Krishna (actor) - Breakthrough:1966 To 1977

Breakthrough:1966 To 1977

Krishna was also selected to play the lead role in Sunderlal Nehta and Doondee's Gudachaari 116 during this time. Kannemanasulu failed at the box-office but Gudachaari 116 did well and established Krishna in the industry. Several hits followed over the next few years. Though action films were his forte, Krishna also acted in films such as Marapurani Katha, Atthagaaru Kotthakodalu, and Undamma Bottu Pedathaa. He also worked with more established actors, such as N. T. Rama Rao and Akkineni Nageswara Rao, in films such as Sthree Janma, Niluvu Dopidi, Vichithra Kutumbam, Akka Chellellu and Manchi Kutumbam during this period. He chose not to demand more money for his work and most producers who made films with Krishna used him in their next projects, regardless of how their earlier films had fared.

It was around this time that Krishna established his own production house, Padmalaya Films. Through this he produced several high budget films, such as Mosagallaku Mosagadu, Pandanti Kapuram, Devudu Chesina Manushulu and Alluri Seetharama Raju. These followed a low profile maiden first effort, Agnipariksha. Huge casting was a standard feature in all these films and the production standards of these movies were far ahead of their times. Within a very short period, Padmalaya was recognized as a leading production house and its films were the biggest hits of the calendar years 1972, 1973 and 1974. With his friend Vijaya Nirmala, Krishna also set up another production house called VijayaKrishna movies. This produced some critically acclaimed films, including Meena and Devadasu.

Despite his involvement with high profile movies, Krishna continued working for producers with moderate budgets. With these tight budgets, the film-makers sometimes could not provide the padding that is often required for a film's commercial success and hence some of his films released in 1971, 1972 and 1973 were unsuccessful. Things became even more quiet in 1974 and 1975: except for Cheekati Velugulu, none of his films of this time made any impact at the box-office as people were reluctant to watch him in softer roles after his portrayal of Alluri Seethaa Rama Raju in the eponymous film. That film also strained his relationship with N. T. Rama Rao, who thought that Krishna should not be involved in it. Rao was also critical of Krishna's production of Devadasu, and that film did indeed fail at the box office when it was released in 1974.