Ramayana is one of the major mythological epics in Indian cultural history. Making this epic into a film with all the child actors is a herculean task. Director Gunashekhar took up this huge task and made the film Bala Ramayanam. This film marked the on-screen debut of Jr NTR. The film celebrates its 24 years release anniversary today. On this occasion, let us have a look into it.
Bala Ramayanam portrays the entire main plot of the epic featuring all the child actors. It has more than 3000 child artists. Most of them got selected from the schools in and around Hyderabad. The film featured Smitha Madhav as the female lead. Swathi Balineni, Narayanam Nikhil, Vasundhara S Rangan and Sunaina played the other important roles in the movie. MS Reddy had bankrolled the film under the banner Shabdalaya Theatres. Madhavapeddi Suresh composed the music of the film. L.Vaidyanathan has given the background score for it. Legendary editor A. Sreekar Prasad has edited the movie. Shekhar V Joseph handled the cinematography of it.
Bala Ramayanam was a major hit at the box office. It also won the National Award in the Best Children's Film category. After the release of this film, NTR took five years back and made his re-entry into films with the 2001 film Ninnu Choodalani. Bala Ramayanam is also the film that gave Gunashekhar a star director. After this film, he went on to make some memorable works like Choodalani Undi, Manoharam and Okkadu. Fans are celebrating the 24th release anniversary of this film by trending #24yearsForBalaRamayanam.
