Nine years after its theatrical release, Akhanda franchise-fame writer-director Boyapati Srinu’s film Jaya Janaki Nayaka is making headlines once again. The Telugu film’s Hindi-dubbed version, Khatarnaak, starring Bellamkonda Sreenivas and Rakul Preet Singh, has achieved a historic milestone by becoming the first film to amass 1 billion views on YouTube.
Speaking to HT City, Srinu expressed his gratitude, saying, “I just tried to make a good film and in nine years it became so big. For me, love is not about position; it’s about perfection and happiness for the rest of life. This is the heart of the film’s content.”
With a career spanning several notable films, Srinu has directed Simha (2012), Legend (2014), and Akhanda with Nandamuri Balakrishna, Dammu with Jr NTR, Sarrainodu (2016) with Allu Arjun, and Vinaya Vidheya Rama (2019) with Ram Charan.
He shared his perspective on the film’s journey, “I made a good film and I knew that. And, after all these years, it has become true from the public point of view! Yes, I was a little disappointed when the film did not work then, but it has become the most watched film ever. It’s because of the content.”
He added, “It gives support to my vision to believe in content and make films for people with conviction without fear of the result. Less people may have seen it in the theatre, but it reached a billion people.”
The director further noted, “I have made eleven films so far and out of them, nine-ten are in the hit and superhit category. Before this film, I had released Sarrainodu with Allu Arjun, which became a big commercial success. This film did not work in the theatre but has reached more people than my other films – that too across languages.”
Crediting the success to his recent pilgrimage to Tirupati Temple (Andhra Pradesh), Srinu described the news as “a divine blessing of Lord Venkateswara.”
On future plans, he said, “We are in the process of finalising a film and soon we will be making an announcement on the same. Yes, we will make Akhanda 3 too, but that will take some time. We shot Akhanda 2 in Uttar Pradesh during the Maha Kumbha in Prayagraj when crores of people were present. We intend to shoot in North India again.”
About the film
The 2016 Telugu-language romantic action drama featured Bellamkonda Sreenivas, Rakul Preet Singh, and Jagapathi Babu, with a soundtrack by Devi Sri Prasad (DSP). The film was dubbed in Hindi as Khoonkar and released on YouTube by Pen Movies, where it has become the highest-viewed movie with over 1 billion views.
