Vijay Deverakonda’s recent hit film Taxiwala is a study in how producer Srinivas, popularly known as SKN, managed to succeed with a mostly new cast and crew. Srinivas who was an ordinary fan of Chiranjeevi, then manager to Allu Arjun, has become a successful producer of a hit film.
“I was born and brought up in Eluru and completed my degree there. I didn’t know any film celebrity then. Around 2001, I became a big fan of Chiranjeevi and used to gather all information about him and his films on the internet,” says Srinivas.
“I created a fan page of Chiranjeevi too. I believe it was for the first time that a page was created for a star on internet. After seeing it many of his fans called me, and the word spread,” he recalls. Kumar, an NRI from US, who was a big fan of Chiranjeevi, gifted Srinivas a desktop computer to work from home, and also gave him the email of Allu Arjun’s brother Sirish, Srinivas reveals.
He next moved to putting reviews early in the morning. “At that time in Eluru, films of big stars started screening shows at 3 am,” he says.
He started communicating with Sirish and became friends with him. “I met Bunny (Allu Arjun) at the 100-day function of Indra for which he asked me to come to Hyderabad,” says Srinu.
Next he shifted to Hyderabad and joined a Telugu channel as film reporter. His stint as producer began with Ee Rojullo, a small budget film with director Maruthi. “It was a small film and did well at the box-office,” he says.
He went on to become co-producer for few more films like Bhale Bhale Mogadivoy and Mahanubhavudu both directed by Maruthi. “I wanted to be a solo producer when director Rahul Sankrityan came with the story Taxiwala,” he says.
“I approached Vijay Deverakonda before his film Pelli Choopulu released,” says SKN.
Recently Chiranjeevi congratulated the Taxiwala team for its success. “I met Chiranjeevi for the first time as producer of this film. I just want to prove that fans are not just roaming here and there and they too get inspired by their stars. I started as his fan and I met him as a producer,” SKN beams.
