Director K.V.Reddy was a high B.P.Patient. That was why Vijaya Productions head Nagireddy used to be hesitant to talk about the film when it was in production stage.
Mayabazaar filming was completed then but the re-recording was due. Only the “Roughly Edited” copy was ready. K.V.Reddy asked Nagireddy to watch this copy and tell his opinion on the film. Nagireddy accordingly watched the Mayabazaar film without re-recording by projecting it onto the screen. Another relative of Nagireddy also watched the film along with him. His relative started comparing this Mayabazaar with the older version which was released in 1936 and went on with his analysis. He went on analyzing, “In 1936 Mayabazaar, Ghatotkacha uproots two trees and eats countless laddus at once! What did this version’s Ghatotkacha achieve at all?” Nagireddy’s relative wasn’t a common man of course and he had two cinema theatres in Nellore then. He was also an exhibitor who knew the public pulse very well. Hearing such trite remark, Nagireddy was somewhat disappointed because he made the film with heavy budget. He was worried that if the same thing is discussed with his director K.V.Reddy, how the reaction would be and how high the director’s B.P would reach to! That was why the next day, Nagireddy met K.V.Reddy and after carefully enquiring about the latter’s health - he expressed his concern about the trees and laddus scene the film.
Though K.V.Reddy frowned while hearing this, he controlled himself and said, “That is not at all a problem brother! We will also get more number of trees for the shot. I am not at all troubled by it because I won’t be uprooting the trees isn’t it! Same with eating laddus! No problem at all! Let’s make our Ghatotkacha eat tons of laddus for the shot. Let us get hundreds of laddus prepared and explain the shot to cameraman Marcus Bartley. He will capture the trick work excellently”.
Nagireddy was heavily relieved with his director’s relaxed reaction. Though K.V.Reddy told these words in a proud fashion, the scenes where Ghatotkacha uproots the trees and consume hundreds of laddus have worked out greatly in the final film!
