A glowing tribute to EVV Satyanarayana

EVV Satyanarayana, who tickled the funny bones of the Telugu film audience with his comedy movies, has left the Tollywood in mourning. He was known for his simplicity and down-to-the-earth nature. His death has created a vacuum, which cannot be replaced by anyone.

EVV was born on June 10, 1956 to Venkata Rao and Ratnamma. His family"s prime occupation was agriculture and even he tried his hand in farming but ended up in a huge loss. From his childhood days, he was passionate about drama and cinema. Like every movie buffs, he bunked the classes to watch movies. Through his one of his relatives, he made an un-successful attempt to enter film industry in 1980s. He also met a few directors to work under them. But it was Hasya Brahma Jandhyala Subramanya Sastry, who recognized his passion and gave him opportunity to work as an assistant director.

He worked with Jandhyala for many films like Nalugu Stambhalata, Rendu Jella Seetha, Nelavanka, Rendu Rella Aaru etc. He finally made his breakthrough as an independent director with Chevillo Puvvu starring Rajendra Prasad and Brahmanandam in 1990. But he did not earned much name with this film. But fame was waiting for him in the form of Prema Khaidi, which went on to become one of the biggest hits of the same year.

In his career span of 53 films, he has given many hit movies like Hello Brother, Intlo illalu vantintlo priyuralu, Thotti Gang, Vedekkadi Mogudandi, Gopinti Alludu, Abbaiyigaru, Maa nanaku Pelli etc. He also worked with superstars like Venkatesh, Nagarjuna, Balakrishna, Mohan Babu, Pawan Kalyan and Chiranjeevi. But his Alludu Majaka starring Chiranjeevi, Ramya Krishnan and Rambha landed in trouble for its double entendres dialogues and scenes. The movie was re-censored after the release as several women groups and critics protested for undermining basic family values and for vulgar scenes. Nonetheless, the movie was a commercial hit. Later, double meanings were common in his films. He also launched his own production house 'EVV Cinema".

Like his guru Jandhyala, EVV"s most of the films were comedy genre. He also directed Bollywood movie Sooryavamsham, a remake of Tamil movie Suryavamsha, starring Amitabh Bachchan and Soundarya. His last film was Kathi Kantha Rao with his son Allari Naresh in the lead in December 2010. The film is running successfully in a few theatres in Andhra Pradesh.

Telugu film director Eedara Veera Venkata Satyanarayana better known as EVV Satyanarayana passed away last Friday at a private hospital in Hyderabad. He died of cardiac arrest and he was also suffering from cancer. His wife Saraswati Devi and two sons, Allari Naresh and Aryan Rajesh, survive him. However, his last rites were performed on Saturday at his farmhouse in Nekkam village. Though, he might have left this world but his memories will remain in the heart of Telugu audience for long time.