Natasimham Nandamuri Balakrishna had a great time in his professional career between the years 1999 and 2001. For the Pongal season of the year, 1999, Balakrishna's 'Samarasimha Reddy' was released without making any noise before its release. It was really a great feel for the Telugu audience as they watched the full length faction story on Telugu silver screen for the first time. Ultimately the movie was proved to be an industry hit by collecting Rs.15+ crores share and ran in a total of 72 direct hundred days centers and 27 silver jubilees.
It was Pongal, 2001. Chiranjeevi's 'Mrugaraju' and Balakrishna's 'Narasimha Naidu' were competing to get the Pongal cup. Everybody eyed on Chiranjeevi's 'Mrugaraju', as Chiranjeevi was in full swing with seven hits in a row then and also the movie was made by the powerful producer K.Devi Vara Prasad. However, after the release of both the movies, 'Mrugaraju' was bombed at the box office while 'Narasimha Naidu' recorded one more industry hit for Balakrishna. The movie collected a share of Rs.22 crores and ran in a total of 102 direct hundreds.