His director’s actor
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The duo of Sutti Velu and Jandhyala produced many a hit. J. R. Shridharan
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Photo: Ch. Vijaya Bhaskar
Double success ‘Sutti’ Velu
Actors are mere puppets in the hands of a director. The fate of any performer solely depends on the director, who is the skipper of the team. These words of Kurumadalli Lakshmi Narasimha Rao, better known as ‘Sutti’ Velu , highlights his
gratitude towards his mentor the late Jandhyala, who made him part of the famous Sutti Janta along with Sutti Veerabhadra Rao in his film Naalugu Sthambhaalaata in 1982, which went on to take the Telugu filmgoersR
17; world by storm.
Once Jandhyala re-christened K.L.N. Rao as Velu based on his childhood name, the small-time stage artiste from Machilipatnam in Krishna District firmly entrenched himself in Telugu films as ‘Sutti’ Velu. “Our (Sutti duo’s) popularity reached a new high when AVM released the dialogues between us in Naalugu Sthambhaalaata in an audio cassette,” Velu recalled during a tête-À-tête recently, when he came to receive the Sutti Veerabhadra Rao m
emorial award conferred on him by Abhiruchi, a Vijayawada-based cultural organisation.
Velu, who will turn 60 on July 29, describes the late Veerabhadra Rao as his elder brother rather than a mere co-star. “During my early days in Chennai, he not only encouraged me, but also guided me in shaping into a good comedian. We gelled well in our characters and during dubbing we used to perform together to bring out the best in ourselves,” he recollects. “Wherever he went, I followed him like a shadow. There are so many things which I have learnt by observing him.”
Ask him what best virtue the late Veerabhadra Rao had as an actor, Velu points to his dialogue delivery, which, he says, was not just crystal clear but also had the all-important pauses to make the scenes gripping and entertaining. “His forays into the All India Radio and theatre were main reasons for his growth in industry as an effective performer. I always cherish my role with Veerabhadra Rao in Aananda Bhairavi in the early 80s,” says the celebrity comedian.
Laying emphasis on variety, Velu points out that right from the days of Kasturi Siva Rao to the present-day comedians like Sunil and Venu Madhav, each one has striven hard to leave their own mark on the industry. “What audience expect from comedians is variety and the onus is on the director and writer in creating an identity of the performer. The material is already available. How to use it fruitfully depends on the present-day directors,” he observes.
The film bug bit Velu when he went to witness the shooting of Akkineni Nageswara Rao- B. Saroja Devi starrer Rahasyam in Hyderabad in 1966. Later he was actively involved in theatre for over a decade, before the opportunity to enter
the tinsel world came in the form of Jandhyala’s Mudda Mandaram.
“My first role was that of a receptionist in Mudda Mandaram. Since then, I acted in all the films that Jandhayla directed. I should thank all the writers who created characters to suit my persona,” Velu says. He also tal
ks of the late T. Krishna, who produced some box office hits in 80s, with gratitude “Krishna gave me some memorable characters in film like Prathighatana. He was the one who saw me as more than just a comedian.”
Velu, who describes the legendary Charlie Chaplin as the greatest comedian of all times (“He makes you laugh even in pain”), rates Srilakshmi near home as the best and most talented lady comedian after Ramaprabha.
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