Thene Manasulu (1965 film)

In the mid-1960s, director Adurthi Subba Rao wanted to make a film with newcomers as the stars. It was decided to adapt K. R. K. Mohan's novel Vakrinchina Sarala Rekhalu with the title Thene Manasulu.[3] The film was produced by C. Sundaram under Babu Movies,[2] Mullapudi Venkata Ramana was hired as the screenwriter and K. Viswanath as associate director.[3] Viswanath also worked as the dialogue writer alongside Aatreya. Cinematography was handled by P. S. Selvaraj, and editing by T. Krishna.[2]

Babu Movies released an advertisement saying the film required newcomers in the lead, and thousands of aspiring actors auditioned.[2][3] Hema Malini and J. Jayalalithaa, not yet the stars of Bollywood and Tamil cinema they would later become, were among those who auditioned, but both were rejected. Krishnam Raju too was an unsuccessful contender.[2] The leading roles finally went to Krishna, Rammohan, Sandhya Rani and Sukanya. This was Krishna's first film in a major role, after he appeared as an extra in the 1962 releases Padandi Munduku and Kula Gotralu.[2]

Principal photography began at Saradhi Studios. The film was initially planned to be in black and white, but after seven to eight reels were shot, Adurthi decided to reshoot the entire film in Eastmancolor.[2] Thene Manasulu thus became the first Telugu social film to be shot completely in colour.[lower-alpha 1] A few scenes required Krishna to ride a scooter, so actor Raavi Kondala Rao, at Adurthi’s request, taught Krishna to drive the scooter in the streets leading from Saradhi Studios to Sanathnagar. It took four days for Krishna to learn scooter driving.[2]