CHIRANJEEVI - The Money Machine

Today with a lot of excitement and eagerness the Indian cinema industry is waiting for

Bahubali 2! The trade pundits are predicting it will even gross INR 1000 crore easily! Bahubali

has taken Telugu cinema to a global level and broke the image of Indian cinema

restricted to certain industries (mainly Bollywood). Today Telugu cinema is enjoying the

global presence in pan Indian markets and overseas and is been proving that the stars

and directors are no lesser than other stars and directors in counter industries!

During the beginning of the ’90s, Telugu and Tamil industries were making news for films

doing roaring business above Bollywood films with the limited market and restricted

regional audience! Stars like Rajinikanth and Chiranjeevi were ruling the box office with

their stardom! Coming to the Telugu industry, exactly 25 years back, an unforgettable history

was witnessed setting the path for glorious days to come in the Telugu industry.

The release of Gharana Mogudu was the first peak moment in Telugu cinema which

showed what all wonders a regional film can do and make a huge sound all over Indian

cinema.

                                                           

                                                                

There's nothing wrong to say Chiranjeevi was the face of Telugu cinema during the

period of 90-92 literally (or till he left to politics also)! Barring the flop of Stuartpuram

Police Station and Raja Vikramarka, Chiranjeevi films were rewriting box office records

with each release! From 1987-1992, Chiranjeevi was on a roll delivering Industry Hit

continuously every year and with Gharana Mogudu he reached the peak phase of his

career! This was the phase Chiranjeevi saw his stardom touch Everest!

Director K. Raghavendra Rao was another key man behind this mighty success. Gharana

Mogudu was Raghavendra Rao’s 75th film. On one side Chiranjeevi was smashing

records with Kondaveeti Donga, Kodama Simham & Gang Leader with other directors, and on another

side, Raghavendra Rao was on a hit spree with films like Alludugaru and

Coolie No 1 with Mohan Babu and Venkatesh. Meanwhile Raghavendra Rao-Chiranjeevi

teamed up in between for Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari & Rowdy Alludu resulting

in the films becoming big blockbusters before teaming up again for Gharana Mogudu.

Chiranjeevi and Raghavendra Rao began their careers in the ’70s and reached the pinnacle

success together with Gharana Mogudu in 1992!

In 1986, Kannada legendary hero Rajkumar scored a big hit Anuraga Aralithu! The

remake versions in Telugu and Tamil as Gharana Mogudu and Mannan with Rajinikanth

in P Vasu direction began simultaneously around Oct 1991 in Chennai! Mannan was released

first in Jan 1992 and Gharana Mogudu was a summer release in Apr 1992! The Hindi

version Laadla starring Anil Kapoor, Sridevi, and Raveena Tandon was released in 1994.

Chiranjeevi by this time was already at all-time peak phase and Gharana Mogudu was

having a lot of expectations from this red hot combination of Chiranjeevi-Raghavendra

Rao. Chiranjeevi-Raghavendra Rao scored a hat trick success by churning out huge

blockbusters like never before- Jagadeka Veerudu Athiloka Sundari, Rowdy Allludu and

Gharana Mogudu.

Gharana Mogudu and Mannan had different screenplay patterns suiting the audience of

both language people and keeping in mind the image Chiranjeevi and Rajinikanth have in

respective states! Nagma and Vani Vishwanath were the heroines of the film where both

got their first big commercial victory in Telugu through this film! With Rajinikanth doing

the Tamil version, Chiranjeevi worked out very hard to come up with different styles,

mannerisms, and trendy dialogues to attract the masses! Raghavendra Rao balanced all

the commercial ingredients having his style of filmmaking mark and satisfying hardcore

Chiranjeevi fans. Dialogues by the Parchuri brothers were another unforgettable attraction

for the film’s repeat value! Despite the story demanding female antagonists to dominate

the male protagonist, their dialogues saw that the heroism never dip anywhere and all

the crucial scenes had Chiranjeevi and Nagma characters going against each other in

full vengeance! Nagma gave a strong performance against Chiranjeevi surprising the

audience as an arrogant woman who never accepts defeat! This taming of the shrew

concepts in the South films reached a high where none of the films couldn't achieve the

success Gharana Mogudu did at the box office! The crucial episode in the film was Nagma slapping 

Chiranjeevi! A heroine slapping a hero with superstardom is a very difficult thing to accept for fans (in 

the south mostly) and as expected Chiranjeevi fans took this to heart and poured out their anger at 

Chiranjeevi writing letters asking him not to accept this kind of scene again in any film! Chiranjeevi

had to explain to the fans carefully the slap was to the character “Raju” not to “Chiranjeevi”

Raghavendra Rao who is always a great master in showing his heroines very beautifully

on the screen, here too weaved his magic in showing Nagma and Vani Vishwanath very

glamorous in the songs giving them a big name and fame for their career!

