On March 21, 1986, a hurricane like never before struck Telugu Film Industry. It was Simhasanam movie starring Superstar Krishna who also made his debut as a director with it. Krishna who introduced many firsts to Telugu cinema like James Bond film Gudhachari 116, Cowboy film with Mosagallaku Mosagadu, Cinemascope movie Alluri Seetharamaraju, introduced 70MM, Stereophonic Six track stereophonic sound with Simhasanam. Theaters in the state of Andhra Pradesh were upgraded to screen the film during its release.
Acting in double role Krishna not only directed and produced the film but he also provided the story and screenplay of the film. He was also the editor. Simhasanam was shot simultaneously in Hindi as well with the title Singhasan. Popular Hindi actor Amjad Khan known for playing Gabbar Singh made his Telugu debut with the film. Another first was music by Bappi Lahari which is a sensation till today. Even now we can hear songs like ‘Aakasam lo oka thara’, ‘Wah wa nee yavvanam’ etc playing around us.
The film had a sensational run at the box office. It collected a record 1,51,65,291 Rs/- in its opening week creating an All-Time State Record. In Vizag Chitralaya, it completed 100 days with houseful collections. Simhasanam had continues house full run up to 53 days in Vijayawada’s biggest theater Raj in those days. In Hyderabad’s Devi theater it had 105 days run with four shows. It eventually went on to complete 50 days in 16 Centers and 100 plus days in 6 centers.
100 days of the film was celebrated in Chennai. It was flooded with crowds like never seen before. Krishna fans attended the function in nearly 400 buses making it the talk of the town back then.
On this occasion of completion of the 30 years of this epic monumental film, we salute the team of the film writer Maharathi, cinematographer VSR Swami, art director Bhaskar Raju, action choreographer Veeru Devgun, make up C Madhava Rao, cast that includes Jayaprada, Radha, Mandakini as heroines and Rahman, Gummadi, Giribabu, Kantharao and Satyanarayana in important roles. And lastly hats off to the Daring and Dashing man without whom this epic would not have been possible at all, Superstar Krishna.
