Film producer Anil Sunkara talked about how Sarileru Neekevvaru’s unit was supposed to shoot at Pahalgam. However, the unit was informed that for security reasons no one was supposed to shoot on the Pahalgam–Srinagar road from 10 am to 5 pm (permission was available only from 5 am to 10 am). The film unit, according to Anil, had great difficulty in obtaining permissions for shooting at the border. “Central Home Minister Rajnath Singh helped us to get the clearances. But we applied for bulletproof security for Mahesh, and he could reach Pahalgam because he was escorted by the security. But the vans of our production crew were not allowed to go, so we couldn’t shoot from Day 1,” explains Anil, adding, however, that they soon got used to the dynamic situation.
Anil also reveals that after shooting at Pahalgam, the unit later shot near Srinagar for a few days before wrapping up the schedule. Incidentally, it was a day after the unit landed in Hyderabad that the announcement of abrogating Article 370 was made.
“We had been wondering and cursing the security personnel throughout the shooting because of the restrictions we had during our shooting. But we realised the reason for those only after we heard about the announcement of Article 370. Honestly, we all breathed a huge sigh of relief,” says Anil.