Music and background music by MM Keeravani was a huge USP for the film. MM

Keeravani who had just started out as an independent music director in 1990, had just

given Telugu audience delightful music through Seetharamaiah Gari Manavaralu and

Kshana Kshanam in 1991. Gharana Mogudu was his first big commercial film! After

music director Chakravarthy, Raghavendra Rao had a long-standing association with

MM Keeravani worked for 20 films beginning with Gharana Mogudu. Scoring music for

a Chiranjeevi film and Raghavendra Rao film is not so easy as both have separate

audiences and to satisfy both sets of audiences is a herculean task but Keeravani gave

a fabulous album of six chartbuster songs which is remembered till date! Keeravani

background music in crucial scenes lifted Chiranjeevi's heroism altogether to different

levels and had the fans in raptures. Keeravani finished the background music in just four

days!

                                                      

The choreography was another sensation in the film. Chiranjeevi who had already made a

big name for himself for his unbeatable dancing styles and graceful dancer ever seen

among heroes once again mesmerized the audience with his breathtaking dances in all

the songs! Prabhu Deva who had just started as an independent choreographer after

assisting his father Sundaram was creating waves in dance choreography and with a

hero like Chiranjeevi, Prabhu Deva was unstoppable! The song ‘Bangaru Kodipeta’, was a

rage during those days before any internet world and the song was played in many

foreign countries discos and pubs! The song was remixed and used for Chiranjeevi's son

Ram Charan’s film Magadheera (2009) was directed by SS Rajamouli who was an erstwhile

assistant of K. Raghavendra Rao. Prabhu Deva's choreography to the song was an instant

favorite for the mass audience to go raptures! Other choreographers Tara and Suchitra

too have done a fabulous job in other songs. Suchitra choreography in the song 'Hey

Pilla Hello Pilla’ must be observed how difficult steps were there with the lead pair dancing

in too many ground levels but still, Chiranjeevi and Vani Vishwanath pulled it off!

Rajinikanth after seeing Gharana Mogudu was so impressed with the way the Telugu

version turned and complimented this is how heroism should be maintained in the

film! Chiranjeevi's introduction fight scene was later used in Rajinikanth-P. Vasu’s

Uzhaippali (1993).

In the Kannada, Tamil, and Telugu version the negative female was named Asha DEVI

(Madhavi), Shanthi Devi (Vijayashanthi) and Uma DEVI (Nagma)! Adding Devi to the

name was an add-on to the character to project the female character very powerfully

and equally to the hero.

Right from day one of the release day, Gharana Mogudu was unstoppable at the box

office. The film was such a blockbuster where the national press turned to Telugu cinema to

decode what is this magic of Chiranjeevi! Chiranjeevi became India's highest-paid actor

at that time with a remuneration of Rs 1.25 crore per film! The Week magazine had an

exclusive cover-up on Chiranjeevi for the sensation he was creating in Telugu cinema

and the buzz he generated all over India! Gharana Mogudu broke all existing records in

Telugu cinema at that time and took Telugu cinema stamina to new levels! Gharana

Mogudu was the first film to collect a share of 10 core!

Outside Andhra Pradesh, Gharana Mogudu being a remake of a Kannada film, was a

smash hit of never before ever range all over Karnataka! In a place like Hubli where

Telugu films run or release those days, Gharana Mogudu completed 175 days, and in

Bangalore easily completed 100 days!

Gharana Mogudu had a good release in Tamil Nadu as well despite Mannan running

successfully! Gharana Mogudu created a unique record in Hosur center! Gharana

Mogudu factory scenes were shot in Hosur and the film ran in Hosur for nearly 80 days

a record broken in 2005 by Chandramukhi! Before Gharana Mogudu, Mani Ratnam's Geetanjali was

 dubbed in Malayalam. With no big names known to the Kerala audience, Gharana Mogudu was

 dubbed as Hey Hero in Malayalam and ran surprisingly 175 days! A feat no other dubbed film could 

achieve in Kerala to date!

Till now there are only two successful functions ever remembered in Telugu cinema:

Gharana Mogudu 100 days function and Indra 175 days function. Gharana Mogudu 100

days function was held in Guntur Brahamananda Reddy Stadium with fans thronging the

function beating the rains and Chiranjeevi burst out in emotions seeing his fans in full

force throughout the stadium! Chiranjeevi's statement saying as long as fans' support and

love are there, he'll never care for anything and continue to do all the risky stunts and all

the dances to entertain them! Seeing the crowd in the function, speculations, and buzz

on Chiranjeevi political entry began from this event!

Any star after delivering a massive hit like Gharana Mogudu will face difficulties in

meeting the ever-growing expectations. And Chiranjeevi's career underwent a low phase

with a row of not-so-successful movies post-Gharana Mogudu for 3 years. Chiranjeevi

went into hibernation and took a break from films in 1996. Post Gharana Mogudu,

Chiranjeevi-Raghavendra Rao did Mugguru Monagallu (1994), Iddaru Mitrulu (1999) and

Sri Manjunatha (2001) but none could come near to what they achieved with Gharana

Mogudu!

Today it's a coincidence that after 25 years now director K. Raghavendra Rao is the

presenter of SS Rajamouli’s Bahubali and MM Keeravani is the music director!