Brahmanandam Instead of Anushka in Chiranjeevi’s Film.. Here’s the Real Story!

Megastar Chiranjeevi made his comeback to films with ‘Khaidi No. 150’ after spending several years away from cinema due to his political commitments. Directed by V.V. Vinayak, the film was a remake of Vijay’s Tamil hit ‘Kaththi’. However, several changes were reportedly made to the original story to suit Chiranjeevi’s image and style. At the actor’s suggestion, the remake was given more emphasis on comedy, songs and entertainment, while changes were also made to the romantic track and overall narration. The screenplay was further developed with inputs from writer Paruchuri Venkateswara Rao and others to suit Chiranjeevi’s strengths.

Initially, Kajal Aggarwal and Anushka Shetty were considered as the two female leads in ‘Khaidi No. 150’. However, Chiranjeevi later expressed his desire to have a comedy track featuring Brahmanandam, prompting the team to make further changes to the script. A character named ‘Dabbar Man’, who suspects Chiranjeevi’s character, was created specifically for Brahmanandam. As the story was revised, the track written for Anushka was eventually removed. Anushka was also busy with other projects at the time, while Kajal continued as the film’s sole female lead. The comedy scenes featuring Chiranjeevi, Brahmanandam and Ali became one of the film’s entertaining portions.