Hyderabad: No doubt, Nandamuri Balakrishna has a huge fan following in Rayalaseema since his film ‘Legend’ ran for over 1000 days in a single theater without a break. “Balakrishna’s action adventure holds the enviable record of running over 1000 days in Archana theatre in Proddatur in Rayalaseema and setting a unique record in the annals of Telugu cinema which is very difficult to beat,” says Prasanna Kumar. The blockbuster film featured Balakrishna in dual roles with Nayantara and Radhika Apte playing the female lead and it was directed by Boyapati Srinu. It was released in November 2020 and it rocked the box office all over the world.
Undoubtedly, Balakrishna has a huge fan following in Rayalaseema region which is called Ceded region in industry parlance and he has ruled the roost for many decades. “His blockbuster film ‘Akhanda’’s collections were ahead of Allu Arjun’s ‘Pushpa The Rise’ in the Ceded region,” he adds. He claims that Balakrishna’s ‘Akhanda’ wherein he played a fiery Aghori rewrote many box office records and set new ones with over Rs 80 crore collections. “After lockdown, ‘Akhanda’ brought the audience back to theatres and set cash registers ringing and revived the hopes of theatre owners. From ‘Samarsimha Reddy’ to ‘Narasimha Naidu’ to ‘Veera Simha Reddy’, Balakrishna enthralled his fans. “Even his recent film ‘Bhagvanath Kesari’ has a silver jubilee run in the region and he also boasts of many silver jubilee and golden jubilee hits in his illustrious career,” he points out.
Earlier, Bollywood film 'Dilwale Dulhania Lejayenge' ran for over 1000 weeks in a theatre, while superstar Rajinikanth's film 'Chandramukhi' ran for over 891 days in the south. Nonetheless, Balakrishna is ahead of Rajinikanth with a 1000-day run.
