There is a scene near the end of Sri Ramadasu where Nagarjuna, gaunt and broken after years in a Golconda prison, sings to Lord Rama in despair. It is the kind of moment that separates actors who perform from those who transform. For Nagarjuna, it was the second time he had pulled off exactly that, having done the same a decade earlier as Annamacharya. Released on March 30, 2006, Sri Ramadasu remains one of the most ambitious devotional films Telugu cinema has produced, and twenty years on, it still holds up.

Sri Ramadasu is based on the life of Kancherla Gopanna, a 17th-century composer, poet and devotee of Lord Rama who served as a Tahasildar under the Qutb Shahi sultanate. Gopanna is believed to have used government tax money to build the famous Bhadrachalam temple dedicated to Rama, which led to his imprisonment for twelve years by the emperor Tanisha. According to legend, Lord Rama and Lakshmana themselves appeared before the emperor and repaid the gold coins to secure Gopanna’s release, an event still celebrated as a festival at the Bhadrachalam temple every year. The saint was given the title Ramadasu, meaning servant of Rama, and his keertanas remain a cornerstone of Carnatic devotional music to this day.

Director K. Raghavendra Rao, already known for his mythological and devotional films, helmed Sri Ramadasu with J.K. Bharavi writing the screenplay. The film was produced by Konda Krishnam Raju under the Aditya Movies banner. Interestingly, this was not the first time Ramadasu’s life had been adapted for the screen. Veteran actor V. Nagayya had made a film titled Bhakta Ramadasu all the way back in 1964, making the 2006 version a spiritual reimagining rather than a purely original telling.

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For Nagarjuna, the role was deeply personal territory. He had already earned widespread praise and a Special Mention at the National Film Awards for playing the 15th-century composer Annamacharya in 1997. Sri Ramadasu was his return to that world, and by most accounts, a worthy one. Critics were unanimous in their praise of his performance, particularly in the prison sequences. One reviewer noted that nobody truly knows what Ramadasu looked like in real life, and because of Nagarjuna’s portrayal, the actor’s face had simply become the default image most people conjure. He went on to win the Nandi Award for Best Actor for the role.

The film brought together a remarkable ensemble. Akkineni Nageswara Rao, Nagarjuna’s father and one of Telugu cinema’s greatest legends, played the role of Kabir Das, portrayed as a spiritual guru to Ramadasu in the film. Having father and son share screen space in a devotional film of this scale gave it a generational weight that few productions manage. Sneha played Kamala, Ramadasu’s wife, while Nassar portrayed Tanisha, the emperor whose misplaced suspicion lands Gopanna in prison. Sujatha played Dammakka, the woman whose devotion first awakens Gopanna’s faith in Rama. The film also featured a then-young Teja Sajja, credited as Master Teja, in a minor role, a fun detail that Telugu film enthusiasts often revisit given how prominent he has become in the industry since.

The music by M.M. Keeravani was one of the most talked-about aspects of the film. The album contained 19 songs, and critics described Keeravani as delivering more than what was asked of him, drawing comparisons to his work on Annamayya. Songs like “Ikshvakula Thilaka,” “Ye Theeruga” and “Dasarathi” became staples of devotional playlists and remain widely heard even today.

Two decades ago, Sri Ramadasu became more than a film—it turned into a timeless emotion of faith and devotion. Even after 20 years, its music, story, and spirit continue to touch hearts and inspire. 🕉️#20YearsOfSriRamadasu#ANRLivesOn@iamnagarjuna @raghavendraraok… pic.twitter.com/4wCGrKkTzP

— Annapurna Studios (@AnnapurnaStdios) March 30, 2026

On the technical side, Sri Ramadasu made history in a significant way. A blown-up print of the film was screened on an IMAX screen in Hyderabad, making it the first Telugu film ever to be shown on IMAX. That alone places it in the record books, separate from its critical reception.

Looking back, Sri Ramadasu sits in an interesting space in Telugu cinema history. It arrived at a time when large-scale devotional biopics were not exactly box-office certainties, yet it succeeded on both artistic and commercial terms. For Nagarjuna, it reinforced something few mainstream actors manage: that he could carry a film built entirely on spiritual weight, with no action sequences or romantic subplots as a crutch, and still hold an audience for nearly three hours. Twenty years later, the film’s legacy is secure, and the Bhadrachalam temple it brought back into popular consciousness remains one of the most visited pilgrimage sites in Andhra Pradesh.

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