Premabhishekam

Premabhishekam (“Anointing of Love”) is a 1981 Telugu romantic drama written and directed by Dasari Narayana Rao and produced by Annapurna Studios. Akkineni Nageswara Rao stars with Sridevi and Jayasudha, alongside Murali Mohan and Mohan Babu, and Chakravarthy composed the music. Inspired by the 1964 Hollywood film Send Me No Flowers, it was released on 18 February 1981 and runs 147 minutes.

What the story is about

Rajesh, a playful young man, falls for the charming Devi. Their acquaintance starts with squabbles, and she takes him for a flirt and humiliates him, but in time she sees how sincere his love is and returns it. The families agree to the match, until Devi’s brother, Dr. Chakravarthy, learns something about Rajesh that makes him call off the wedding. Rajesh soon finds out the truth for himself, along with the fact that his best friend Prasad also loves Devi, and decides to make her stop loving him. The film follows the painful game he plays to push her away, and the woman, Jayanthi, he draws into it.

Cast and crew

• Akkineni Nageswara Rao as Rajesh
• Sridevi as Devi
• Jayasudha as Jayanthi
• Murali Mohan as Prasad
• Mohan Babu as Dr. Chakravarthy and Gummadi as Dr. Venkateswarulu
• Prabhakar Reddy, Padmanabham, Kavitha and Nirmalamma

Writer, lyricist and director: Dasari Narayana Rao. Producers: Venkat Akkineni and Nagarjuna (Annapurna Studios). Music: Chakravarthy. Cinematography: P. S. Selvaraj. Editing: B. Krishnam Raju.

Making the film

Dasari wrote the story, screenplay, dialogue and lyrics. Nageswara Rao’s sons Venkat and Nagarjuna produced it, and shooting began on 20 September 1980, Nageswara Rao’s birthday, according to a Telugucinema.com piece on its 25th anniversary. It was shot entirely in Hyderabad apart from the songs “Kottappa Kondu” and “Vandanam”, filmed in Madras.

Box office and awards

Premabhishekam was a major success, grossing over ₹4.5 crore according to Sakshi. Wikipedia credits it with being the first film to run 75 weeks in Andhra Pradesh, but its run figures are unsourced and inconsistent, giving a total of 527 days in one place and 750 days in two centres in another, so we do not rely on them. It won four Nandi Awards, including Best Actress for Jayasudha, and two Filmfare Awards South, Best Director for Dasari and a Special Jury Award for Jayasudha. It was remade in Tamil as Vazhvey Maayam (1982) and in Hindi as Prem Tapasya (1983).

Where to watch Premabhishekam

Our OTT record lists Premabhishekam as streaming on Aha, based on the platform’s own listing (checked 26 September 2026). Availability and subscription terms vary by country, so check the platform before subscribing. The OTT box on this page has the current link.

Sources: the Wikipedia article on Premabhishekam and the reports it cites, linked above; our own cast, crew and OTT records.