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Ashajyothy, Sudheshna Reddy, Meer Abdulla, Vijayashanti, Gummuluri Sastry Gummuluri Sastry speaks... We invited the 'Sankaraabharanam' unit to the USA when I was the President for a Telugu Association in 1980. When I visited India in 1984, Sandilya suggested that we should do a star nite with the Anandabhairavi team as the movie was a great hit then. But, as the lead artistes like Malavika and Girish Karnad may not attract the people in the USA, I suggested that we could possibly announce the main show to be the musical nite by SPB instead of a star nite, since it was Manju Bhargavi's dance and SPB's songs that attracted people when we brought the Sankaraabharanam team. Thus, we brought them all to the USA, and organized shows in 22 locations in the country, and they were all successful! ...When the idea of making a film came up, Jandhyala gaaru suggested a star cast of Balakrishna, Suhasini, Velu, etc., but we wanted to shoot mostly in the USA and wanted to use NRI artists as much as possible, and we thus dropped that idea, as Jandhyala gaaru joked that even his "baavamaridi" would not watch a movie with such new faces! However, I insisted that I'd produce the movie in his direction only if he chooses local artistes, but I said I'd leave the choice of artistes to him. After mulling over for about a month, this story shaped up. Initially, my role had only one dialogue, but after seeing me in that shot on the very first day of shoot, an impressed Jandhyala gaaru developed my role so much that I became the main artiste in the film! Before acting in this film, I acted in about 15 films (Among them, his screen debut bhakta SiriyaaLa was dubbed into Telugu, and his straight Telugu film was deeksha. The rest were mostly Tamil.) So, I was not new to acting in films, in fact! However, I was only playing serious roles on the stage until this movie happened! ...We all acted well, but the total credit of the success of the movie should go to Jandhyala who handled it all well, and even penned the comedic dialogues! Meer Abdulla and Jandhayala Meer Abdulla speaks... Way back when I was still in the college, I wanted to make a good film. I came to the USA as a student, and I met Gummuluri Sastry gaaru who was already here. ...Eventually, when I met Jandhyala gaaru, it materialized! I was just married at that time, and we were roaming with the troupe as a part of our honeymoon! She got a dependent visa after the film was released. Though Suhasini was considered for the heroine initially, Vijayashanti bagged the female lead role in the film. I played the role of Babai to Sandhya, and Sudeshna Reddy played my wife. By the way, all these actors were professionals or housewives. Velu was supposed to do an important role in the film, but due visa problems, he was unable to attend the shooting in time, and thus he ended up doing a small role in the flashback. The film's title was suggested by SPB. Other people suggested titles like Andhra aavakaaya - America pizza, etc. but when SPB suggested the title paDamaTi sandhyaaraagam, everyone liked it instantly! Jandhyala presented SPB with $116 as a token of thanks. Initially, an upcoming artiste was finalized to do the hero role opposite Vijayashanti. But, at the last minute, he got an offer from Hollywood and he left to Los Angeles. Tom, who was just graduating with a Drama major then, was selected in the last minute. Born on January 19, 1969 in Baltimore, Maryland, he was only 17 years when he signed the film! He later went on to make his own name in the Hollywood, and is a hero even now in movies like Deep Blue Sea (which was also dubbed into Telugu as Mruthyu Sagaram). Famous drummer Sivamani did the role of an African American in the film. Again, it was SPB who suggested Sivamani for the role. Producer Meer Abdulla and Director Jandhyala