SIMHASANAM 1986

Story, Screenplay, Editing, Producer & Direction: Krishna.
Nirvahana: G. Adi Seshagiri Rao-G. Hanumantha Rao.
Banner: Padmalaya Studios (P) Limited.
Action: Veeru Devgan.
Art: Bhaskara Raju.
Choreography: Srinivas.
Cinematography: VSR Swamy.
Dialogues: Tripuraneni Maharadhi.
Lyrics: Atreya-Veturi.
Music: Bappi Lahiri.

Cast:
Krishna,
Jayapradha,
Radha,
Mandakini,
Waheeda Rehman,
Gummadi Venkateswara Rao,
Satyanarayana,
TL Kantha Rao,
Amjad Khan,
Tyagaraju,
Giribabu and Others.

Story:
Krishna debuted in 1965 (Tene Manasulu), and within a span of 20 years acted in various genres of movies and established his production house/studio Padmalaya. In 1985, Krishna sought to get into direction, and along with co-producer G. Hanumantha Rao and writer Tripuraneni Maharadhi decided the genre-'Janapadam'. Inspired by real-life royalty like Rudrama Devi and Gona Ganna Reddy, the characters of Alaknanda Devi and Vikrama Singha were conceived, and the movie was aptly titled Simhasanam.

The kingdom of Dasharna's has a brave and able army chief by the name Vikrama Singha (Krishna). Princess Alaknanda Devi (Jayapradha) is in love with him. The chief minister contrives to dethrone the king and procure the throne for his son. But as long as Vikrama Singha is present, his plans cannot bear fruit. So he traps Vikrama Singha by getting false witnesses to testify that he has tried to kill the princess. Vikrama Singha is exiled.

Meanwhile, the neighbouring kingdom of Avanti has the crown prince Aditya Vardhana (Krishna) who looks exactly like Vikrama Singha. The Raj Guru of Avanti contrives to procure the throne for his son. Vikrama Singha finally foils the chief minister's plans to acquire the throne of Dasharna. At the same time he poses as Aditya Vardhana of Avanti and overcomes many hurdles to retain both the thrones of Avanti and Dasharna.

Krishna appears in a dual role, but that's not all. He directed the movie in both Telugu and Hindi. In Hindi, Jeetendra (The star of remakes) was the lead, and the movie titled Singhasan. Kader Khan wrote the script-dialogues in Hindi. Amjad Khan played a role in both the versions, marking his debut in Telugu. His character was dubbed by Nutan Prasad. Music by Bappi Lahiri proved to be a highlight, and also marked Bappi Da's entry into Telugu movies.

A brigade of beauties was cast including Jayapradha, Radha, Mandakini and Waheeda Rehman (whose dubbing was provided by Sowcar Janaki). VSR Swamy was the director of photography, an old favorite with Krishna. The special effects were taken care of by Ravikanth Nagaich. Director Teja was assisting him at that time. Son Mahesh's movies with Gunasekhar has one elaborate set always, but Krishna started it way back then with Simhasanam.

There were many other firsts for Krishna's directorial debut. From the beginning, it was planned on a large scale, with a budget exceeding 4 crores. The thing to be noted here is that both the Telugu and Hindi versions were started and released at once! Simhasanam was the first 70mm movie of South India.

It was the first Telugu movies to have 85 prints and was released on March 21, 1986 in 153 theatres all over South India. It ran for 100 days in a total of 6 centres (Vizag-Chitralaya 70mm, Vijayawada-Raj 70mm, Hyderabad-Devi 70mm, Kakinada-Devi 70mm, Rajahmundry-Swamy, Guntur-Manga Deluxe 70mm). In hindsight, Simhasanam is a landmark movie in Krishna's career.