Why Pawan Kalyan's Kannappa Film Never Happened? Tanikella Bharani Reveals

An old interview by Tanikella Bharani has resurfaced, revealing that Pawan Kalyan was once eager to play Lord Shiva's devotee Kannappa. The filmmaker also explained why the ambitious project was eventually shelved.

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Pawan Kalyan

Power Star Pawan Kalyan has done it all—romance, family dramas, and full-on action flicks. His only film with a devotional angle was 'Gopala Gopala', where he played Lord Krishna. But he never did a full-fledged devotional movie, even though he got a massive opportunity to play the ultimate Shiva devotee, Kannappa.

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Tanikella Bharani's Comments

So, why didn't the 'Kannappa' movie with Pawan happen? Veteran actor Tanikella Bharani shared the whole story in an interview. He said it all started with an interesting incident on the sets of the movie 'Balu'. Pawan was in his caravan, and Bharani wanted to have a word with him. He sent a message through Pawan's assistant, who then informed the star.

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Nalona Sivudu Galadu

Pawan immediately called Bharani to his caravan. Bharani gave him a CD of 'Nalona Sivudu Galadu', a devotional album he had written, and asked him to listen. The next day, Pawan called him over, stood up, and gave him a big hug. He told Bharani, 'I'm not a very religious person, but your CD sparked a strange sense of devotion in me.'

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Pawan had no sleep

Pawan told Bharani, 'I couldn't sleep all night. I felt a new kind of disturbance and went into a trance. I almost didn't come to the shoot today, but I came thinking it would cause trouble for everyone.' He then expressed his wish to play a devotee of Lord Shiva. A while later, Bharani decided to make 'Kannappa' and offered the lead role to Pawan.

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Pawan wanted to act as Kannappa

Pawan was very interested in the role. However, he told Bharani, 'I'm going through a rough patch with flops right now. This film needs a huge budget. Let's do it after some time.' Bharani agreed it wasn't urgent. But then, Pawan got busy with other films, and Bharani also moved on. As Bharani recalls, Manchu Vishnu eventually took up the project.