The film ‘Khaidi’ made Chiranjeevi a permanent prisoner in the hearts of the audience. Released on October 28, 1983, ‘Khaidi’ created a sensation. This movie which turned the career of Chiru around helped him to become a megastar in the history of Telugu cinema.
Chiranjeevi had hits and super hits before the movie ‘Khaidi’. Chiranjeevi, who has already entered the industry for five years, has acted in more than 50 films. And as a hero, there are successes like ‘Nyayam Kaavaali, Intlo Ramaiah Veedhilo Krishnayya, Subhalekha, Abhilasha’. But it was the movie ‘Khaidi’ that created a massive following for Chiranjeevi in the masses.
‘Khaidi’ was the story originally intended for superstar Krishna. Krishna could not do this movie produced by Samyukta Movies heads M. Thirupathi Reddy, Dhananjay Reddy and Sudhakar Reddy. Kodandarami Reddy, who has already done many films with Chiranjeevi, is the director of this film. Paruchuri Brothers made the story of ‘Khaidi’ inspired by Sylvester Stallone’s ‘First Blood’, which had achieved great success in Hollywood the previous year. Some scenes from the movie ‘First Blood’ Appears in ‘Khaidi’ with minor changes. The film’s protagonist’s appearance, the events in the forest in the second half are similar to ‘First Blood’.
In this movie, the roles of Chiranjeevi as Surya and Madhavi as Madhulatha are forever. Chakravarthy’s music played another key role in the success of ‘Khaidi’. The songs of ‘Raguluthundhi Mogalipodha,Idhemitabba adhi idhenu Abba, Gorinta poosindhi Goravanka koosindhi’ are still reverberating somewhere. Rao Gopala Rao as Veerabhadraiah, Sumalatha as Dr. Sujatha.. Ranganath, Chalapathi Rao, Nutan Prasad and Rallapally played roles that will be remembered forever.
In terms of remuneration, Chiranjeevi received one lakh twenty five thousand for this movie. Director Kodandarami Reddy and heroine Madhavi have collected forty thousand each. At that time, this movie collected Rs.8 crores. The film ‘Khaidi’ was later remade in Kannada and Hindi with the same name. While Vishnu Vardhan is the hero in Kannada, Jitendra acted as the hero in Hindi. It is special that Madhavi acted as the heroine in both these languages.
