About the film:
The film is based on a play by C.S. Rao, and he provided story and dialogues to this film version too. The actual play lasted 45 minutes; more scenes and songs were added to make a full-length two-and-a-half-hour movie. (C.S. Rao's another play Oorummadi Batukulu was also made as film, and also won many awards.)

This is the first (released) film of Chiranjeevi. Chiranjeevi was a student in the film institute at that time. His roommate Sudhakar was doing a film under the direction of Bharathi Raja (Killekem Pongem Rail, which later remade in Telugu as Thoorpu Velle Railu) and he got a chance to act in Punadiraallu under the direction of Rajkumar. As Sudhakar was under a contract with Bharathi Raja, he suggested Chiranjeevi's name for the film. At that time, the rule had it that students should not sign up to act during their training period. Thus, Chiranjeevi sought the then-principal Y.G. Parthasarathy's permission and acted in that film. While shooting for Punadiraallu, Kranthi Kumar saw him and offered him the role of Narasimha in this movie. Pranam Khareedu was released on September 22,1978, before Punadiraallu hit the theaters. Bapu and Balachander was invited for the premiere. After watching the film, they didn't said anything about the film or about Chiranjeevi, but later both offered him roles in their films (Mana Oori Pandavulu and Idhi Katha Kaadu).

This is the first film for Kota Srinivas Rao. He was an employee of State Bank of India at that time, and he did a small role as a villager in this film, along with his brother Kota Shankar Rao.

It it one of those rare films where we hear Chakravathy's music from his regular 'masala' music. The film has very good all-time hit songs like EtamEsi tODinaa yEru enDadu... and enniyallO enniyallO endaaka... Jaladi did a very good job as lyricist for all the songs.

Director Vasu talks about the film:
I was not supposed to do this film, but Kranthi forced me to do it. We saw the play and liked it. We decided right there that Rao Gopal Rao will be doing the role of the Kanakayya. Jayasudha and Chandramohan were ideal choices for their roles too. We first planned to take Satyendra Kumar for the role of Chiranjeevi. Reshma Roy was the number one heroine in Oriya films at that time. (She acted with her real name Mahaswetha in Oriya). She acted in the Oriya version of Lethamanasulu under the direction of my father (K. Pratyagatma) – the movie was produced by Kranthi Kumar; it became a huge hit in Oriya. Kranthi promised her that he'd introduce her in Telugu. When she was doing the role of Bangari, I suggested that we should take a newcomer opposite her instead of Satyendra Kumar. Our assistant director Premkumar informed us about Chiranjeevi. So, we did a photo session and also did some short scenes with him and selected him for the role.

The entire shooting was done in Pottilanka village near Dhavaleswaram. All Gudem shots were done amidst natural locations in Vemagiri. The film was completed in single schedule. This was also the first film for Raghunatha Reddy as a cameraman. He was an assistant to Lokanatham and later worked with Balachander. The entire shooting was done in mid-summer, and thus we used to shoot from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and completed the shoot in 45 days. The production unit had a constant supply of fruit juices and coconut water for us as it was mid-summer. Kota Srinivas Rao used to play the role of Kanakayya in the original stage version. Most artistes who acted on the stage were given a chance in the film, in different roles though. R. Narayanamurthy got a good recognition in the film, in the role of Nutan Prasad's servant.

When the film was released in Mumbai, someone saw the movie there and suggested that we should send it to the National Awards Committee. We applied, but Kranthi never sent the prints to the screening committee! The film was an average fare at the box-office, but it has got us all a lot of critical acclaim.

By Sri Sriatluri@yahoo.com