951 at Narsapuram. He is the son of Jandhyala Narayana Murthy. He graduated with a bachelors in commerce from SRR and CVR College in Vijayawada. Since his childhood he was interested in stage plays particularly with mythological characters with elaborate costumes. He even won prizes for his performances while in school.

Career

Jandhayala was a noted playwright during his college days. His first play being Atmahuthi ; however, his next play Ek Din Ka Sultan was very popular and has been enacted over 10,000 times and script has been reprinted 15 times. His last play was Gundelu Marchabadunu.
Jandhyala happened to meet Gummadi VenkateswaraRao who advised him to become a story writer. Soon he got support from Kaashinathuni Vishwanath, director of several meaningful Telugu films. Soon, he started writing for several films that saw success at box office.
He entered the films as a lyricist through the film Punya Bhoomi Kallu Teru and as dialogue writer it was Devudu Chesina Bommalu. However, his film as a dialogue writer was K. Vishwanath's Siri Siri Muvva in the year 1977, was a blockbuster hit with which he got firm footing in Telugu cinema industry and since then never looked back. He would go on to write for around 200 films between 1977 and 1986, some of them becoming hugely successful at Box office and some even winning awards.
He also anchored few episodes called Andandho Bhamha, telecasted on Sundays in Doordarshan channel between 1993–1995 years.

Directorial style and success

Jandhyala turned into a director with the film Mudda Mandaram in the year 1981. Jandhyala abhorred 'bawdy comedy' popular till then and believed that the dialogue should be crisp, simple and natural like real-life conversations, which the audience could easily identify themselves with, and enjoy. He had followed this rule in all the movies for which he had written and directed.
He is a trendsetter of Comedy genre and has written and directed several hits like Nalugu Sthambalata, Rendu Rella Aaru, Aha Naa Pellanta, Vivaha Bhojanambu, Choopulu Kalasina Subhavela, Chantabbai, Amara Jeevi, Seeta Rama Kalyanam and Padamati Sandhya Ragam, Rendu Jalla Seetha.
He has introduced many comedy actors like Bramhanandam, Suthi Velu and Suthi Veerabhadra Rao. His film with Ushakiran Movies Srivariki Premalekha became an all-time-hit comedy film. His other film Ananda Bhairavi was a milestone in his career and won many awards.

Awards

;Nandi Awards
;Filmfare Awards South
He died on 19 June 2001, due to a massive heart attack, at 50, and after completing his silver jubilee year in films.
Jandhyala is survived by his wife Annapurna and two daughters, Sahiti and Sampada.

Filmography

;As director
FilmActorsRelease date
Mudda MandaramPradeep, Poornima11 September 1981
Malle PandiriVijji Babu, Jyoti, S. P. Balasubrahmanyam10-04-1982
Nalugu StambhalataNaresh, Pradeep, Poornima, Tulasi15 May 1982
NelavankaRajesh, Gummadi, J. V. Somayajulu25 January 1983
Rendu Jella SitaNaresh, Pradeep, Rajesh, Subhakar, Mahalakshmi, Subhalekha Sudhakar, Sutti Veerabhadra Rao, Suthivelu30 March 1983
AmarajeeviAkkineni Nageswara Rao, Jayaprada19 August 1983
Moodu MulluChandra Mohan, Radhika, Geetha09−09-1983
Ananda BhairaviGirish Karnad, Kanchana, Sutti Veerabhadra Rao, Suthivelu19-04-1984
Sreevariki Prema LekhaNaresh, Poornima, Sutti Veerabhadra Rao, Nutan Prasad, Misro24 February 1984
Rama Rao Gopal RaoRao Gopal Rao, Chandra Mohan, Muchcharla Aruna19-10-1984
Puttadi BommaNaresh, Poornima, Muchcharla Aruna25-01-1985
Babai AbbaiBalakrishna, Anitha Reddy, Sutti Veerabhadra Rao8 February 1985
Srivari SobhanamNaresh, Anitha Reddy01-03-1985
Mogudu PellaluNaresh, Bhanupriya5 August 1985
Muddula ManavaraluBhanumathi, Suhasini, Jayasudha, Chandra Mohan, Sarath Babu15-08-1985
Rendu Rella AaruRajendra Prasad, Chandra Mohan, Rajani, Preethy11 January 1986
Seeta Rama KalyanamBalakrishna, Rajani18 April 1986
ChantabbaiChiranjeevi, Suthivelu, Suhasini22 August 1986
Padamati Sandhya RagamVijayasanti, Thomas Jane, Gummaluri Sastry11 April 1987
Raga LeelaRaghu, Sumalatha, Tulasi, Sandhya3 July 1987
SatyagrahamChalla Ramakrishna Reddy, Saritha, Guntur Sastry17-12-1987
Aha Naa PellantaRajendra Prasad, Rajani27 November 1987
Chinni KrishnuduRamesh, Kushboo, Sarath Babu16 April 1988
Vivaha BhojanambuChandra Mohan, Rajendra Prasad, Ashwini05-05-1988
Neeku Naaku PellantaDr.Rajasekhar, Ashwini26 August 1988
Choopulu Kalasina SubhavelaNaresh, Mohan, Ashwini, Sudha, Brahmanandam, Sri Lakshmi7 October 1988
Hai Hai NayakaNaresh, Sri Bharathi23 February 1989
Jayammu NischayammuraRajendra Prasad, Sumalatha, Chandra Mohan, Avanti6 July 1989
Bava Bava PanneruNaresh, Rupa Kala9 August 1991
Prema Enta MadhuramNaresh, Mayuri6 September 1991
Vichitra PremaRajendra Prasad, Amrutha07-11-1991
Babai HotelBrahmanandam, Kinnera5 June 1992
Ladies SpecialSuresh, Vani Viswanath, Divyavani01-02-1991
Prema ZindabadRajendra Prasad, Aishwarya, Subhalekha Sudhakar–
Aa Aaa e eeVarun Raj, Achyuth, Vijay Kumar–
Shhh. Gup ChupVarun Raj, Bhanupriya12 May 1994
Oho Naa PellantaHarish, Sanghavi20 March 1996
VichitramBrahmanandam, Chandra Sree, Sri Harsha, Charmi6 November 1998

;As dialogue writer
;As actor
;As dubbing artist