The 2001 Sankranthi clash made national headlines. Telugu cinema was written about even by a national magazine. The reason? Chiranjeevi's 'Mruga Raju', Venkatesh's 'Devi Putrudu', and Balakrishna's 'Narasimha Naidu' clashed at the box office. All three movies were prestigious ones. They were also the costliest outings in the careers of the three heroes (or, at least, believed to be so by many).
Despite the strong hype over the Balakrishna-B Gopal-Mani Sharma combo, 'Narasimha Naidu' apparently secured just 14 screens in Hyderabad/Nizam.
"'Mruga Raju' and 'Devi Putrudu' dominated the scene, as they got to be released on the maximum number of screens. 'Narasimha Naidu' could get just 14 theatres in Nizam/Hyderabad in the first weekend. Eventually, as the tide turned, Balakrishna's movie got to dominate the scene," Dil Raju said in his latest interview.
Dil Raju made the remarks in the context of the clash between 'Waltair Veerayya', 'Veera Simha Reddy' and his own production, 'Varasudu', during the 2023 Sankranthi.
