They say, "Director is the captain of the ship”. Well, once upon a time it used to be so. But, the definition of a director has changed over the years. Now, there are directors who write their scripts specifically keeping few stars in mind. They tweak scripts according to the star’s image and they might also delete few scenes if the star demands. Of course, we always have exceptions. Even today, there are a few dynamic directors. But dating few decades back, in the 60s and 70s, a director was indeed a captain, leading the whole team, getting things done right according to every detail on every page of the script. No questions were asked. And if anyone did, Well! Know it for yourselves. Here’s an interesting story about a director who replaced a heroine for a reason that might look microscopic to today’s generation of directors.

Those were the days when a director used to pick suitable actors according to his story. The days when actors were picked, but not directors. One such dynamic director was K. B. Tilak, well known for his strict working style and principles. In his very debut project Muddubidda, he didn’t compromise on his script, not even on a single dialogue. The then versatile actress Garikipati Varalakshmi was given a prominent role in the movie. K. B. Tilak completed a few major scenes with her and the pace was going well, until one day when Varalakshmi asked him to change a dialogue. This made K. B. Tilak tell her straight away that it could never happen. She insisted him to change the dialogue and K. B. Tilak simply refused. It led to an argument and K. B. Tilak did replace. Not the dialogue but Varalakshmi herself. That wasn’t a simple decision to make, but K. B. Tilak couldn’t accept any such tantrums on the sets. And that’s how a heroine got replaced and the dialogue still remained. Need a magnifying glass to look out for such gutsy directors today.