Dialogues:
Mani knows Rajasri as the Telugu dialogue-writer for his Tamil films when dubbed into Telugu. Rajasri had written for Mani's Tamil movies that were dubbed into Telugu. Thus, he went ahead and asked Rajasri to work for him for a straight Telugu film and Rajasri was glad to write for. Mani got every dialogue translated into Tamil and suggested changes as may be required. ...The film has less dialogues compared to the regular love story.

Lyrics:
All the lyrics were penned by Veturi gaaru. Mani got them translated into English to know the word to word meaning of the lyric. He was very much impressed with them, and Veturi gaaru became the permanent lyricist for all his films from then on.

Music:
From the beginning, Ilayaraja was our choice for the movie. Songs are big hit even before the film was released. Particularly, O priyaa, priyaa!... and jallanta kavvinta kaavaalilE... (Anand Miland copied O priyaa, priyaa!... in the Hindi film Dil) Not only the soundtrack, but also the background music was such a great hit. People just came to theatres for some of the scenes which were highlights of the movie also due to the BGM. The film music will always linger in audiences' hearts as long as the people love the music.

Camera:
Who can beat P.C. Sriram who made wonders in Gharshana! While discussing the film itself, Mani had plans as to how to use P.C. Sriram's skills for the film. He etched every scene as celluloid poetry. At a time when there was no DI, most of the scenes were captured naturally by Sriram. He used to be on location much before everyone else, even when we used to start the film shooting in the early dawn, from 4 a.m.! How he used the wide-angle lenses to capture the serenity of Ooty & soft lenses to present lead players like a dream will be a lesson for anyone interested in cinematography. In fact, a book can be written on how fog & mist will enhance a shot so beautifully, based entirely on this film alone!

Illayaraja

Songs Picturization

• jallanta kavvinta kaavaalilE... was shot in Ooty with 40 kids and 25 horses in January in Ooty! The old man who dances in the song is the dance master Sundaram (father of Raju Sundaram and Prabhudeva)! Two fire engines were used for this song. P.C. Sriram used 48 frames for this song. Though only two fire engines were used, the song came out so nice that no one can forget it.

• nandikonDa vaagullOna... was shot in Venus Studios in specially erected cemetery set that costed us about seven lakh rupees! The song was completed in seven days.

• jagaDa jagaDa jagaDam... was shot in Polavaram Race Course with 40 cars, daily from 6 p.m. to 2 a.m.

• Round trolley was used for the song Om nama@h, nayana Srutulaku.... It's a single shot song completed in just one take! It is a unique record that a song was completed in a single shot.

• O paapaa, laalii! was shot in the Ooty with the mist backdrop. The song was completed in five days. When the mist was not naturally present, ice was used to create the mist effect.

• aamani paaDavE haayigaa... was also shot in and around locations of Ooty.

• O priyaa, priyaa! was shot in Jaisalmer. Around 100 camels were used for this song and it was completed in one week.

Shooting and Post-production
Shooting was started on 12th October 1988 on Nagarjuna and Girija, as Suhasini clapped the first shot. She was in Ooty with Mani for ten days (newly-wedded bride) and then left to her own shooting for Mamathala Kovela at Hyderabad. The film's shoot was completed in sixty days. Most of the shooting was done in and around Ooty. Hero's house in Ooty is the hotel where Nagarjuna stayed, while the heroine's house is a guesthouse in Ooty. Hero's house in Madras was the Wasan House owned by S.S. Wasan of Gemini Films, which is now turned into an apartment complex. Shooting usually started early in the dawn, around 5 a.m. or so, and used to be wrapped up by about 11 a.m. Camera and crew used to be in the location one hour before the shooting started. They used to check if the necessary mist and fog is naturally present, failing which they used the ice which came from Madras, to create the necessary effects. (Remember the fog when Nagarjuna comes to Girija's house - when he opens the door, the fog follows him towards the Girija, and the scene where Girija comes to Nagarjuna's place, and the lead scene to Om nama@h... song - all these were done with ice!) 150 days function of Gharshana was held on the sets of Geethanjali, with Nagarjuna presenting shields to the artistes.

Girija's voice was dubbed by S.P. Sailaja and Dubbing Janaki dubbed for Radha Bai (grand mother of Geethanjali), apart from doing the role of Lakshmi-akka (of Nagarjuna). Girija's dresses were super hit at that time with the younger generation and were popular as Geethanjali dresses in the market, while Nagarjuna's hairstyle became popular with the guys. A helicopter was used for some aerial shots to capture the beauty of the Ooty. Remember the shot where Girija says " lEchipOdaamaa?" in the middle of the mountains? The location is called Flash Point, which is around 20 miles from Ooty. If you remember the last scene in the movie, there's a dialogue that goes " enni rOjulu bratukutaarO teliyadu kaanii bratikinannaaLLU santOshamgaa unTaaru." It was the idea of the President of Nagarjuna's Fan Association. He was not happy with a tragic climax, saying no one would be happy if their hero dies and the heroine also dies! "At least, say something like they lived happily until they die...", he added, and the last scene was changed accordingly.