SPB, SA Chandrashekar and JV Raghavulu on Songs recording of Devantakudu

Writer Thotapalli Madhu on his debut:
I hail from Vijayawada and I used to participate in plays in Balanandam programme in All India Radio. When I was sixteen, I performed a play in Puttaparthi on the occasion of the birthday of Sri Satya Saibaba gaaru. After that, I started writing plays too. One of my plays, Pelli Sandadi (which was later made as the film Chitram.. Bhalaare Vichitram!) was a good hit and some of my plays were published by Srirama Book Depot (of Vijayawada) as a book. K. Balachander gaaru saw the play once and asked me to come meet him once I completed my graduation. Thus, I landed at his house right after my degree examinations. Narayana Rao gaaru was planning a movie with K. Balachander gaaru then, but it didn't work out. Narayana Rao gaaru read my plays and offered me Devanthakudu when he obtained the remake rights of the Kannada film. My remuneration for the movie was Rs. 12,500. The film was a big hit and established me as a writer; the 100 days function was held at Sandhya 35 mm theater in Hyderabad, and I vividly remember that we were accommodated in Hotel Annapurna at Nampally when we attended the event. In these 25 years, I wrote for 193 movies!

Siva Nageswara Rao speaks about Devanthakudu:
When Narayana Rao gaaru got the rights for the film, Narayana Rao gaaru, Thotapalli Madhu, and I sat at Narayana Rao gaari house on Nandisetty Street (Chennai) during nights to discuss the movie. His wife used to send us kajjikaayalu and tea until wee hours of the morning. Sometimes, we used to walk along the Mount Road (Chennai) in the early hours after the late night session for a cup of tea. We saw the Kannada version before we completed the script and thought of dropping the subject entirely at one stage. But Narayana Rao gaaru liked the story, and so we worked some more to make some changes to the story development. I was also doing another film with Chiranjeevi in the lead at that time. I was acting as an Assistant Director to Kranthi Kumar for the film Agni Gundam at the same time, and both the films were shot simultaneously, thus keeping me in story discussions at both places. Maharshi Raghava was an associate for Kranthi Kumar gaaru, while Tharani Rao was an associate for Devanthakudu. Silk Smitha was also working for both movies. ...She had a good sense of make-up and dressing for the song.

Initially, we considered taking Rao Gopal Rao gaaru for the role of Dharmaraj. There was a night shot in the film where Dharmaraj would be drenched in petrol and set  to fire as he runs. It was November and it was quite cold, and we were not sure if Rao Gopal Rao gaaru should be made to take such a trouble. We thus chose Gokina Ramarao for that role, and he took some rum raw, drenched himself with ice cold water on his head, and did that shot through half the night without a complaint about coldness! Such was his dedication!

Article by Sri Atluri
Edited by: NaChaKi