Annamayya was a big financial and critical hit with K Raghavendra winning two National Awards.
Nagarjuna had already been cast as Annamacharya in the film.
One of Telugu cinema’s biggest stars Akkineni Nagarjuna has mostly been known for his larger-than-life characters in action roles but he has been in a completely different avatar in devotional films like Sri Ramadasu, Shirdi Sai and Annamayya. Incidentally, all these films were directed by K Raghavendra Rao, who brought out a new side of the mass actor in these films. While Nagarjuna played the famed and highly revered spiritual saint Sai Baba in Shirdi Sai, he played 15th-century composer Annamacharya in Annamaya and musician and Ram devotee Kanchana Gopanna in Sri Ramadasu. In both Annamacharya and Sri Ramadasu, Suman played the role of Lord Vishnu.
It was in 1997’s Annamayya that Suman and Nagarjuna were first cast as the Lord and his devotee. Nagarjuna had already been cast as Annamacharya in the film before the makers took a call on whom to cast as Lord Venkateswara, an avatar of Lord Vishnu. The movie had a scene where Nagarjuna’s character falls at the feet of the Lord. The makers realised that casting a junior actor in the role with a star like Nagarjuna falling at his feet could cause backlash and that the casting had to be done carefully.
The first actor approached for the role was the late senior actor Shobhan Babu. However, Shobhan Babu, who had retired from films by that time reportedly asked for a hefty remuneration of Rs 50 lakh. So, K Raghavendra Rao decided to cast Nandamuri Balakrishna but the producers were afraid of a clash between fans of Nagarjuna and Balakrishna as both were big stars in their rights.
Finally, the team zeroed in on Suman, who was senior to Nagarjuna. Suman had a screen test done in the costume of Lord Venkateswara and got the role.
Annamayya was a big financial and critical hit with K Raghavendra winning two National Awards, Nagarjuna winning the Special Jury award and MM Keeravani winning the award for best music.
