NTR Shelved His Project For Superstar

When superstar Krishna entered the industry, Tollywood was filled with legends like Nata Samrat ANR and Nata Ratna NTR. It is known that Krishna is a diehard fan of NTR. He is the first fan of a top star who went on to become a superstar.

Krishna made his debut with Tene Manasulu in 1965 and sent a new trend with adventure films. His 12th film happened to be Asadhyudu (1968). Krishna appeared as freedom fighter Alluri Seetha Rama Raju in one scene. From then he dreamed of starring in the full length role of the freedom fighter.

Earlier Jaggaiah appeared as Alluri Seetha Rama Raju in Alu Magalu in 1958. Krishna drew inspiration from the same. Tatineni Prakasha Rao planned to take Alluri Seetha Rama Raju with Nata Samrat ANR. However for some reason he couldn’t do it. Similarly Devadas producer DL planned to take Alluri Seetha Rama Raju with Sobhan Babu in the lead. Even this did not materialize.

Krishna who had been making rapid strides at that time, dreamed of Alluri Seetha Rama Raju, waited for his time and got the script ready with Tripuraneni Maharathi and got ready to produce the film. Maharathi was extremely busy writer at that time. However he cancelled all the films only for Alluri Seetha Rama Raju and readied a powerful script after conducting extensive research. Thus Krishna created a sensation by realizing his dream to show his power as Alluri Seetha Rama Raju on silver screen.

The film which released on May Day became a blockbuster. It was screened for 100 days even in the repeat run and joined iconic films like Mayabazaar and Devadasu. NTR planned to take the film on Alluri Seetha Rama Raju and asked Paruchuri brothers to ready a script. They couldn’t refuse as NTR himself requested. After sometime Paruchuri brothers met NTR and told him ‘Annagaru. Krishna Garu teesina Alluri Seetha Rama Raju nu oka saari Choodandi. Appatiki meeru teeyalani anukunte tappakundaa kadha siddam chestam’.

NTR at once called Krishna and told ‘Brother. Meeru chesina Alluri Seetharamarajju cinema choodalani undi. Vestara?” Special screening of the film was held for NTR who after watching the film congratulated Krishna and decided to shelve his plans to come up with another film on Alluri Seetha Rama Raju.