Pawan Said No, Here’s What Director Did!

Veteran director Muthyala Subbaiah presented super hits for many top stars. Interim, he revealed the secrets of his films with Venkatesh, Balakrishna and Pawan Kalyan.

He said, “We planned Pelli Chesukundam with Venkatesh. The film features the hero bringing home heroine who gets raped. Many commented that ‘Will audience watch the film if the heroine gets raped'. Producers also faced many problems regarding film business ahead of its release. However, viewers did not bother. The film turned out to be a big hit. I got the credit for giving two hits to Venkatesh. I got an award for the best screenplay writer award for Pelli Chesukundam'.

After Inspector Pratap I did not get a chance to direct Balakrishna. Since both of us got busy, the combination did not materialize. However with friends Addala Chanti, Srinivas Reddy, it turned into a reality. My demand increased after I did films with Chiranjeevi, Venkatesh and Pawan Kalyan. Pressure too increased from the producers. During that time Chanti, Srinivas Reddy came to me. He worked as a cameraman for Srivari Priyuralu. He said 'Balayya Babu dates istannannannaru. Cinema Cheddam Subbanna'. I said ok'.

I never did any film be it small or big without a full script. So I readied a full script and went to Balakrishna. He loved the point. Though the film has action part, sentiment and drama dominated and even Balakrishna felt it novel. During that time all Balakrishna films used to have powerful titles. However, we came with a soft title like Pavitra Prema. Though Balakrishna's fans got surprised, they later congratulated saying 'maa guruvugaariki manchi title pettaru'. Laila was the heroine. The film did well but we did not do 100 days function'.

I gave advance to Pawan Kalyan through Seenayya. We held discussions with Pawan Kalyan after Pavitra Prema. I and Seenayya used to listen to stories. After listening to a lot of stories, we liked a story. We felt that Pawan also will like it. But he said he did not like it and asked us to come with another story. We got disappointed but came out saying 'alright sir… Let us see another story'. However, Seenayya got disappointed as he loved the story. He decided to do the film with the same story. In that way, Snehithulu starred with Vadde Naveen.”