HYDERABAD: When you hear the parody of Saamajavaragamana, you know that Sri Satya Jagadeeswari Vedula, aka Jagadi for family and friends and Vedula in San Jose, California, where she currently lives, has worked hard to put some soul, humour and sarcasm into her work. Jagadi is a freelance digital media marketer and creator who has tasted success and fame in the recent times. This Youtuber who hails from Kakinada and has spent over seven years in KPHB Colony says that Hyderabadi restaurants are ‘bae’. This former-IT Recruiter in Hyderabad has also learnt Photoshop and some VFX courses and that knowledge comes handy in video and photo editing.
Keeping it simple and satirical:
My Instagram (@dubidi_dhibide) insights help me understand what my 19K followers are enjoying. I give content my own comical touch and make sure that it’s not hurting any individual. I also entertain my followers by photoshopping their pictures as per their request in a fun way or write funny poems under the title ‘Kapithvams.’ The recent one on Tollywood actor Lakshmi Manchu got me over 20K views. “Lakshmi had a good laugh too over my Kapithvam,” she says.
Phone shenanigans:
When I get an idea or a spoofconcept, I plan the scenes first according to the lyrics or the dialogues and then select my costumes and put on my makeup accordingly. Then I set my iPhoneX mobile phone for recording the content with the help of my tripod as mostly it’s a one-person show. I need to write the concept, dialogues, act, edit and then follow through. I also need to be trendy, creative, entertaining and clean. I have to make sure the content appeals to all and hurts none. At times, it takes me days to make a one-minute video.
liquor
“I love Jandhyala’s movies which are filled with sarcastic comedy. He is my inspiration and I watched almost all of his movies and my favourite artistes from his films are Bramhanandam, Suttiveerabhadra Rao and Srilakshmi. I miss that kind of humour in today’s movies. The content on social media platforms now mostly focuses on latest releases, some funny challenges or content with lot of swear words which many youngsters seem to enjoy and even encourage it, unfortunately. So when I thought of making videos, I chose Jandhyala’s comedy style to entertain people. I rarely find any classic sarcastic comedy scenes from our old movies, so then I decided, I should bring back those classic comedies from his movies using the dubsmash app. I hail from Kakinada in East Godavari district, a movie-crazy area with a unique slang and I use them to my advantage and make my own mark.
A day in the life of a digital creator:
My followers are my best sources for ideas. I keep hearing from them, that they laughed a lot and enjoyed a lot which makes me feel happy. At home, I sing funny songs with already existing tunes by changing the lyrics like “Saamajavaragamana” parody song. I watched and listened the song almost 10 times for days at a stretch.
Hairy twist to Saamajavaragamana:
One day I was combing my hair while listening to this song and realised I suffered hair fall. Looking at my comb I started singing “Naa headdu ni pattuku undanu annavi choode naa kurulu.” Then I sat down and wrote the rest of the lyrics. I loved the way music composer SS Thaman and team presented the video song on YouTube. I watched it multiple times and observed their body language and tried to replicate the instruments with my daughter’s toys and my kitchen utensils. That’s how I used the “idli plates stand” as my drums. All the effort seems worthwhile when my followers say it served as a stress buster.
Celeb following:
Actor-producer Lakshmi Manchu is sweet and very down to earth. She retweeted one of my latest videos and started following my Instagram page and proposed a collab comedy concept. It sounded like a dream. I penned a comedy skit which is a funny conversation between a slightly deaf grandmom and her granddaughter. We both did it on Instagram live and everyone loved it. Actors Dharam Teja, Allari Naresh and director Krish Jagarlamudi follow me on Twitter and have appreciated my work. Directors Srinivasa Avasarala, Raj Kandukuri Garu, Preyadarshe and Navdeep are also those who have complimented my work.
— Manju Latha Kalanidhi
kalanidhi@newindianexpress.com
@mkalanidhi