Mahesh Babu and Trivikram‘s film “Khaleja” remains a fan favorite. 7th October marks 14 years since its release. Let’s take a look at some interesting facts about the movie “Khaleja”
1. After their hit movie “Athadu”, Mahesh Babu and Trivikram announced another film titled “Hare Rama Hare Krishna”, produced by M. S. Raju, who had also produced “Okkadu”. Pre-production for this film went on for years, and Devi Sri Prasad was initially chosen as the music director. However, he was too busy, so they had to drop the project.
2. Trivikram and MS Raju realized that the film’s budget would reach 80 crores, which was too high at that time. They decided to put the project aside. Later, due to MS Raju’s back-to-back film failures, “Hare Rama Hare Krishna” was completely shelved.
3. After Mahesh Babu’s “Pokiri” became a blockbuster, his market value increased to 70 crores. Instead of reviving “Hare Rama Hare Krishna”, Trivikram and Mahesh planned to make a low-budget film.
4. Producer Singanamala Ramesh Babu gave advances to Mahesh Babu and Trivikram for the project. Later, producer C. Kalyan also joined, and this led to the journey of “Khaleja”.
5. Devi Sri Prasad, who was initially onboard, had to leave due to other commitments, and Mani Sharma replaced him as the music director.
6. Parvati Melton was initially cast as the heroine, and some scenes were shot with her. However, she dropped out, and Anushka Shetty took over the role.
7. 60% of the film was shot in Rajasthan which was challenging for the team. The working title was initially “Daivam manusha rupena”, but to suit Mahesh Babu’s star image, it was changed to “Khaleja”.
8. There was a lot of debate over the title, as it had already been registered for another film. As a result, the movie was officially titled “Mahesh Khaleja”.
9. The movie was finally released on October 7th 2010. After a three-year gap, Mahesh Babu’s fans were excited to see him back on screen. However, the film received negative feedback right from the first show. Fans were confused about the connection between the title and the story, leading to criticism of the film’s concept about God.
10. Trivikram had to hold a press meet to explain the story of “Khaleja”, admitting that he had shown something different from what the fans expected. There’s a video of this explanation available on YouTube.
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