Santhi Nivasam

The actors Vallam Narasimha Rao and Padmanabham acquired the Telugu rights of S. V. Sahasranamam's Tamil play Malliyam Mangalam, which was written by B. S. Ramiah, for their first stage production made under the Rekha & Murali Arts banner. The Telugu version, Santhi Nivasam, was written by Palagummi Padmaraju. The play, which starred Padmanabhan and Meenakumari, was an immense success, and caught the attention of producers Sundarlal Nahata, T. Aswathanarayana and director C. S. Rao, who saw "immense potential" in it and bought the film rights.[1]

Samudrala Jr. was hired to make changes, such as expanding the story and creating new characters for the film adaptation, which was also titled Santhi Nivasam and was produced under Sri Productions. He also worked as a dialogue writer and lyricist. Cinematography was handled by Kamal Ghosh (with J. Sathyanarayana serving as "operative cameraman"), editing by N. M. Shankar and C. Hari Rao.[1]

Akkineni Nageswara Rao was chosen to play Gopi, reprising the role originally played by Padmanabham in the Telugu play. This role was rewritten for the film as the male lead, unlike the play where it was written as a supporting character. Rajasulochana was cast as Gopi's lover and eventual wife Radha, Kanta Rao as Gopi's older brother Raju, Krishna Kumari as Raju's childhood friend Ragini, and Devika as Raju's wife Lakshmi. V. Nagaiah played Gopi and Raju's father Ramadasu, Suryakantham was cast as his wife Santhamma, Surabhi Balasaraswathi as their Chitti, Relangi as Chitti's husband Simhalu, Hemalatha as the widow Ramani, Mohana as Radha's stepmother, and K. V. S. Sharma as Radha's father Seetapathi Rao.[1]

C. S. Rao, who used to enact scenes for his actors, accidentally slipped during one such exercise on the doormat before Krishna Kumari's house set while entering, but immediately managed to balance himself. Kanta Rao believed this was intentional and part of the story, and did exactly the same when filming the scene. After this, C. S. Rao told Kanta Rao, "Any way, it now turned into a symbolic shot for the critics. For the first time you are entering into another woman’s house and the slip represents your fall and the balancing act symbolises your control." Except for two songs which were shot at Brindavan Gardens in Mysore, the rest of the film was completed in one schedule.[1]