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Jayan Moodley

Jayan Moodley

Director, producer and writer

Jayan is an award winning South African writer and director best known for her directorial debut, the comedy feature, Keeping Up with the Kandasamys, which was the highest grossing South African film in 2017. Jayan has produced, co-written, and directed numerous projects including the sequels Kandasamys: The Wedding and Trippin' with Kandasamys, which premiered as a Netflix Original Film in 2021 and was the top-viewed film on Netflix South Africa the week of its release. Jayan also directed the historical drama White Gold and co-directed a short film The Dance, produced by Quizzical Pictures. She started out producing numerous documentaries for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) including The Shembe Walk to God, Buddhism - Finding the Peace Within and Ela Gandhi - The Hands That Serve. Jayan produced SABC3's Hindu magazine programme Sadhana for its first eight seasons. She completed her BSc degree majoring in Mathematics and Computer Science and has previously completed stints as an educator and a coder in object-oriented programming. Topics that interest Jayan as a filmmaker include youth development programmes, spirituality, and the multi-faith concept; she is currently developing various television series concepts.

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Biography from IMDb.

Works as
Director, producer and writer
Titles
4 on MovieCove · 7 credits in all
Links
IMDb (opens in a new tab)TMDB (opens in a new tab)Wikidata (opens in a new tab)

Known for

TMDB popularity, last 156 days to Oct 27Down 9% in 30 days

What are Jayan Moodley's films like?

Across a limited sample of 4 MovieCove titles with a thematic analysis, their films lean Bonds and Power.

Themes

share of theme weight
Bonds
93%
Power
7%
Family bonds3 titles, browse their movies with this themeFriendship2 titles, browse their movies with this theme

What they feel like to watch

their average across 4 films
ToneFeelDemandtheir average · filled zone: the category
Light: How heavy the subject matter and outlook get. Browse their light movies.
Tone · Weight
lightdark

Light 4 · Serious 0 · Dark 0

Grounded: How far its world departs from everyday reality. Browse their grounded movies.
Tone · Style
naturalisticheightened

Grounded 4 · Stylized 0 · Heightened 0

Gentle: How hard the emotional peaks hit while you watch. Browse their gentle movies.
Feel · Intensity
gentleintense

Gentle 4 · Charged 0 · Intense 0

Steady: How much it swings between very different feelings. Browse their steady movies.
Feel · Swings
steadyswings

Steady 4 · Shifting 0 · Whiplash 0

Funny: How much of the runtime is played for laughs. Browse their funny movies.
Feel · Humor
noneconstant

Straight-faced 0 · Some laughs 1 · Funny 3

Even-paced: How fast it moves from scene to scene. Browse their even-paced movies.
Demand · Pace
slowrelentless

Slow burn 2 · Even-paced 2 · Relentless 0

Casual: How much focus it asks of you — look away and lose the thread? Browse their casual movies.
Demand · Attention
casualfull focus

Casual 4 · Engaged 0 · Full focus 0

Resolved: How much is left for you to interpret. Browse their resolved movies.
Demand · Resolution
resolvedambiguous

Resolved 4 · Open-ended 0 · Ambiguous 0

Moods and endings

endings shown from 5 titles

Dominant moods · mentions across their titles

Joyful
4
Warm
4
Tense
1
Absurd
1
Romantic
1

How their films linger

Feel-good4 titles, browse their movies with this aftertasteFun2 titles, browse their movies with this aftertaste

AI-generated from each title's plot synopsis and cast list, with extra plot summaries, reviews and Parents Guide notes for titles the model may not know, and the model's own knowledge of the ones it recognizes. Only analyzed titles count, so this covers part of the filmography; the feel axes count films only for now.

Where can I watch Jayan Moodley's films?

As of October 24, 2026, all 4 MovieCove titles stream on a subscription or free service, most on Netflix (3).

Subscription and free streaming for Jayan Moodley's titles on MovieCove; rent and buy are not counted. Titles are listed by Midcredits score, highest first, at most 12 per service; a dashed chip is a producer credit or a minor one, such as a thanks. A service opens the browse page, which counts movies only, so its number can differ.

Filmography

7 credits, 4 with a MovieCove page.

  • Meet the Khumalos(2025)

    Director · Producer · Writer

    Midcredits score: 34th percentile of all films

  • Kandasamys: The Baby(2023)

    Director · Producer · Screenplay

    Midcredits score: 21st percentile of all films

  • Valley of a Thousand Hills (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2022)

    Thanks

  • Trippin' with the Kandasamys(2021)

    Director · Casting · Costume Design · Location Scout · Producer · Writer

    Midcredits score: 40th percentile of all films

  • Kandasamys: The Wedding (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)(2019)

    Director · Costume Design · Location Scout · Producer · Screenplay

  • Keeping Up with the Kandasamys(2017)

    Director · Location Scout · Screenplay

    Midcredits score: 73rd percentile of all films

  • Maskandi Queen (not in the MovieCove catalog yet)

    Director

Career shape

A full career of 7 titles, 6 of them dated from 2017 to 2025.

Biggest box office

Keeping Up with the Kandasamys (2017)

$1.2M worldwide

Highest rated

Keeping Up with the Kandasamys (2017)

Midcredits 73rd

Most popular right now

Kandasamys: The Baby (2023)

By role

only this rolewith another role
Directing6 of 7: 1 only directing, 5 with another roleWriting4 of 7: 0 only writing, 4 with another roleProducing4 of 7: 0 only producing, 4 with another roleOther crew4 of 7: 1 only other crew, 3 with another role

7 titles, 5 with more than one role — directing and other crew overlap on 3 of them.

By decade

2010s2 · crew2020s4 · crew

Counts from TMDB across their full career, self appearances out; a title counts in every role they held on it.

How do Jayan Moodley's films land?

Their typical MovieCove film has a Midcredits score in the 37th percentile, the median of all 4; across a limited sample of 4 films with reception data, the typical film sits in the 39th percentile for acclaim.

Acclaim · how much people like their films

39thpercentile
Typical film, the median of 4

Approval · how many liked their films

36thpercentile
Typical film, the median of 4

Reach · how many have seen their films

55thpercentile
Typical film, the median of 4

Midcredits score across 4 titles, by percentile

  • 50th to 74th1
  • 25th to 49th2
  • Below 25th1

Shape of the crowd

2 of their 4 titles are Cult Classics.

  • Cult Classic2
  • Mixed2

Most divisive · director, writer, producer

Trippin' with the Kandasamys (2021)

79th percentile spread · 32% rated it 4 or lower

Most loved · director, writer

Keeping Up with the Kandasamys (2017)

Midcredits 73rd · 74% liked

Reviewers score the atmosphere 63/100 and the pacing 44/100 in their films, across 4 reviewed titles. The element that speaks to their work as a director.

Percentiles are each film's standing among all films on MovieCove; the typical film is the median, so one outlier cannot drag it. Percentiles and reviewer scores count the films IMDb credits them on, for now; the Midcredits score bands, the shape of the crowd and the two cards count their MovieCove titles, shows included (a show ranked among shows), appearances as themselves left out. A descriptor is the shape of a title's IMDb rating distribution against the catalog; "most divisive" needs a spread wider than half of all titles, and a card names only a principal credit: a craft role, and on a show a crew role or a run of episodes, never a courtesy credit or a one-off guest spot.

Who does Jayan Moodley work with?

People who share at least 2 of Jayan Moodley's MovieCove titles, grouped by what they did on them; Mariam Bassa shares the most, 4.

Writers

Actors

Composers, cinematographers and editors

Producers