Thread by @rajuvijai

Tholiprema, a timeless love story, which gave @PawanKalyan enormous following among youth, clocks 24 years since release 2day. A thread (1/31) at how Karunakaran met Pawan to narrate the story, some behind-the-scenes moments, Pawan’s generosity and more…
#24yearsforTholiprema

1) Karunakaran was an assistant director to Kathir on the BO smash Premadesam.

After its release, he wrote Tholiprema, and was on the lookout for a new guy to lead it.

One day at a paan shop in T Nagar, Chennai, he spotted the eyes of the power star on a magazine cover.

2)Pawan was next to his big brother megastar Chiranjeevi in the magazine cover picture.

Karunakaran was enamored by those eyes and immediately decided that he would be his hero.

#24yearsofTholiprema
#24yearsforTholiprema

3)From thereon, his struggles started to get that elusive appointment with PK.

He was prepared for the long journey ahead. 6-8 months passed.

Through a distributor, Nageswara Rao, who knew Pawan’s uncle, he finally got an appointment to narrate the story.

4)When he was asked in which language he would narrate it, he obviously replied, Tamil.

Rao and Pawan’s uncle were in for a shock. Karuna didn’t know any other language than Tamil at that point of time.

#24yearsofTholiprema
#24yearsforTholiprema

5)On top of it, his narration would’ve been difficult for a translator to grasp n convey it back effectively because he would emote every scene.

Karuna was a bundle of nerves. He came to Hyderabad in the morning and had an appointment in the evening.

6)He, however, got the much-needed boost after listening to the song Okade Okkadu Monagadu, Oore Mechchina Panivadu from Muthu.

Sung by the legendary SPB, it served as an inspiration that he can effectively narrate it to Pawan regardless of the language barrier.

7)But then, there was a twist in waiting ahead of the meeting.

As he was on his way to meet PK, his car had a puncture.

He got jittery because he exceeded the appointment time

#24yearsforTholiprema

8)Pawan was obviously unhappy with the delay but then the rendezvous happened one and half hours later.

Pawan removed his licensed gun from his back and placed it on the table as the narration was about to commence.

9)Karuna was once again nervous.

“I don’t know any other language except Tamil sir,” he declared.

Pawan, who speaks and understands Tamil, said ‘parledhu Tamil lone cheppandi’. Karuna was over the moon hearing it.

10)Later, he said, ‘Sir, story atu itu aithe, nannu kalcheyaru kadha? Pawan broke into laughter.

The first scene, which is a dream sequence introducing Balu, had the actor in splits.

#24yearsforTholiprema

11) 3 hrs later, the first sentence that came out of Pawan’s mouth was ‘eppudu shooting pettukundam?’ Karuna’s joy knew no bounds.

Pawan was also impressed with the storyboard that Karuna, an artist, has done. 3 months later, Pawan introduced producer GVG Raju to Karuna.

12)The producer fell in love with the story as well. He was the one who suggested the title Tholiprema for it. He had an office in Chennai where the dialogue version was written.

Pawan didn’t propose any changes to the script except for asking to include an action scene.

13)Keerthy Reddy had done a Tamil film, Devathai, by then. Impressed by her turn in that film, Karuna cast her in Tholiprema.

Her famous introduction scene in the film was shot by Chota K Naidu as original lensman Maheedhar fell sick.

14)Chota also shot the Kodaikanal and the temple episode where Anu sees Balu for the first time.

Pawan was not kept in the loop about the forehead kiss scene in the climax, as Karuna wanted to capture Balu’s natural reaction to it.

#24YearsForTholiprema

15)Karuna told Keerthy about it separately. Later, Pawan would laud, ‘Entha manchi scene rasav ra!’ It was shot at the airport set of Film City.

It was 1 of the 1st films to be shot there. 70 % of the film was shot at BHEL Township including songs like Emi Sodara n Ee Manase

16)Karuna was keen on every song to be in a different rhythm.

Most of the tunes were green-lit instantly while it took almost a day for Gagananiki Udayam Okate to be cracked.

17)It had a concept wherein Balu reminds Anu that they were Shah Jahan and Mumtaz in their previous births.

He can feel the past connection in this birth. Don’t you, seeing me? He asks Anu.

#24YearsForTholiprema

18)The Taj Mahal set was put up at Mahabalipuram beach.

It took almost 45 days for it to be built. Anand Sai, Pawan’s buddy, was the art director of the film.

19)After Ee Manase Se Se was recorded, Karuna was keen on Pawan hearing it, so he was on his way to BHEL to meet the actor.

He suddenly spotted Pawan’s vehicle at Kondapur crossroads and stopped it by waving his hand. Pawan heard the song in the car.

20)Pawan felt it was superb.

He enjoyed filming montages for the song, even telling Karuna he had done all those things with his sister.

During the final edit of the song at Ramanaidu Studios, he dropped by the edit suite at 12 am to check the video.

21)But then editor Marthand was still working on it. Pawan slept outside on a table when Karuna, at 2 am, came to him n said it’s ready.

After watching the song for the 1st time, Pawan asked Karuna to play it again. It was played 4 times before he hugged Karuna n kissed him.

22)The sequence where Pawan tells Anu his plans of visiting Bombay for a job was shot at Indira Park.

The shot of Balu asking his brother to deposit Rs 2,000 with his mom for his expenses was an improvisation from Karuna on location.

PK loved it, saying it was a superb idea.

23)The principal photography began in February, 1998 and it was ready to bow in July.

As he was working with a storyboard, Karuna managed to complete the film in a quick span of time.

All throughout the making, PK was confident that they were making a super hit.

24)On the release day, Karuna was at his village, Devakottai near Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu.

Back then, there were no mobile phones. The street next to his village had a phone. The house belonged to his school teacher.

25)He left the contact number with Pawan so that he can reach him on the release day to let him know about the public reception.

#24yearsofTholiprema
#24YearsForTholiprema

26)After the morning show, a small girl came running to Karuna’s home and said someone named Pawan Kalyan is reaching out for you and he will call you again in 30 minutes.

Karuna rushed to the phone. He was anxious.

27)It ranged after some time.
PK: Karuna?
Karuna: Annaya
PK: It’s a super hit.
Karuna remained quiet.
PK: Entra sound ledhu?
Karuna was weeping in joy.

After Pawan, producer and some of the other members of the unit reached out to Karuna and congratulated him.

28)Karuna returned to Hyderabad 14 days later and caught the show with some of the film’s distributors.

#24yearsofTholiprema
#24yearsforTholiprema

29)Pawan advised him to tread a cautious path with his next set of films before personally presenting him with a TV, music system and a good chunk of money.

He also asked him to shift his family to Chennai.

30)Not many know that some of the main scenes of the film were simultaneously shot in Tamil as well. Pawan dubbed for the Tamil version, Anandha Mazhai.

However, it didn’t get a parallel release. It opened 6-7 months after the Telugu version. In Madurai, it ran for 50 days.

31)There are a couple of special cameos in the film. One is that of spiritual guru Sriram sir who is seen sitting on a bench in Emi Sodara song. He is known to share very close bond with Pawan.

The other is that of Karuna, who played a delivery boy.