Murari (2001) was one of Mahesh Babu's early blockbusters. Director Krishna Vamsi's story was deemed to be novel at that time.
The theme of generational curse was something Krishna Vamsi borrowed from the lives of real-life politicians. The first set of politicians belong to the Nehru-Gandhi family. Indira Gandhi, Sanjay Gandhi and Rajiv died untimely deaths. Two of them were assassinations. Krishna Vamsi had this in his mind. The director happened to travel across the Godavari districts. An acquaintance told him about the dual deaths in the family of a former Member of Parliament. It was believed by many that the politician's sons died untimely deaths because an ousted servant maid in their household had cursed the family. Krishna Vamsi turned this into a generational curse story for Murari.
Murari's aesthetics were inspired by the Lord Krishna-Brindavanam stories. "When I met Mahesh for the first time, he looked like a version of Krishna. I wanted to make a colourful, vibrant movie with him," Krishna Vamsi once said.
This kind of original thinking is absent in most star directors today!
