After watching ANR in the film Balaraju, a girl from Vijayawada instantly became his huge fan. The girl who used to perform in various stage shows caught the attention of the producers of the film Samsaram. They offered her the lead role of Kamala opposite none other than her favorite hero ANR! Knowing this, she jumped out of joy and considered herself the luckiest girl.

On the first day of shoot, director L. V. Prasad called the girl and explained the scene to her, “You are a rich girl in this film. You are educated, intelligent and arrogant. Your characterization should speak volumes of attitude. ANR is a typical village guy whom you should tease and make fun of.” Saying so, the director resumed to his chair and said “Action”!

Instead of mocking ANR, the girl got shocked and stunned. She couldn’t utter a word seeing ANR. As a result, Day 1 of the shoot had gone waste. A series of cuts and actions took place not just that one day, but for 15 days. As Day 15 was not so different from Day 1, the director decided to replace the Vijayawada girl and that was how Pushpavalli came into the picture. The producers of the film, in order not to disappoint the girl, gave her a small role of heroine’s friend in a gang of few more with just one dialogue. The girl finally gathered courage and said a simple one line dialogue to her hero ANR, “Abbo! Achu hero ANR la unnade! Aa phozu chudu.” (Look at his style, looks like hero ANR).

This girl who lost her first chance of acting with her favorite hero ANR, is the one who we see as an eternal beauty of Telugu Cinema. She’s none other than Mahanati Savithri who ruled Tollywood for decades.