Krishna’s Simhasanam – The ‘Baahubali Of The 80s’

One of the most talked about films in Superstar Krishna’s career is the epic folklore movie “Simhasanam”. When making epic movies was not a favourite choice of filmmakers in Telugu, the actor thought of making one such film but no producer or director has come forward. And then came to this stunning decision, that awarded him, rewarded him and troubled him as well.

Not just writing the story-screenplay and acting as the lead, but Krishna directed, edited and produced the movie “Simhasanam”, in both Telugu and Hindi, with Jayaprada, Radha as the female leads, Mandakini and Amjad Khan playing crucial character roles. While some other films of this hero are being made in just under ₹50 lakhs budget, he invested that money for a single set design. By choosing to go with the 70mm stereophonic sound for the film, Krishna completed Simhaasanam with a total budget of ₹3 crores. The film was released on March 21, 1986, in almost 157 theatres in Telugu states and became a runaway hit. No wonder Simhasanam is being called as the ‘Baahubali of 80s’.

Guess what, to avoid getting huge losses in case if the film fails to click, Krishna simultaneously shot the Hindi version, but with Superstar Jitendra (father of Ekta Kapoor) as the main lead. While the heroines and other character artists are the same, the change of hero in Hindi helped the Bollywood version become an epic blockbuster too. Such a risky experiment, but Krishna is the one who could dare it and do it, and this is his debut film as a director. He later directed many films and many of them were produced by his own Padmayala Studios, only to be ended up as blockbusters in theatres.

However, Krishna once told in an interview that becoming a director has hurt other big directors of the Telugu Industry and they have never given him good stories or worked with him later on.