Jandyala came as a whiff of fresh air and gave a new idiom to humour
He rode like a colossus on the Tollywood canvas with his powerful pen, down-to-earth characterisaton, astounding humour and high quality direction which has brushed aside the formula themes, hero-centric hungama and ushered in a healthy family entertainment and in the process, has introduced a string of comedians to the industry.
Tragedy struck the comedy guru early and he died at 50.
Born on January 14, 1951 as Jandyala Veera Venkata Durga Siva Subrahmanaya Sastri at Narsapuram and settled in Vijayawada, he started his career as writer-cum-actor in the theatre and moved to Chennai as a dialogue writer. He has many successful films as a writer which includes the legendary Shankarabharanam. Some other films include, Adavi Ramudu, Jagadekaveerudu Atiloka Sudaru, Seethamalakshmi, Sommokadidi Sokokkadidi and some other smashing hits.
His direction debut was Mudda Mandaram, though it did not do well at the box office it marked the beginning of a new trend in Telugu cinema, which till then was dominated by five-odd stars and formula film with usual masala had been the essential ingredient.
Jandyala opened a new leaf and Tollywood has seen a new cinema which has healthy humour, comic situations and characters, simple theme and a simpler way of narration. Audience lapped up the new look and there was no looking back for Jandyala. He created characters, punch lines, situations and scenes from everyday life and the middle class identified itself with them
Nalugu Sthamabalata, Rendu Rellu Aru, Rendu Jalla Seeta, Aha Na Pellanta, Chupulu Kalasina Subha Vela and others have given Telugu industry the much needed relief and the writer-director went on to a serious mode in the making of Ananda Bhairavi and Padmati Sandhya Ragam to win national awards.
With the director gone after steering 60 films, humour in Tollywood has lost its way.