Working for Seetharamayya Gaari Manavaraalu

A bank employee by name Haragopal, who used to write stories under the pseudonym 'Manasa', came to me one day and narrated a story to me - it was a novel by name Navvinaa Kanneelle - and I liked the story too! He revealed that he was trying to get into films and that was the reason he got transferred to Madras so that he can try in films while working. After working for three years in Madras, he had to leave to Vijayawada again. He gave me the novel and asked me to make a film out of it if I get a chance ever! I narrated the story to a couple of friends but none of them showed any interest. I was once sitting with Kranthi Kumar and I narrated this story to him. He just listened to it without any comment, and he wanted to listen to the story the next day again - he liked it, apparently. V.M.C. Doraswamy Raju came to Kranthi Kumar one day and showed interest to make an eight-percent tax movie. (At that time, movies that release with less than 25 prints fall into the category of 8% tax, above which the tax would be 16%.) Kranthi narrated the same story to him, he liked it instantly, and Kranthi was asked to direct the movie for their banner. Kranthi agreed to do it only on the condition that the role of the grandfather should be done by Nageswara Rao gaaru only! Nageswara Rao gaaru used to fly to the USA in every May at that time. When we called him to discuss the project, he was about to leave to the USA in a couple of days, and we thus went to him the same day by flight, and I narrated the story to him. He agreed instantly, and ...the rest is history.

Photo Courtesy : Pulagam Chinnanarayana
Edited by: NaChaKi
Interview: Sri