Ninne Pelladata

Then I decided to shelve the subject of violence and do a film that is sans violence (contrast to Gulabi) and it should have total entertainment and that subject must not be touched by Ram Gopal Varma.

I wanted to do the casting with unestablished and failed actors/technicians and wanted to show the world that I can do it!! At that time i have seen Hum Aapke hain Kaun (HAHK) and Dilwale Dulhania Lejayenge (DDLJ). Then I decided that I should go that way. Then I called Nag up from Vizag and told him that the original story line was shelved and I had a different subject in my mind. I came back to Hyd and went to 'Ramudochadu' shooting and narrated the story line of 'Ninne Pelladatha' for 3 minutes. After listening to the story line, Nag went to the shot without saying a word to me.

Then I developed that subject. Though DDLJ and HAHK kind of culture is not existing in telugu people, I had to convince the people about it. DDLJ and HAHK does not have any reality in it, as they were just idealized dreamy set ups. Though, I did not want the format of DDLJ and HAHK (as they were not native for us), I wanted to capture the soul of those films and make it adaptable to the telugu people. With in 15 days, the script was ready. Then I gave a final hearing to Nag and he liked it. Finally the project was happening. We started searching for heroine. I have inspected about 65 gals from Bombay and Madras and we were not convinced. Suddenly we realized that Taboo was the right gal for that role. I traced her and met her at the Vile Parle (w) ( apposite to the domestic airport, Bombay). We were standing on the road amidst heavy traffic and she asked to narrate the subject. I did it in a couple of minutes and she was impressed and asked me to finalize her for the project. Then I met her in Madras to narrate the whole script. She was on cloud 9. Then 'Ninne Pelladatha' happened. The rest is, as they say, history.

'Ninne Pelladatha' became a blockbuster. But I had no excessive joy for the success of that film, as I started detaching myself from my films fate at box office. There were so many reasons for the success of Ninne Pelladatha. Only Nag could do that role with perfection. No other heroine, sans Sridevi, could look as sensuous and serene as Taboo in a saree. For Gulabi and Ninne pelladatha, I was complimented that the dialogues were very realistic. I continued that trend of delivering natural dialogues for the rest of my movies^[2]