Mullapudi Ramana on Mantrigari Viyyankudu
The film is actually a remake of a Malayalam film. But we changed the scenes to suite our nativity. K.V.Mahadevan was our regular music director for most of our films but it was producers choice to go with Ilayaraja for this movie and we accepted it. Raja was very down to earth and he came to our house for the music sittings. He did a very wonderful job.
Chiranjeevi was upset for two reasons. First and foremost, the title was not on his name. At that time the movie titles were all on his name but we felt Mantrigari Viyyankudu suits the story better than any other name. He also objected for his character not entering until half of the movie ends (Chiru enters after first 36 minutes of the movie begins). He was budding star then and his objections were understandable. But if you ask him now about his favorite movies, he would definitely mention this movie in his list (laughs).
Producer Jayakrishna speaks:
"I got the rights of the Malayalam movie for about Rs 40,000. I know Bapu garu very well as I produced produced couple of movies with him such as Manavuri Pandavulu. For both Bapu and Ramana, I paid them remuneration as package deal. Illayaraja garu was my choice. His combination with Chiru in Abhilasha was a hit, so I insisted upon keeping him for this too. Ilayaraja remuneration was Rs 60,000.
Cameraman Loksingh was regular for our productions and he was already renowned then. But he showed Chiranjeevi very handsome. And his picturisation of songs was also talked about. We paid him about 50k.
When Chiranjeevi threw party for film industry before entering into politics, he mentioned that it was me who gave him the first remuneration (for Manavoori Pandavulu). He was really busy at that time. I think almost fourteen films released that year. For this film we paid him Rs 1.5 Lakhs.
Poornima Jayaram was numero uno in Malayalam films at that time but we made her to act in this film and it turned out to be her only movie in Telugu. Her remuneration was Rs 60,000. While we shooting for this film, Bhagyaraja used to come to the sets every day in Ooty. Though he never used to speak to her in public, he used to watch her from distance and stayed in the same hotel.
Most of the film was shot in and around Chennai. Songs and fight scenes and some scenes were done in Ooty.
The film was completed in 40 days within the budget of Rs 22 lakhs. The film ran fifty days in most centers and was a decent hit. It completed fifty days in six centers."
