Pedarayudu is one of the landmark films in the history of Telugu cinema. The film released on June 15, 1995, and has now completed 20 years. “My best friend Rajinikanth asked me to see the Tamil film Nattamai and I liked it. Then Rajanikanth told me that he would tell the producer to give me the rights, but asked me to deal with the producer about the money,” remembers Mohan Babu.
“Rajinikanth wanted me to make the film in Telugu and also told me that he wanted to play the character Paparayudu and he even showed me his look also before the shooting started,” says Mohan Babu. “I told him it’s a small character, but Rajinikanth agreed,” says Mohan Babu. Though the superstar played a cameo, it still became a sensation. Mohan Babu remembers that it shows their friendship between them.
For the film opening Mohan Babu invited many bigwigs at that time that included the late NTR and Akkineni Nageswara Rao. Dasari Narayan Rao, K. Raghavendra Rao and T. Subbarami Reddy were also present. “The film became a huge hit and ran 50 weeks in Karnataka. In every release centre the film ran 25 weeks and became a landmark film,” says Mohan Babu.
Ravi Raja Pinisetty was the director and Mohan Babu gave a chance to music director Koti with the film. “If you take any songs of this film it gives something new even for today’s generation,” he says.
When asked about Rajinikanth’s remuneration he says, “We are good friends and he never asked for me anything. But I gave him something special at that time.”
