Sekhar Kammula, who recently had a big release with Dhanush-starrer Kuberaa, established a niche of his own in the Telugu industry in early 2000s, with films like Anand, Godavari, and Happy Days. During a recent interview, the filmmaker spoke about how many actors rejected Godavari because it was a female-centric movie, one of which was Siddharth.

During a recent interview, Sekhar Kammula mentioned how he had first approached Siddharth for Ram’s part in Godavari, which was later done by Sumanth. The filmmaker recalled, “After hearing Godavari script, he said that this is an author-backed role for Seetha (Kamalinee Mukherjee).  Siddharth was at the peak of his career then, and was also doing good work. When an actor is on a high, they will always aspire to reach a higher level.”  Sekhar Kammula further mentioned how he also considered Mahesh Babu for the film. “I tried meeting Mahesh Babu for Godavari as well, but couldn’t reach him,” he added.

Further reflecting on his experience with facing rejections in the industry, Sekhar Kammula said, “I never feel angry or resentful if anyone rejects my films. I can convince someone that I am making a great film, but I can’t compel them into believing that my film will bring them much more popularity or take them to next level to stardom.”

Godavari was Sekhar Kammula’s third directorial after Dollar Dreams and Anand. Produced by GVG Raju, Godavari emerged as a commercial hit as well as critics’ favourite. The film went on to win 5 Nandi Awards, including the honours for Best Second Feature and Best Director. Meanwhile, incidentally, Siddharth and Sekhar Kammula never happened to collaborate on a project even later in their career.

Siddharth too recently had a release with the Tamil film 3BHK.