Venu Yeldandi

Venu Yeldandi
Born	Siricilla, Andhra Pradesh, India (now in Telangana, India)
Other names	Jai Venu,[1] Nalla Venu,[citation needed] Munna Venu[citation needed]
Occupations	Actor Director
Years active	2004–present

Venu Yeldandi, is an Indian actor and director who works in Telugu cinema. He made his acting debut with Jai (2004) and directorial debut with Balagam (2023). He has won Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu for Balagam^[2] .

He worked as a junior artist in many films for small roles as a comedian starting with Jai (2004). His first major role was in Munna (2007) as Tillu.^[3] He also was a part of the comedy television series Jabardasth.^[4]

In 2014, during filming of the series, Yelandi and his team were attacked by a group who were offended by the portrayal of their caste in the scenes being filmed. The police arrested Yeldandi and others involved. Both Venu and the community leaders lodged official complaints, each claiming the other party was at fault. Yelandi was charged under Section 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman) and 323 (causing hurt), while members of the community who attacked the group were charged under Section 341 (wrongful restraint).^[5]

He worked as a ghost writer for Rudhramadevi (2015) and Jai Lava Kusa (2017).^[6]

Yelandi's directorial debut was with his film Balagam.^[7]

• Balagam (2023); Filmfare Award for Best Director – Telugu

• Bhagyanagara Veedhullo Gammattu (2019; co-producer)

• Venu Yeldandi at IMDb